Cabin Air Management Technology
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Cabin Air Management Technology
I have just come across this press release on the BAE Systems web-site. Does anyone know anything about it or which BAe 146 operators have installed it? Seems like a great advance in technology.
Cabin Air Management Technology Sets New Standards For Airline Industry - BAE Systems
Cabin Air Management Technology Sets New Standards For Airline Industry - BAE Systems
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Andy - suggest you drop David Dorman an email and he should be able to give you guidance on this subject. The detail was not able to be included in the news release but David, who is working as part of the BAE Systems' team on this project, might be able to say more. I do know the Company is also looking to install the system in the 146 aircraft operated by its own Corporate Air Travel business. BSJ
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Improved Cabin Air Management System
Interesting development launched today at the Royal Aeronautical Society. A subject often covered on Prune:
Cabin Air Management Technology Sets New Standards For Airline Industry - BAE Systems
Cabin Air Management Technology Sets New Standards For Airline Industry - BAE Systems
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oldfrontseater
Andy, why not visit Quest International at Untitled Document
they invented, developed, tested and now produce the system
they invented, developed, tested and now produce the system
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Better Late than Never
BAe have finally pulled their collective fingers out.
A bit late for those who have suffered and those who continue to suffer but I suppose it is better late than never.
Cabin Air Management Technology Sets New Standards For Airline Industry - BAE Systems
A bit late for those who have suffered and those who continue to suffer but I suppose it is better late than never.
Cabin Air Management Technology Sets New Standards For Airline Industry - BAE Systems
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Getting rid of bad breath?
Interesting article on the Economist. I doubt it'll become reality though ... 
Breathing more easily
Sep 17th 2009
From The Economist print edition
The air inside aircraft could soon be cleaner and more comfortable to breathe
ONE concern of travellers is that flying can make you ill. Despite soothing reassurances from airlines that the air inside an aircraft’s cabin is as clean as it can be, hundreds of people cooped up in a small space for a long time increases the risk of catching an infection. Viral diseases such as swine flu have spread quickly around the world by air. There are also pollutants to worry about: some airline staff claim to have been made seriously ill by engine fumes leaking into the cabin.
A new development could help passengers and crew breathe more easily. This week two British firms—BAE Systems, a defence and aerospace giant, and Quest International, a small producer of equipment used to sanitise the air in hospitals and nursing homes—announced that they had successfully adapted Quest’s technology for use in aircraft. They make bold claims for AirManager, their new system. It can be fitted during a routine overnight service and uses less power than a light bulb, but is capable of zapping just about all the bacteria, viruses and other biohazards in cabin air—as well as destroying chemical contaminants and pollutants. And it also removes nasty smells.
Staying alive
Air has to be pumped into the fuselage of an aircraft once it flies above 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) because from there the air outside starts to become thin with too little oxygen to keep people alive. In the early days of commercial flight, when piston engines turned propellers, electrical generators were used to provide the power to pressurise the cabin. But with the arrival of faster, higher-flying jets, aircraft-makers found it more efficient to pressurise the fuselage by “bleeding” some of the air entering the compressor stage of the jet turbine (before it is mixed with fuel and ignited).
At first only fresh air was taken from the engines. But as jets have become more fuel-efficient, air bled from the engine has been mixed with recycled air from the cabin. This is because the big fans mounted on modern “high bypass” jet engines achieve thrust more efficiently by sending a larger volume of air around the turbine rather than through it. With less air available in the compressor, any that is bled off means the turbine has to work harder, which in turn increases fuel consumption. Typically an airline will strike a balance by using a 50:50 mixture of fresh and recirculated cabin air, although pilots can reduce the amount of fresh air to save fuel. Some are thought to cut it back to only 20%.
The mixed air is maintained in the cabin at a pressure which is equivalent to an altitude of 2,500 metres and is passed through what are called high-efficiency particulate arrest (HEPA) filters. Provided they are well maintained, HEPA filters will trap most microscopic particles. But some things can get through, especially tiny viruses. The new AirManager system is said to kill 99.999% of pathogens in a single pass. Even on a short flight of about one hour, the cabin air will pass through the filters around 30 times.
David Hallam, inventor of the technology and a director of Quest, says the device works by generating a non-thermal plasma (sometimes called a “cold plasma”) using a high voltage to strip electrons from some of the molecules in a gas. The plasma is confined using an electric field and the cabin air is passed through it. The free electrons disrupt the molecular bonds of any particles in the air, causing them to break up into electrically charged pieces. An electrically charged filter then traps the bits like fly paper.
When Mr Hallam approached BAE to see if it could help adapt his invention for aircraft, some of the bigger company’s engineers were sceptical. But after four years of validation, BAE has been convinced. It has tested the AirManager with five European airlines that operate BAE’s small regional jet and recently obtained certification for an airline to fit the units to a Boeing 757. “There is a very tangible difference in the quality of air being breathed according to aircrew,” says Sean McGovern, who runs BAE’s regional-aircraft business.
The companies will now offer the system to operators of other Boeing and Airbus aircraft. Each unit costs about $16,000. Two are needed on a BAE regional jet and five on an aircraft like the 757. By allowing air to be recycled more safely, the devices could pay for themselves within a year by reducing the amount of engine-bled air that is needed and hence fuel consumption, says Mr McGovern.
Another advance that will make flying more comfortable in the coming years is the greater use of carbon fibre, especially by Boeing and Airbus, to make aircraft fuselages. Carbon fibre is stiffer than aluminium, which has long been used to make aircraft, and does not suffer from metal fatigue. One reason cabin pressures are kept low at the moment is to avoid stressing the fuselage too much. The use of carbon fibre will make it possible to pressurise cabins to a higher, more comfortable level.
Nor does carbon fibre corrode, so the air inside the cabin will not have to be kept quite so dry—which often leaves passengers with a wrung-out feeling after a long flight. And with recent advances in power electronics, Boeing has decided that it is now more efficient to go back to using electrical generators to pressurise the air in the cabin. This change will start with its forthcoming (and much-delayed) 787, which is supposed to fly for the first time by the end of the year. That will put an end to the trade-off between air quality and fuel consumption. As all these developments start to reach the market, passengers may start checking not just flight schedules and fares before booking a journey but also their airline’s cabin-air quality.
Breathing more easily
Sep 17th 2009
From The Economist print edition
The air inside aircraft could soon be cleaner and more comfortable to breathe
ONE concern of travellers is that flying can make you ill. Despite soothing reassurances from airlines that the air inside an aircraft’s cabin is as clean as it can be, hundreds of people cooped up in a small space for a long time increases the risk of catching an infection. Viral diseases such as swine flu have spread quickly around the world by air. There are also pollutants to worry about: some airline staff claim to have been made seriously ill by engine fumes leaking into the cabin.
A new development could help passengers and crew breathe more easily. This week two British firms—BAE Systems, a defence and aerospace giant, and Quest International, a small producer of equipment used to sanitise the air in hospitals and nursing homes—announced that they had successfully adapted Quest’s technology for use in aircraft. They make bold claims for AirManager, their new system. It can be fitted during a routine overnight service and uses less power than a light bulb, but is capable of zapping just about all the bacteria, viruses and other biohazards in cabin air—as well as destroying chemical contaminants and pollutants. And it also removes nasty smells.
Staying alive
Air has to be pumped into the fuselage of an aircraft once it flies above 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) because from there the air outside starts to become thin with too little oxygen to keep people alive. In the early days of commercial flight, when piston engines turned propellers, electrical generators were used to provide the power to pressurise the cabin. But with the arrival of faster, higher-flying jets, aircraft-makers found it more efficient to pressurise the fuselage by “bleeding” some of the air entering the compressor stage of the jet turbine (before it is mixed with fuel and ignited).
At first only fresh air was taken from the engines. But as jets have become more fuel-efficient, air bled from the engine has been mixed with recycled air from the cabin. This is because the big fans mounted on modern “high bypass” jet engines achieve thrust more efficiently by sending a larger volume of air around the turbine rather than through it. With less air available in the compressor, any that is bled off means the turbine has to work harder, which in turn increases fuel consumption. Typically an airline will strike a balance by using a 50:50 mixture of fresh and recirculated cabin air, although pilots can reduce the amount of fresh air to save fuel. Some are thought to cut it back to only 20%.
The mixed air is maintained in the cabin at a pressure which is equivalent to an altitude of 2,500 metres and is passed through what are called high-efficiency particulate arrest (HEPA) filters. Provided they are well maintained, HEPA filters will trap most microscopic particles. But some things can get through, especially tiny viruses. The new AirManager system is said to kill 99.999% of pathogens in a single pass. Even on a short flight of about one hour, the cabin air will pass through the filters around 30 times.
David Hallam, inventor of the technology and a director of Quest, says the device works by generating a non-thermal plasma (sometimes called a “cold plasma”) using a high voltage to strip electrons from some of the molecules in a gas. The plasma is confined using an electric field and the cabin air is passed through it. The free electrons disrupt the molecular bonds of any particles in the air, causing them to break up into electrically charged pieces. An electrically charged filter then traps the bits like fly paper.
When Mr Hallam approached BAE to see if it could help adapt his invention for aircraft, some of the bigger company’s engineers were sceptical. But after four years of validation, BAE has been convinced. It has tested the AirManager with five European airlines that operate BAE’s small regional jet and recently obtained certification for an airline to fit the units to a Boeing 757. “There is a very tangible difference in the quality of air being breathed according to aircrew,” says Sean McGovern, who runs BAE’s regional-aircraft business.
The companies will now offer the system to operators of other Boeing and Airbus aircraft. Each unit costs about $16,000. Two are needed on a BAE regional jet and five on an aircraft like the 757. By allowing air to be recycled more safely, the devices could pay for themselves within a year by reducing the amount of engine-bled air that is needed and hence fuel consumption, says Mr McGovern.
Another advance that will make flying more comfortable in the coming years is the greater use of carbon fibre, especially by Boeing and Airbus, to make aircraft fuselages. Carbon fibre is stiffer than aluminium, which has long been used to make aircraft, and does not suffer from metal fatigue. One reason cabin pressures are kept low at the moment is to avoid stressing the fuselage too much. The use of carbon fibre will make it possible to pressurise cabins to a higher, more comfortable level.
Nor does carbon fibre corrode, so the air inside the cabin will not have to be kept quite so dry—which often leaves passengers with a wrung-out feeling after a long flight. And with recent advances in power electronics, Boeing has decided that it is now more efficient to go back to using electrical generators to pressurise the air in the cabin. This change will start with its forthcoming (and much-delayed) 787, which is supposed to fly for the first time by the end of the year. That will put an end to the trade-off between air quality and fuel consumption. As all these developments start to reach the market, passengers may start checking not just flight schedules and fares before booking a journey but also their airline’s cabin-air quality.
Carbon fibre is stiffer than aluminium, which has long been used to make aircraft, and does not suffer from metal fatigue.
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I used to go bell ringing where the ropes were situated high up the church tower, the 800 year old tower used to move quite frighteningly. Had it been rigid it would have crashed down long ago!
