A/C CABIN ATMOSPHERE

CONTROL
AMT 644
 INTRODUCTION

• The crew and passengers of modern, high-performance

aircraft are physically unable to survive the extreme
environment in which these airplanes fly without some sort of
conditioning of the air within the cabin and cockpit.
• Primarily because of the various altitudes at which an aircraft
operates, the cabin atmosphere must be controlled to
increase the comfort of the occupants or even to sustain their
lives.
• This chapter will discuss the physiology of the human body
that determines the atmospheric conditions required for life,
how oxygen and cabin altitude are controlled to provide a
livable atmosphere for the aircraft occupants, and how the
comfort needs of the passengers and crew are met.
• THE ATMOSPHERE
• The atmosphere envelops the earth and
extends upward for more than 20 miles, but
because air has mass and is compressible,
the gravity of the earth pulls on it and causes
the air at the lower levels to be more dense
than the air above it.
• This accounts for the fact that more than one-
half of the mass of the air surrounding the
earth is below about 18,000 feet.
• The atmosphere is a physical mixture of gases.
• Nitrogen makes up approximately 78% of the air, and oxygen
makes up 21% of the total mixture.
• The remainder is composed of water vapor, carbon dioxide
and inert gases.
• Oxygen is extremely important for both animal and plant life.
• It is so important for animals that if they are deprived of
oxygen for even a few seconds, permanent damage to the
brain or even death may result.
• Water vapor and carbon dioxide are also extremely important
compounds.
• The other gases in the air, such as argon, neon, and krypton
are relatively unimportant elements physiologically.
• HYPOXIA
• Any time the body is deprived of the required
amount of oxygen, it will develop hypoxia.
• As hypoxia becomes more severe, a person's
time of useful consciousness decreases.
• Time of useful consciousness is defined as
the time a person has to take corrective
action before becoming so severely impaired
that they cannot help themselves.
• Two of the more common first indications of hypoxia occur at about
ten thousand feet altitude.

• These are an increased breathing rate and a headache.

• Some other signs of hypoxia are light-headedness, dizziness with a

tingling in the fingers, vision impairment, and sleepiness.

• Coordination and judgment will also be impaired, but normally this is

difficult to recognize.

• Because it is difficult to recognize hypoxia in its early stages, many

pressurized aircraft have alarm systems to warn of a loss of
pressurization.
• Turbine engine-powered aircraft are
efficient at high altitudes, but the human
body is unable to exist in this cold and
oxygen-deficient air, so some provision
must be made to provide an artificial
environment to sustain life.
OXYGEN AND PRESSURIZAT!ON
SYSTEMS
• As an aircraft climbs from sea level to increasingly high
altitudes, the crew and passengers move further and further
from an ideal physiological condition.
• In order to compensate for an atmosphere that becomes
thinner as altitude increases, two different approaches have
been developed.
• One of these is to provide pure oxygen to supplement the
ever-decreasing amount of oxygen available in the
atmosphere.
• The other is to pressurize the aircraft to create an atmosphere
that is similar to that experienced naturally at lower altitudes.
• For aircraft that fly at extremely high altitude, a combination of
pressurization and supplementary oxygen for emergencies is
required.
• OXYGEN SYSTEMS
• At higher altitudes (generally above
10,000 feet) the air is thin enough to
require supplemental oxygen for humans
to function normally.
• Modern aircraft with the capability to fly at,
high altitudes usually have oxygen
systems installed for the use of crew
and/or passengers.
• CHARACTERISTICS OF OXYGEN
• Oxygen is colorless, odorless and tasteless,
and it is extremely active chemically.
• It will combine with almost all other elements
and with many compounds.
• When any fuel burns, it unites with oxygen to
produce heat, and in the human body, the
tissues are continually being oxidized which
causes the heat produced by the body.
• This is the reason an ample supply of oxygen
must be available at all times to support life.
• Oxygen is produced commercially by liquefying air, and then
allowing nitrogen to boil off, leaving relatively pure oxygen.
• Gaseous oxygen may also be produced by the electrolysis of
water.
• When electrical current is passed through water (H2O), it will
break down into its two elements, hydrogen and oxygen.
• Oxygen will not burn, but it does support combustion so well
that special care must be taken when handling.
• It should not be used anywhere there is any fire, hot material
or petroleum products.
• If pure oxygen is allowed to come in contact with oil, grease or
any other petroleum product, it will combine violently and
generate enough heat to ignite the material.
 SOURCES OF SUPPLEMENTAL
OXYGEN

• Aircraft oxygen systems employ

several different sources of breathing
oxygen.
• Among the more common ones are
gaseous oxygen stored in steel
cylinders, liquid oxygen stored in
specially constructed containers called
Dewars, and oxygen generated by
certain chemicals that give off oxygen
when heated.
• A Dewar, sometimes called a Dewar
flask, is a special type of thermos
bottle designed to hold extremely cold
liquids.
• Recently, a system using microscopic
filters to separate oxygen from other
gases in the air has been developed
for medical uses, and is being
investigated for use in aircraft.
• GASEOUS OXYGEN
• Most of the aircraft in the
general aviation fleet use
gaseous oxygen stored in steel
cylinders under a pressure of
between 1,800 and 2,400 psi.
• The main reason for using
gaseous oxygen is its ease of
handling and the fact that it is
available at most of the
airports used by these aircraft.
• It does have all the
disadvantages of dealing with
high-pressure gases, and there
is a weight penalty because of
the heavy storage cylinders.
• LIQUID OXYGEN
• Most military aircraft now carry their oxygen in a
liquid state.
• Liquid oxygen is a pale blue, transparent liquid
that will remain in its liquid state as long as it is
stored at a temperature of below 181.
• This is done in aircraft installations by keeping it in
a Dewar flask that resembles a double-wall sphere
having a vacuum between the walls.
• The vacuum prevents heat transferring into the
inner container.
• Liquid oxygen installations
are extremely economical
of space and weight and
there is no high pressure
involved in the system.
• They do have the dis-
advantage, however, of the
dangers involved in
handling the liquid at its
extremely low temperature,
and even when the oxygen
system is not used, it
requires periodic
replenishing because of
losses from the venting
system. Military aircraft usually use liquid oxygen, stored
in special insulated containers
• CHEMICAL, OR SOLID,
OXYGEN
• A convenient method of
carrying oxygen for
emergency uses and for
aircraft that require it only
occasionally is the solid
oxygen candle.
Solid oxygen generators, called candles,
• Many large transport aircraft are used in many large aircraft to provide
use solid oxygen generators supplemental oxygen for the passengers in
as a supplemental source of case of depressurization. They are also
oxygen to be used in the found in some smaller business aircraft.
event of cabin
depressurization.
• MECHANICALLY-SEPARATED OXYGEN
• A new procedure for producing oxygen is its extraction from
the air by a mechanical separation process.
• Air is drawn through a patented material
• nitrogen and other gases are trapped in the sieve and only the
oxygen passes through.
• Part of the oxygen is breathed, and the rest is used to purge
the nitrogen from the sieve and prepare it for another cycle of
filtering.
• This method of producing oxygen is currently being used in
some medical facilities and military aircraft.
• It appears to have the possibility of replacing all other types of
oxygen because of the economy of weight and space, and the
fact that the aircraft is no longer dependent upon ground
facilities for oxygen supply replenishment.
 AMT 644
A/C Cabin
Atmosphere
 OXYGEN SYSTEMS AND
COMPONENTS

• The aviation maintenance technician will

encounter oxygen systems during the course
of servicing and repairing aircraft.
• Actual servicing or repair of the oxygen
system itself must be accomplished in
accordance with the manufacturer's
instructions, but a general knowledge of
gaseous, liquid, and chemical oxygen
systems and how they operate will enable the
technician to better prepare the aircraft for
flight.
 GASEOUS OXYGEN SYSTEMS

• Gaseous oxygen systems consist of the

tanks the oxygen is stored in, regulators to
reduce the pressure from the high
pressure in the tanks to the relatively low
pressure required for breathing, plumbing
to connect the system components, and
masks to deliver the oxygen to the
crewmember or passenger.
• Storage Cylinders
• Most military aircraft at one time used a low-
pressure oxygen system in which the
gaseous oxygen was stored under a pressure
of approximately 450 psi in large yellow-
painted low pressure steel cylinders.
• These cylinders were so large for the amount
of oxygen they carried that they never
became popular in civilian aircraft, and even
the military has stopped using these systems.
• Today, almost all gaseous oxygen is stored in green
painted high-pressure steel cylinders under a pressure
of between 1,800 and 2,400 psi.
• All cylinders approved for installation in an aircraft
must be approved by the Department of
Transportation (DOT) and are usually either the
ICC/DOT 3AA 1800 or the ICC/DOT 3HT 1850 type
• Aluminum bottles are also available, but are much less
common.
• Newer, light-weight "composite" bottles that comply
with DOT-E-8162 are becoming more common.
• These bottles are made of lighter, thinner metals
combined with a wrapping of composite material.
 Hydrostatic test

A hydrostatic test is a way in

which pressure vessels such as pipelines,
plumbing, gas cylinders, boilers and fuel
tanks can be tested for strength and leaks
Oxygen Panel
• Regulators
• There are two basic types of regulators in
use, and each type has variations.
• Low-demand systems, such as are used in
smaller piston-engine powered general
aviation aircraft, generally use a continuous
flow regulator.
• Continuous flow systems do not use
oxygen economically, but their simplicity and
low cost make them desirable when the
demands are low.
• Continuous Flow
Regulators are of
either the manual
or automatic type.
• Both of these are
inefficient in that
they do not meter
the oxygen flow
according to the
individual's needs.
• Manual Continuous Flow Regulators
typically consist of two gauges and an
adjustment knob.
• One typical regulator has a gauge on the
right that shows the pressure of the oxygen
in the system and indicates indirectly the
amount of oxygen available.
• The other gauge is a flow indicator and is
adjusted by the knob in the lower center of
the regulator.
• The user adjusts the knob so that the flow
indicator needle matches the altitude being
flown.
• The regulator meters the correct amount of
oxygen for the selected altitude. If the flight
altitude changes, the pilot must remember to Manual continuous flow regulators must be reset
readjust the flow rate as altitude changes.
• Automatic Continuous Flow Regulators
have a barometric control valve that
automatically adjusts the oxygen flow to
correspond with the altitude.
• The flight crew need only open the valve
on the front of the regulator, and the
correct amount of oxygen will be metered
into the system for the altitude being flown.
• Oxygen is usually
supplied to the flight crew
of an aircraft by an
efficient system that uses
one of several demand-
type regulators.
• Demand regulators allow
a flow of oxygen only
when the user is inhaling.
This demand-type regulator is fitted to a
• This type regulator is portable oxygen bottle and a full-face type
much more efficient than mask. This type of system is often used
the continuous flow type. aboard cargo aircraft as a smoke combat
unit to allow a crewmember to locate and
extinguish a cargo fire.
• Diluter Demand Regulators are
used by the flight crews on most
commercial jet aircraft.
• When the supply lever is turned
on, oxygen can flow from the
supply into the regulator.
• There is a pressure reducer at the
inlet of the regulator that
decreases the pressure to a value
that is usable by the regulator.
• The demand valve shuts off all The flight crews of most commercial
flow of oxygen to the mask until aircraft use diluter demand oxygen
the wearer inhales and decreases systems.
the pressure inside the regulator.
• This decreased pressure moves
the demand diaphragm and opens
the demand valve so oxygen can
flow through the regulator to the
mask.
• Pressure Demand Regulators
operate in much the same way as
diluter demand regulators except
at extremely high altitudes, where
the oxygen is forced into the mask
under a positive pressure.
• Breathing at this high altitude
requires a different technique from
that required in breathing
normally.
• The oxygen flows into the lungs
without effort on the part of the
user, but muscular effort is
needed to force the used air out of
the lungs.
• This is exactly the opposite of
normal breathing.
• Continuous flow
masks are usually the
re-breather type and
vary from a simple bag-
type disposable mask
used with some of the
Rebreather type masks are used with
portable systems to the continuous flow oxygen systems.
rubber bag-type mask
used for some of the
flight crew systems.
• With demand-type
masks the regulator is
set up to meter the
proper amount of
oxygen to the user, so
outside air would upset
the required ratio of air Demand-type masks deliver oxygen
to oxygen. only when the wearer inhales.
• Demand-type masks
must fit tightly to the
face so no outside air
can enter.