Demonstration of a Novel Catalyst Based Green On Board Inert Gas Generation System (GOBIGGS)for Fuel Tank Inerting

A novel, catalyst based aircraft fuel tank inerting system was designed, built and evaluated in a series of experiments conducted at China Lake Naval Air Warfare Center. The system, known as GOBIGGS, draws reactive gas from the tank, performs catalytic fuel vapor oxidation and oxygen reduction, returning non-flammable gas to the ullage. Tests were designed to assess the unit's effectiveness at creating and maintaining inert conditions in an approximately 1200 gallon empty A-3 fuel tank. Additional tests of rapid fuel offload from the same tank demonstrated that GOBIGGS was able to maintain the ullage oxygen content below 9% when fuel was dumped at about 180 gallons/min. These tests simulated inerting demands equivalent to those experienced during descent of a 1200 gallon at 7,000 ft/min from 42,000 ft, or for a 4,200 gallon tank descending at 2,000 ft/min from the same altitude.