Patent ID: 8025721

Claim:
A tank arrangement for a spacecraft comprising: a tank comprising a tank shell enclosing a tank interior space adapted to contain therein a liquid for operation of the spacecraft and a pressurized driving gas adapted to drive the liquid out of said tank; and a gas supply and extraction device that is adapted to separate the gas from the liquid and extract the gas out of said tank, wherein said gas supply and extraction device is arranged directly on and connected directly to said tank shell in said tank interior space, and wherein said gas supply and extraction device comprises: a device housing that encloses therein a reservoir space, a plurality of first passage bodies that are arranged on a perimeter of said device housing relatively proximate to a first end thereof, and that provide respective first open passages communicating through said first passage bodies from said tank interior space to said reservoir space, wherein said first open passages flare with an increasing cross-sectional area toward said tank interior space, at least one second passage body that is arranged on said device housing relatively proximate to a second end thereof opposite said first end, and that provides a second open passage communicating through said second passage body from said tank interior space to said reservoir space, wherein said second open passage flares with an increasing cross-sectional area toward said tank interior space, a respective plurality of plates respectively arranged in each one of said first and second passage bodies, wherein said plates protrude into said open passage of said respective passage body alternately in succession from opposite sides of an inner surface of said respective passage body, a plurality of elongated plates arranged on an inner surface of said device housing and extending longitudinally parallel to a longitudinal axis of said device housing, and a gas extraction conduit leading and communicating from said reservoir space out of said device and out of said tank.