Some Fuel Problems

The new era of fast high-flying jets brought with it many prob­lems. The high fuel consumption is problem number one.

The jets suffer from high fuel consumption. A 10, 000-pound thrust engine consumes a lot of fuel. For example, the largest jets have fuel tanks in the wings capable of storing in excess of 21, 000 gallons of fuel. Twenty-one thousand gallons is the equivalent capacity of five or six of the refueling trucks one sees normally around an airport.

There were experts who said that a jet air-liner could never come into general use because it was uneconomical.

But note the fuel consumption was exceptionally high only relative to duration in the air, not to distance covered. High fuel consumption is a relative matter; it can be low relative to kilometers covered; yet high relative to time in the air. They cover long distances in short period of time.

Still, fuel makes up a big part of the total gross weight of the air­plane, while power-to-weight ratio or specific weight has always been a critical factor in prime movers for aircraft.

Besides, there exists a problem of the fuel choice. Power for aerial propulsion is known to be produced by using the oxygen of atmosphe­ric air as a chemical reactant in combustion with some fuel, e.g. a hyd­rocarbon such as gasoline or kerosene. Regular jet engines can defini­tely be used for speeds up to two or three times that of sound. But at two thousand mph hydrocarbon fuel will begin to boil. Also at altitu­des of 100, 000 feet or more, there is very " little" air for the jet to " swallow".

There is a great future in nuclear energy. However, there are many problems of utilizing atomic energy. It is well-known fact that the radiation from any atomic pile is dangerous, and the power plant must be properly shielded. The shielding for the plane will weigh about the same as the engine, fuel load and tanks of our present big planes. Eventually the research performed in this field will give satisfactory solutions.

There exists one more problem. This is the problem of fueling and refueling the jet planes. Jet airplanes have been designed so that they are capable of being fueled at the rate of one to two thousand gallons per minute from four hoses through underwing pressure-fueling points. At some airports there are installed large underground hydrant-type fueling systems. With such an installation fuel is pumped underground from a remotely located fuel-tank system to the airplane location and from there directly into the airplane fuel tanks. The problem of re­fueling the plane is solved by plane-to-plane or in-the-air refueling.

There is still a lot to be done in the field of jets and rockets with improved fuels and less complex engines. Scientists seem to be able to handle such problems.

Unit 2