Endothermic fuel system for propulsion engine and method for cooling high speed aircraft provided with heat sink

PURPOSE: To obtain an endothermic fuel system for a propulsion engine capable of being maintained and operated more economically. CONSTITUTION: An endothermic fuel system 10 is provided with a heat sink for a heat exchanger for cooling parts of high speed aircraft to avoid thermally induced coking on the catalytic surfaces of the heat exchanger used as a reactor 40 to dehydrogenate the fuel. A means 44 is provided to feed an acceptable concentration of hydrogen to the feed stock of the reactor 40. The feed stock is a portion of the endothermic hydrocarbon fuel that is catalytically dehydrogenated to provide a heat sink. The preferred embodiment uses methylcyclohexane as a fuel and provides a return loop 46 to recycle a fraction of the reaction products to provide hydrogen to the feedback of the reactor 40. COPYRIGHT: (C)1994,JPO