Faculty of Engineering

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Spring 2020

HEATING VENTILATION AND AIR CONDITIONING

Final Project – AC for an Aircraft

Prepared by:

Christina M

Date of Submission:

11/5/2020
Contents
List of Figures............................................................................................................................................3
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................4
General Concepts......................................................................................................................................4
Heat Exchange with Exhaust Gases.....................................................................................................4
Combustion Chamber...........................................................................................................................5
Vapor Cycle............................................................................................................................................6
System Description of A320......................................................................................................................6
Assumptions...............................................................................................................................................7
Calculation.................................................................................................................................................8
Cfm supplied to each compartment.....................................................................................................8
Fan Total Pressure...............................................................................................................................10
Cockpit Cabin....................................................................................................................................10
FWD and AFT Cabins.......................................................................................................................11
Dampers...............................................................................................................................................12
Fan and Grill Selection..........................................................................................................................13
References.................................................................................................................................................14
Appendix..................................................................................................................................................15

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List of Figures

Figure 1 Heat Exchange between ambient air and exhaust gases................................................................3

Figure 1 Heat Exchange between ambient air and exhaust gases................................................................5
Figure 2 Heating air combustion chamber...................................................................................................6
Figure 3 Vapor Cycle..................................................................................................................................6
Figure 4 Airbus A320 AC system (by Airbus A320 Systems).....................................................................7
Figure 5 Ducting schematic and temperature distribution (by Airbus A320 Systems)................................8
Figure 6 Autocad drawing of aircraft duct design........................................................................................9
Figure 7 Autocad drawing showing details of cockpit duct design............................................................11
Figure 8 Autocad design to FWD and AFT cabins....................................................................................12

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Introduction

When talking about aircrafts, most of the flight time is spent at high altitudes with pressures and
temperatures well below sea level. Cabin air needs to be conditioned to ensure pressure and
temperatures are compatible with a comfortable and safe flight. Therefore, an air-conditioning
system is required for survival and comfort at high altitudes. The main purposes of this air
conditioning system is to provide adequate flow of fresh air to the interior, and to control the
temperature and relative humidity to maintain the passengers’ comfort.

The air conditioning system is designed in such a way that each passenger and crew
compartment is ventilated, and each crew compartment is provided with enough fresh air. A
minimum amount of air flow per crew member is set by regulations, to enable them to perform
their duties without undue discomfort or fatigue. In addition, carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon
dioxide (CO2) concentrations must be well regulated inside the compartments, based on
predefined standards. Regarding temperature and humidity control throughout the cabins, cabin
air temperature must be maintained between 18ºC and 24ºC (65ºF and 75ºF) while humidity
control is usually not mandatory. However, relative humidity is usually kept at a certain level for
passenger comfort.

General Concepts

In general, an aircraft can be pressurized or non-pressurized. For non-pressurized aircrafts,

heating can be done in 3 ways: A heat exchanger with the engine exhaust gasses (will be
discussed), a dedicated combustion chamber (will be discussed), a cabin supercharger or blower.
Whereas for pressurized aircrafts: Air Cycle Machines (Brake turbine, turbo fan, bootstrap
system), Vapor Cycle System (will be discussed).

Heat Exchange with Exhaust Gases

Typical system used on small trainer aircrafts (e.g. Piper Warrior). The speed of the aircraft and
the selected temperature will determine the airflow into the cabin.

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 Figure 1 Heat Exchange between ambient air and exhaust gases

Hot exhaust gases exchange heat with the cold fresh air which becomes warm. The heat control
controls the flow rate of air that should be supplied to the cabin. This is an open system, no
return, after use, the air is dumped overboard through a vent on the underside of the aircraft. This
type of heater requires regular inspections to ensure that toxic exhaust gases are not entering the
manned areas.

Combustion Chamber

The combustion chamber is used in more modern light aircrafts where two air sources are
necessary. One source feeds the combustion chamber, while the air is to be heated for the air
conditioning system. This system depends on the burning fuel from the engine to supply hot air,
thus when the aircraft is still on the ground, ram air is forced into the system through a fan,
which switches off during the flight.

Figure 2 Heating air combustion chamber

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Vapor Cycle

It is based on the cycle of operation of a refrigerator, and its use is limited to small aircraft with
piston engine. The system uses a refrigerant (normally Freon) which alternates between the
vapor and liquid states. It is compressed, cooled, expanded and heated in that order. The
refrigerant is a liquid that boils at approximately 3.5ºC at sea level atmospheric pressure.

Figure 3 Vapor Cycle

System Description of A320

To define bleed air, it is the air that is extracted from the compressor of the engine or an auxiliary
power unit (APU), usually at a very high temperature. Most modern gas turbine engine aircrafts
have a bleed air system, which takes hot pressurized air from the engine’s compressors and feeds
it into the bleed air duct. The APU may also supply bleed air prior to starting the engine. This air
is used to supply the charge air for the aircraft AC system. Since the bleed air is always supplied
at a high temperature, it needs to be cooled before it is distributed to the cabins of the plane.

In the case of the A320 aircraft, hot bleed air is supplied to two independent air conditioning
packs, that will cool the air to the desired cabin temperature. The flow rate of the entering air is
regulated by a control valve. Once the air enters the pack, the air is cooled by two heat
exchangers and an air cycle machine consisting of a compressor and a turbine. The heat
exchangers cool the hot bleed air by supplying a flow of cool ambient air, that enters from an air

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inlet flap and exits from the air outlet flap. The process of hot bleed air cooling in one of the
packs is shown in the below figure.

Figure 4 Airbus A320 AC system (by Airbus A320 Systems)

Assumptions

The design of the air conditioning system will be performed on the A320 commercial aircraft
model. In order to proceed with the design, several assumptions must be made:

 The recommended cabin temperatures are as follows:

 Cockpit temperature = 20°C
 Forward cabin temperature = 22°C
 AFT cabin temperature = 23°C
 The recommended air supply per passenger is 4.72L/s, provided by 2 air conditioning
packs.
 Maximum passenger capacity on the A320 is 170.
 The calculation will be conducted for the case where the aircraft is in flight at a constant
cruising altitude of 10,000m. Therefore, air will be supplied only from the bleed air.
 Density of air at the cruising altitude is 0.4135kg/m3. (Appendix B)

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  The dimensions of each cabin are presented in Appendix A. The floor to ceiling elevation
is 4.14m.
 Loss coefficient at each outlet will be taken as 1
 All duct turns will be assumed to be 45° WYEs
 The ducting layout along with approximate temperature distributions of an A320 aircraft
is provided by AIRBUS A320 Systems: Systems Description and will be similar to the
next figure.

Figure 5 Ducting schematic and temperature distribution (by Airbus A320 Systems)

Calculation

The schematic diagram of the top view of the aircraft’s air conditioning system is represented below, with
the path of the airflow.

Cfm supplied to each compartment

As mentioned earlier, ASHRAE recommend a fresh air supply of 4.72L/s per occupant of the
aircraft. Thus the total required air supply, taking the maximum capacity, will be:

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 Figure 6 Autocad drawing of aircraft duct design

4.72 L
s L
Q=n .of occupants × =170 × 4.72=802.4 =0.802 m3 /s
person s

Converting the above result, the total required cfm is = 1700

This is the total air supply to all the aircraft. To find the supply to each cabin, the ratio of area of
each compartment to the total area must be taken to account. The areas that will be considered
are surface areas, so they will be taken to be rectangular.

Total area AT = 29.64 × 3.95=117.078 m 2

Cockpit area AC = 5.07 ×3.95=20 m 2

FWD area AF = 12.63 ×3.95=49.88 m 2

AFT area AA = ( 29.64−12.63−5.07 ) × 3.95=47.163 m2

AC 20
cfm(cockpit) = × cfm= × 1700=290.4 (0.137 m3 /s )
AT 117.078

AF 49.88
cfm(FWD) = × cfm= × 1700=724.2(0.341 m3 /s)
AT 117.078

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 AA 47.163
cfm(AFT) = × cfm= ×1700=684.8(0.323 /s)
AT 117.078

Fan Total Pressure

In order to find the fan total pressure, the velocity reduction method will be used. This method is
recommended for circular duct designs, where dampers must be introduced to maintain balance
in the duct. To proceed with this method, the air velocity, along with the flowrate, must be
provided in each main and branch duct. According to ASHRAE, “The passenger cabin is most
similar to buildings with very high occupant densities, such as theaters or lecture halls.” (Chapter
13, ASHRAE Handbook). Based on that standard, the main supply duct velocity will be assumed
to be 7.5 m/s, and the branches supply velocity to be 6 m/s. (APPENDIX C)

Now, knowing the flow rates and the velocity in each duct, the pressure drop and the equivalent
diameters can be found. A chart is provided by ASHRAE, from which these values can be
directly derived (Appendix E)

∆P
For the main duct, V=7.5m/s and Q=0.802m3/s => Deq,main = 380mm and = 1.5Pa/m
L

∆P
For the cockpit duct, V=6m/s and Q=0.137m3/s => Deq,cockpit = 170mm and = 2.8Pa/m
L

∆P
For the FWD duct, V=6m/s and Q=0.341m3/s => Deq,FWD = 270mm and = 2.7Pa/m
L

∆P
For the AFT duct, V=6m/s and Q=0.323m3/s => Deq,AFT = 260mm and = 2.75Pa/m
L

To find the fan total pressure FTP, the pressure drop in each of the three zones is first evaluated.

Cockpit Cabin

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 Figure 7 Autocad drawing showing details of cockpit duct design

ΔPcockpit = ΔPmain + ΔPWYE + ΔPbranch + ΔPexit

ΔP main=1.5 ( 1.23+12 )=19.845 Pa

To find the loss coefficient C0, the ratio of velocities is found to derive Co from Appendix D. The
main velocity is 7.5m/s and the branch velocity is 6m/s. 6/7.5=0.8 so Co=0.51

ρ ×V 2 0.4135 ×62
ΔP WYE=C o ( 2 ) =0.51× (2 )
=3.795 Pa

ΔPbranch=2.8 ( 1 )=2.8 Pa

ρ× V 2 0.4135× 62
ΔPexit =C o ( 2
=)( 2 )
=7.443 Pa

So ΔPcockpit = 19.845 + 3.795 + 2.8 + 7.443 = 33.883Pa

FWD and AFT Cabins

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 Figure 8 Autocad design to FWD and AFT cabins

ΔPFWD = ΔPmain + ΔPWYE + ΔPbranch + ΔPexit

ΔP main=1.5 ( 1.23+4.5+ 8 )=20.595 Pa

Similar to the previous case to find the WYE pressure drop:

ρ ×V 2 0.4135 ×62
ΔP WYE=C o ( 2 ) =0.51×( 2 )
=3.795 Pa

ΔPbranch=2.7 ( 1 )=2.7 Pa

ρ× V 2 0.4135× 62
ΔPexit =C o ( 2
=)( 2 )
=7.443 Pa

ΔPFWD = 20.595 + 3.795 + 2.7 + 7.443 = 34.533Pa

ΔPAFT = ΔPmain + ΔPWYE + ΔPbranch + ΔPexit

ΔP main=1.5 ( 1.23+4.5+ 8+6 ) =29.595 Pa

Similar to the previous case to find the WYE pressure drop:

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 ρ ×V 2 0.4135 ×62
ΔP WYE=C o ( 2 ) =0.51×( 2 )=3.795 Pa

ΔPbranch=2.75 ( 1 )=2.75 Pa

ρ× V 2 0.4135× 62
ΔPexit =C o ( 2
=)( 2 )
=7.443 Pa

ΔPAFT = 29.595 + 3.795 + 2.75 + 7.443 = 43.583Pa

The fan total pressure is then the value of the highest drop => FTP=43.583Pa

Dampers

In order to balance the system, dampers must be added to the 1m duct leading to each of the
cockpit and the FWD cabin.

ΔPcockpit damper = FTP - ΔPcockpit = 43.583 – 33.883 = 9.7Pa

ΔPFWD damper = FTP – ΔPFWD = 43.583 – 34.533 = 9.05Pa

Fan and Grill Selection

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References

AIRBUS A320, Aircraft Characteristics Airport and Maintenance Planning, Revised Apr 01/20

ASHRAE Handbook, Chapters 13, https://www.ashrae.org/file%20library/technical

%20resources/covid-19/si_a19_ch13.pdf

ASHRAE Handbook – 2005, Chapter 35 – Duct Design (SI)

Conforti F., AIRBUS A320 Systems: Systems Description, Biblioteca Aeronáutica, 2019

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Appendix

A- A320 Dimensions

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B- Variation of properties of air as a function of altitude in SI Units

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C- Recommended air velocity for several applications

D- Loss Coefficient through 45° WYE

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E- Friction Chart for Round Duct in SI Units

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