AIRCONDITION/VENTILATION

BY CPL TAMAKLOE EDEM EMMANUEL

AEROMECH INSTRUCTOR
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OBJECTIVES

❖ The expected learning outcome is that the student is able to

 State the 3 principal sections of an air-conditioning system

 List the 3 principal methods of air supply used for aircraft

air-conditioning systems

 Explain, in general, the principles of…

vapour cycle cooling and Air cycle cooling
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AIR CONDITION

❖ Is an additional system in the aircraft which is used to condition the air in the
compartments for crew and passenger comfortability.

❖ A typical air-conditioning system of an aircraft is to provide temperature control to the

compartments for the crew, passengers and other areas.

❖ lt comprises 3 principal sections:

 heating
 cooling
 temperature control.
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COMPONENTS

1. COOLING PACKS
(usually located below the wing center section)
 Primary heat exchanger
 Secondary heat exchanger
 Air cycle machine
 Vapour cycle machine
 A water separator

2. TEMPERATURE CONTROL VALVE ASSEMBLY.

 Located in the air-conditioning distribution bay.
 Are mixing valves through which hot bleed air and cold air from the air-conditioning
packs are mixed to obtain the desired cabin temperature
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Temperature Control
Valve Assembly

In modern aircraft, comfort is controlled via automatic temperature

sensors.

Manual control of the temperature mixing valves is usually available

to back up the automatic system.
COOLING PACK 6
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AIR SOURCE

❖ The source of air supply depends on the type of aircraft and air--
conditioning system employed.

Generally the following methods are used;

 Ram air
 Engine bleed air
 Compressor or blowers
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RAM AIR
 The air fed into the ram air intake during the forward movement of the aircraft in
flight.

 Typical ram air intakes are located around the nose and in the wing leading
edge of an aircraft
 This method is adopted in certain small types of unpressurised aircraft

 ln ram air supply systems the cooling method is quite simple:

the cold air taken in by the ram intake can be directly fed to the cabin via
adjustable louvres.
 In some helicopters, a window is opened
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ENGINE BLEED AIR

❖ This is the most common method adopted in modern airliners in which

the hot air is tapped from a main engine’s compressor stage.

❖ Before the air enters the cabin it is passed through appropriate control
valves and a temperature control system to reduce its pressure and
temperature
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COMPRESSORS OR BLOWERS

❖ This method is utilised in some types of turbojet, turboprop and

piston engine aircraft.

❖ The compressors or blowers are driven by the engines via accessory

drives and gearboxes.

❖ Air is drawn in through a ram air intake located in a wing leading

edge or an engine nacelle fairing.

❖ A filter unit may be provided to protect the blower rotors from

foreign matter and to ensure a clean air supply.
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COOLING

❖ ln more complex systems cooling may be accomplished either

by the

 Vapour cycle cooling method

 Air cycle cooling method

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HEAT EXCHANGER

❖ When two different fluids (including gases) of different temperatures

comes into contact, heat is transferred from the hotter fluid to the cooler
one.

❖ Heat exchangers use this principle for temperature control in many turbine
aircraft applications.

❖ Air condition, oil coolers and fuel heaters

HEAT EXCHANGERS 13
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VAPOUR CYCLE COOLING

❖ System Description
❖ Maintenance of Air-conditioning Systems

Objectives
❖ The expected learning outcome is that the student is able to explain

 The vapour-cycle aircraft air-conditioning system and describe its principles of

operation

 State the main actions of maintenance of aircraft air-conditioning systems and list the
required tools and items
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System description

❖ The principle of vapour cycle cooling is based upon the ability of a refrigerant to absorb
heat in the process of changing from the liquid to the gaseous state.

❖ The major components of a typical system are:

 A liquid receiver
 A thermo-static expansion valve
 An evaporator
 A blower
 A turbo compressor
 A condenser
 A condenser fan.
VAPOUR CYCLE MACHINE 16
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OPERATION

❖ Uses a refrigerant such as Freon. The refrigerant undergoes phase changes with every cycle of
temperature, compression and expansion.
❖ Refrigerant gas is compressed in a compressor
❖ It is then run through a special heat exchanger, known as condenser, where heat is removed.
❖ As the gas cools down under pressure, it condenses into a liquid (hence the name condenser)
❖ The liquefied refrigerant continues on its journey to another heat exchanger, the evaporator, which
interacts with cabin air.
❖ The refrigerant is allowed to drop in pressure in the evaporator.
❖ As it evaporates, the refrigerant absorbs a tremendous amount of heat from the passing cabin air.
❖ The cooled air is returned to the cabin, while the refrigerant goes to the compressor again to start a
new cycle.
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DIAGRAM
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ADVANTAGES

❖ Provides cooling on ground without an operating engine, APU or external high

pressure air source
❖ Vapour Cycle Machines are more efficient
❖ Less expensive
❖ Suitable for aircrafts with limited engine bleed capacity

DISADVANTAGES
❖ Requires a separate mechanical compressor which adds complexity and weight
❖ Requires a refrigerant or coolant
 MAIN COMPONENTS OF VAPOUR CYCLE AIR 20
CONDITIONING SYSTEM

❖ Refrigerant

 Almost any volatile liquid can be used as a refrigerant.

 But for maximum effectiveness, one is needed that has a very low
vapour pressure and therefore a low boiling point.

 The vapour pressure of a liquid is the pressure that exists above the
liquid in an enclosed container at any given temperature.
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Refrigerant con’t

 Many different materials have been used as a refrigerant in commercial

systems, but in aircraft air-conditioning systems, dichlorodifluoromethane is
normally used.

 It is a stable compound at both high and low temperatures, it does not

react with any of the materials in an air-conditioning system, and it does
not attack the rubber used for hoses and seals
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Refrigerant con’t

 It is colourless and practically odorless, non-hazardous to humans or plants, and it does not
contaminate water or foodstuff.

 It is non-flammable, so that it is often used as fire extinguishing agent.

 Rather than calling this refrigerant by its long chemical name, it is just referred to as Refrigerant-
12, or, even more simply as R-12. (Is faced out/Banned)

 It may also be known by one of its many trade names such as Freon-12, Genetron -12, Isotron -
12, Ucon -12 or by some other proprietary name.
 Most widely used refrigerants are R-32 (Difluoromethane), R-152a (Difluoroethane), R-290
(Propane), R-407c (Mixture of R-32,R-125 and R-134a) that is (Mixture of difluoromethane,
pentafluoromethane and tetrafluoroethane)…etc.
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Refrigerant con’t
 The important thing to remember is the number.

 Any of these trade names associated with another number is a different product.

 It is the refrigerant commonly used in commercial refrigerators and freezers.

 When servicing an aircraft air-conditioning system, it is extremely important that only the
refrigerant specified in the aircraft manufacturer’s service manual is used.
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Refrigeration oil

 Since the air-condition system is completely sealed, the oil used to lubricate
the compressor seals and expansion valve must be sealed in the system.
 The oil used is a special refrigeration oil, which is a highly refined mineral oil,
free from such impurities as water, sulphur or wax.
 The identification number of the oil refers to its viscosity, and the lower the
number, the lighter the oil.

NOTE
 It is very important that the oil specified in the aircraft manufacturer’s service
manual is used when servicing the system.
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Refrigeration oil con’t

 Refrigeration oil should be kept tightly closed when it is not in use, and
it should never be poured from one container into another.

 Oil that has been removed from the compressor during servicing
should be discarded and new oil put into the system.
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Receiver dryer

 The receiver-dryer is the reservoir for the system and is located on the high
side between the condenser and the expansion valve.
 Liquid refrigerant enters from the condenser and is filtered, and then passes
through a desiccant, such as silica gel, which absorbs any moisture that
might be in the system.
 A sight glass is normally installed in the outlet tube to indicate the amount of
charge in the system.
 Bubbles can be seen in the glass when the charge is low (system
operating).
➢ A pick-up tube extends from the top of the receiver-dryer to near the
bottom where the liquid refrigerant is picked up.
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Receiver dryer con’t

 A filter is installed either on the end of the pick-up tube or between the tube
and the desiccant to prevent any particles from getting into the expansion
valve.

 It is of extreme importance to remove all the moisture from the system, as a

single drop can freeze in the expansion valve and stop the entire system
operation.

 Water will also react with refrigerant to form hydrochloric acid which is highly
corrosive to the metal in the system.
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Receiver dryer
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Compressor

 Compressors used in aircraft air-conditioning systems are usually of the

reciprocating type

 The compressors used in systems on larger aircraft are driven by electric or

hydraulic motors, or by compressor bleed air powered turbines.

 Electric motor-driven compressors are controlled by a thermostat which turns

the compressor motor on when cooling is required in the cabin, and off when
the temperature drops sufficiently.
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Compressor con’t

 Hydraulic motors are also actuated by control from the thermostat, and when
cooling is needed, a solenoid valve opens, directing hydraulic fluid under pressure to
the motor.

 When the motor is not being driven, the output of the engine-driven hydraulic pump
is returned to the reservoir.

 In all of these systems, the cabin blower operates continually, forcing the cabin air
over the evaporator so that the heat of which can be transferred to the refrigerant.
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Evaporator

 The actual cooling unit in an air-conditioning system is the evaporator.

 An evaporator consists of one or more circuits of copper tubing arranged in
parallel between the expansion valve and the compressor.
 These tubes are silver-soldered into a compact unit, with thin aluminum fins
pressed onto their surface.
 The evaporator is usually mounted in a housing with a blower so that air from the
cabin can be taken in by the blower and forced over the evaporator coils.
 Heat in this air is absorbed by the refrigerant, and the cooled air is blown out into
the cabin again.
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Evaporator con’t

 The evaporator is similar to the condenser in construction, and somewhat similar

in appearance, but since it is on the low side in the system, the evaporator is not
subject to such high pressures as the condenser.

 Operating pressures seldom go as high as 200 psi (approx. 13.8 bar), and the
units normally have a design burst pressure of 1,000 psi (approx. 69 bar).

 The refrigerant should use the entire length of the evaporator when changing
from liquid into vapour, yet there should be no liquid left at the evaporator
discharge
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Condenser

 The condenser is the radiator-like component which receives the hot, high-
pressure vapours from the compressor and allows cool air to flow over its
coils and removes the heat from the refrigeration vapours so they change
back into a liquid.

 The condenser is made of copper tubing with aluminum fins pressed onto it,
formed into a set of coils, and mounted in an aluminum housing.
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Thermal expansion valve

 The thermal expansion valve, sometimes called the TXV, is the control device which
meters just the amount of refrigerant into the evaporator needed to completely
evaporate by the time it reaches the end of the coils.

 The opening, or orifice, in the valve is controlled by the heat load in the aircraft cabin.

❖ There are 2 types of thermal expansion valves,

 The internally equalised valve and the externally equalised valve.
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AIR CYCLE COOLING

❖ Air cycle cooling is based on the principle of dissipating heat by

converting its energy into work.

❖ The principal components of a typical system are:

 the primary and the secondary air--to--air heat exchangers
 a turbo--compressor cold air unit
 a water separator
 a mixing unit
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AIR CYCLE MACHINE
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OPERATION
❖ In Air cycle machines, high pressure bleed air from the engines is first passed
through a primary heat exchanger to a compressor, further compressing the
already hot gas.
❖ It is then routed through a secondary heat exchanger to remove heat.
❖ The now cooler but still highly compressed air passes through an expansion
chamber into a larger chamber.
❖ The combine effects of driving the turbine and expanding into a larger chamber
eventually cools the air, close to freezing.
❖ Water traps are critical in the system to prevent freeze up.
❖ The expansion turbine is connected by shaft to the ACM’s compressor.
❖ The expanding air works to compress the upstream bleed air similar to the way a
turbine engine or piston engine turbocharger works.
DIAGRAM 38
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ADVANTAGES

❖ Suitable for turbine aircraft due to the supply of already compressed bleed
air
❖ Simple system and no need for special coolant or refrigerant

DISADVANTAGES
❖ ACM’s require significant volumes of bleed air
❖ The turbine components makes ACM’s relatively expensive
 Ventilation and Air-conditioning

 Various system configurations of environmental control systems can be found in modern

aircraft.

❖ Heating and Ventilation System

…installed in a typical twin-engine commuter aircraft.
Hot bleed air is ducted from both engines via flow limiters, shut-off valves, thermal ducts
and check valves. This hot air is pressure- regulated by the pressure reducing and shut-off
valve, flow-regulated via the temperature regulating valve and mixed in the mixing
chamber with ambient air.
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Ventilation con’t…

 A fan with check valve delivers the temperature-controlled air to the

distribution system. If the bleed air system is switched off, the cabin and
cockpit can be ventilated with ambient air via the fan.
 SYSTEM LAYOUT

❖A Typical Air-conditioning System Consists Of The Following Subsystems

 Bleed air supply
 Control and distribution subsystem
 Heating subsystem
 Cooling subsystem(air-conditioning system only)
 Emergency ventilation
 Temperature control subsystem
 Bleed Air Supply Subsystem

 The bleed air subsystem feeds hot compressed air from each engine into the heating
or the air-conditioning system.
❖ Components:
 Bleed Air Flow Limiters,
 Bleed Air Shut-Off Valves,
 Thermal Ducts,
 Check Valves,
 Expansion Compensators
 Bleed Air Pipes With Lagging

❖ The components are installed in the leading edge area of the center wing
❖ Bleed Air Flow Limiters:
 Restrict the amount of bleed air from the engines by a means of a plate with a
drilled hole attached to the bleed outlet pipe

 These are fitted to the left and right engines to reduce the flow from the second
stage centrifugal compressors to the heating and the ventilation system.

❖ Bleed Air Shut-off Valves:

 They are electrically controlled by the BLEED AIR switches on the PNEUMATIC
control panel via a solenoid, but are pneumatically operated.
❖ Thermal Ducts:
The thermal ducts are mounted in the engine nacelles around the engines and
are installed between the bleed air shut-off valves and the expansion
compensators in the bleed air lines on both engines.

❖ Bleed Air Check Valves:

They prevent reverse airflow after engine shut-down.

❖ Expansion Compensators:
Serve the purpose of compensating the thermal expansion in the bleed air
piping.
 Heating Subsystem

 In the heating subsystem, hot bleed air is mixed with cold ambient air
from the static air inlet and the resultant temperature-controlled air is
fed to the distribution subsystem.

 The hot bleed air is pressure-controlled by the pressure reducing and

shut-off valve while the flow is controlled by the temperature control
valve.
Cooling Subsystem (Air-conditioning System Only)

The system consists of the following components:

 pressure reducing and shut-off valve (see heating system)
 Venturi
 overpressure switch
 heat exchanger
 cold air unit
 mixing chamber
 water separator
 water injector
 Elapsed time indicator.
❖ Venturi:
 The Venturi is fitted downstream of the pressure reducing and shut-off valve.
The Venturi is an intermediate pipe section whose function is to reduce the
bleed airflow.

❖ Overpressure Switch:
 This switch is installed in the supply line downstream of the Venturi and
provides a warning to protect the cooling turbine when overpressure occurs.
❖ Heat Exchanger:
 The outlet line of the heat exchanger is connected to the cooling turbine where the
air is further cooled.

❖ Cold Air Unit:

 The cold air unit is fitted in the air-conditioning system between the heat exchanger
and the mixing chamber.

❖ Mixing Chamber:
 It combines the cold air fed from the cold air unit with the hot bleed air fed via the
temperature control valve.
❖ Water Separator:
The water separator removes the moisture from the conditioned air and is a
coalesce/swirl type with a relief valve.

❖ Water Injector:
Is used to inject water drained from the water separator, onto the cooling air
upstream of the heat exchanger. The source of air supply for the injector primary
nozzle is taken from the heat exchanger cold air outlet.

 Water injection into the cooling air increases the heat exchanger efficiency.
❖ Elapsed Time Indicator:
It is electrically driven and indicates in hours and tenths of an hour
the total operating time of the air-conditioning system for cold air
unit scheduled maintenance purposes.
 Emergency Ventilation

 The emergency ventilation subsystem consists of a ram air shut-off valve located in
the heating compartment. The purpose of the subsystem is to provide emergency
ventilation if the heating and ventilation or air-conditioning system malfunctions.

 FUNCTION AND OPERATION

In case of malfunction of the heating and ventilation or air-conditioning system, the
AIR COND HIGH/NORM/RAM AIR switch on the control unit must be set to the RAM
AIR position. This shuts the normal heating and ventilation or air-conditioning system
and opens the ram air shut-off valve. Ambient air flows via the ram air inlet into the
distribution subsystem.
Temperature Controller:
The controller regulates the cabin temperature according to the setting of the AUTO SELECT
temperature selector on the control panel. The temperature controller can operate in 2 modes:
1. Automatic mode
2. Manual mode.
Temperature Control Valve:
This valve controls the cabin temperature by regulating the flow of hot bleed air into the mixing
chamber.
Over temperature Switch:
The over temperature switch provides warning should an over temperature condition occur in the
distribution subsystem.
Cabin and Duct Temperature Sensors
There are 2 temperature sensors fitted for regulating the cabin temperature.

 One sensor is located in the cabin and the other is fitted in the duct.

Maintenance Considerations
The lagging used in air-conditioning system piping may be repaired according to the relevant
chapter of the appropriate aircraft maintenance manual.
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CONTROL AND DISTRIBUTION SUBSYSTEMS

 The control and distribution subsystem directs temperature—controlled air or

conditioned air (when air--conditioning is fitted) to the air outlets in the cabin and
cockpit.

❖ System Components
The system comprises the following components:
 Control unit PNEUMATIC
 Cabin distribution
 Fixed floor air outlets
 Cockpit distribution
 Adjustable cockpit air outlets
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Distribution

❖ ln larger aircraft the conditioned air is distributed to the passenger cabin through
underfloor and hat-rack ducting, the latter containing outlet grilles and individual—
adjustable cold air louvres which are supplied from a cold air source.

❖ The distribution of air to the flight crew compartments may in same cases be via
separate ducting.

❖ In other cases the air may be supplied by tapping the passenger cabin’s ducting.

❖ Typical locations for the air outlets are at floor and roof levels and in sidewalls.
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DIAGRAM
Adjustable cold air louvres 58
CONCLUSION

ANY QUESTIONS