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A Thermodynamic Study of Air Cycle Machine For Aeronautical Applications
A Thermodynamic Study of Air Cycle Machine For Aeronautical Applications
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Abstract
This work focuses on a thermodynamic study of an air cycle machine (ACM) for aircraft air-conditioning purposes.
The ACM configuration mainly includes two compact heat exchangers, a compressor and an expander. The energy
to drive this machine comes from the compressed air bleed from the compressor of the aircraft propulsion turbine.
Some design features that affect the ACM performance will be studied: aircraft Mach number, cabin altitude, cabin
recirculated air temperature and the percentage of the turbine work absorbed by the exhaust fan. Results showed that
the computational tool implemented to solve the ACM mathematical model allows an understanding of the air cycle
machine performance when flight aircraft and cabin human comfort parameters are changed to attain an optimized
aircraft environmental control system (ECS) design.
Keywords: Air-conditioning; air cycle machine (ACM); environmental control system (ECS); coefficient of
performance (COP).
V12
h2 = h1 + (1)
2
(c) where: h 1 = static air enthalpy, V 1 = aircraft velocity.
Figure 2. Air cycle machines representation: (a) simple
cycle; (b) bootstrap cycle; (c) simple/bootstrap cycle. Assuming air as a perfect gas with constant specific heat
[18] and using Eq.(1), the following result can be obtained:
In the simple cycle, all the ACM turbine work is
consumed by the heat exchanger exhaust fan while in the
V12
full bootstrap cycle this power work is used only to drive T2 = T2i = T1 + (2)
the ACM compressor. A mixed configuration 2C p
(simple/bootstrap) is achieved by sharing part of the ACM
turbine useful work between the ACM compressor and the The above relation can be modified such that the Mach
exhaust fan. number appears:
According to Wright et al [17], there is very little
publications specifically aimed to aircraft air-conditioning T2 ( k − 1 )M 2
systems. Details of air cycle machine architectures are = 1+ (3)
usually confidential information belonging to manufactures T1 2
and scarcely available within open literature. Thus, the
main contribution of the present work is to present a three- where:
wheel bootstrap ACM study by means of a well-known k = C p /C v = specific heat at constant pressure to specific heat
thermodynamic modeling. at constant volume ratio;
M = Mach number of the aircraft flight = V 1 /a;
a = sound velocity.
3. Thermodynamic Modeling
A typical open bootstrap air cycle machine processes (1-
The stagnation pressure after isentropic compression
7) can be plotted in a temperature x entropy diagram, as
P 2i , is given by the relation:
schematized in Figure 3.
k
P2i T2i k −1
= (4)
P1 T1
Wr = m C p ( T2 − T1 ) (6)
k −1 Wsc = α ( Wt ) (20)
m C pT4b P5 k
Wsc = m C p ( T5 − T4b ) = − 1 (14)
η sc P4
where α indicates the percentage of the ACM turbine work
absorbed by the secondary compressor. The available work to
drive the heat exchanger exhaust fan is equal to (1 - α) W t .
In the process 5-6 the working fluid (air) is cooled by
the ACM secondary heat exchanger. If the fluid friction
Inserting Eq. (14) and Eq.(19) into Eq. (20), the implicit
process is neglected, pressure P 5 is equal to P 6 . The amount
equation that provides the P 5 value is determined as:
of heat rejected in the ACM secondary heat exchanger
(Q shx ) is:
k −1
m C pT4b P5 k
Qshx = m C p ( T5 − T6 ) − 1
η sc P4
(15)
where T6 is calculated taking account the secondary heat
k −1
exchanger effectiveness (ε shx ) given by: P7 k
− α m C pT6 1 − P ηt = 0 (21)
T5 − T6 5
ε shx = (16)
T5 − T2
when α = 0, the exhaust fan consumes all the ACM turbine
assuming that the minimum attainable temperature for the work (simple cycle) and for α = 1, the secondary compressor
working fluid is the ram air temperature. absorbs the whole turbine work (bootstrap cycle).
The largest temperature drop occurs when the air Typically, the aircraft air conditioning system has a
expands in the turbine (expander) of the air cycle machine. mixture chamber, where the cool air at temperature T 7
(see Figure 4). In the isentropic process the state at the end provided by the air cycle machine is mixed with the cabin
of expansion process is represented by point 7i in T vs s recirculated air, which has been cleaned with high
diagram (Figure 3). For the actual conditions, the pressure efficiency filters. This mixed air is then insufflated into the
P 7i = P 7 is slightly above the pressure of aircraft cabin through the ducting system. Therefore, the cooling
pressurized cabin (P cabin ) that is higher than the external effect of the air cycle machine (Q c ) can be calculated as:
ambient pressure. So, in the present work, it is assumed that
P 7 = P cabin , neglecting the pressure drop in the air Qc = m C p ( Tcabin − T7 ) (22)
distribution ducts.
Pressure P 5 (equal to P 6 ) is determined solving the where T cabin is the cabin recirculated air temperature.
implicit equation obtained from the ACM work balancing:
the ACM turbine work is equal to the sum of the secondary A portion of the primary compressor work must be
compressor work and the exhaust fan work. attributed to the cabin pressurization system. This power
Temperature T 7i can be calculated by the isentropic work is used to increase the external air pressure to an
relation: adequate value that satisfies the human breathing
requirements attaining a desirable occupants comfort level
k −1
(usually a pressure value in the 8,000 feet level in the
T7i P7 k
= (17) standard atmosphere, Figure 1). Hence, the cabin
T6 P6 pressurization work (W p ) is expressed by:
0.72
0.68
0.64
Coefficient of Performance
0.60
0.56
excluding pressurization
0.52
including pressurization
0.48
0.44
0.40
Figure 10. Typical flight mission
0.36
Note that the cabin and external altitude profiles vary
0.32 along the flight duration, but while the aircraft cruise
6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000
altitude is around 11,000 m (36,000 ft), the internal cabin
cabin altitude (feet) level is close to the 1,800 m (6,000 ft). This pressure
Figure 7. Coefficient of Performance as a function of the differential is typical of a commercial transport aircraft and
aircraft cabin altitude is determined by combining the fuselage structural
restrictions and cabin comfort requirements. Simulations
1.00
were carried using the parameters listed in Table 3. The
Power required for pressurization (Wp)
cabin recirculated air was considered equal to 30oC.
0.96 During the flight mission, the external temperature
varies as a function of the altitude following the ISA
Wp / (Wp at 6,000 feet)
0.84
0.80
6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000
cabin altitude (feet)
Figure 8. Power required for the aircraft pressurization as
a function of the aircraft cabin altitude.
0.72
0.64
Coefficient of Performance
Nomenclature
ACM Air Cycle Machine
COP Coefficient of Performance
COPP Coefficient of Performance including the
Figure 12. Bootstrap ACM performance during the flight pressurization work
mission (W r = ram work; W p = pressurization work; Cp Specific heat at constant pressure, kJ/kg/K
Q c = cabin cooling effect; W pc = primary compressor Cv Specific heat at constant volume, kJ/kg/K
work). m mass flow rate, kg/s
Ma Mach number
Even at the cruise mode, when the primary compressor P Pressure, Pa
power work (W pc ) value is minimum (~ 300 kW), its Qc Cooling effect, W
magnitude is higher in comparison with the other computed Q phx Primary heat exchanger rejected heat, W
parameters. This fact has a great impact in the COP and Q shx Secondary heat exchanger rejected heat, W
COPP distributions, see Eq. (24) and Eq. (25), because a T Temperature, K
combined effect occurs: the cooling effect (Q c ) curve Wp Cabin pressurization work, W
behavior is practically constant (~ 120kW), the ram work W pc Primary compressor work, W
(W r ) has a low magnitude resulting that the primary W sc Secondary compressor work, W
compressor work (W pc ) becomes the predominant factor in Wr Ram work, W
determining COP and COPP profiles shown in Figure 13. Wt ACM useful turbine work, W
References
[1] ASHRAE Handbook. HVAC Applications, American
Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning
Engineers, Inc., Atlanta, GA, 2007.
[2] Lombardo, D. Aircraft Systems, McGraw Hill
Publishing Company Limited, New York, USA, 1999.
[3] Hunt, E.H. and Space, D.R., The Airplane Cabin
Environment, International In-flight Service
Management Organization Conference, Montreal,
Canada, 1994.
[4] Arici, O., Yang, S. Huang, D., and Oker, E. Computer
Model for Automobile Climate Control System
Figure 13. COP and COPP profiles employing the
Simulation and Application, Int. J. Thermo., 2, 56-68,
bootstrap ACM.
1999.
As the aircraft altitude increases (and the external [5] SAE, Society of Automotive Engineers, ARP292c,
pressure decays during the climb mode), both COP and Environmental Control Systems for Helicopters, 1998.
COPP values increases affected mainly by the primary
[6] Garrett, A. D. Aircraft Systems & Components,
compressor work (W pc ) magnitude decay. The opposite
Jeppesen Sanderson Inc., Englewood, Colorado, USA,
effect occurs during the descent mode. Therefore, COP and
1991.
COPP maximum levels correspond to the primary
compressor work (W pc ) minimum level during the cruise [7] Moir, I., Seabridge, A. Aircraft Systems: Mechanical,
flight mode. Electrical, and Avionics, Subsystems Integration, AIAA
Education Series, Professional Engineering Publishing,
6. Concluding Remarks 2001.
This paper presented a computational tool that solves
the ACM mathematical model (thermodynamic cycle [8] Arora, C. P. Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, Tata
analysis) and allows an understanding of the ACM McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi,
performance when flight aircraft and cabin human comfort India, 726 p.,1988.