Refrigeration – Automatic control – Air compessor – cooler and expander
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-02
2003-12-23
Doerrler, William C. (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Automatic control
Air compessor, cooler and expander
C062S078000, C062S086000, C062S401000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06666039
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an air conditioner used to control the internal temperature, humidity, oxygen partial pressure and pressure of aircraft, including fixed-wing aircraft and rotating-wing aircraft.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
As air conditioners in aircraft, conventionally air cycle cooling devices were chiefly employed in which temperature-adjusted and pressure-adjusted cooled air is obtained by using a radial compressor to perform adiabatic compression of extracted air compressed in a compression section of an engine, after subjecting the air to heat exchanging with external air for cooling, and by using an expansion turbine to perform adiabatic expansion of the air after again subjecting the adiabatic compressed air to heat exchanging with external air for cooling.
Specifically, in the conventional aircraft air conditioner shown in
FIG. 16
, air extracted from engine
101
is cooled by a heat exchanger called a pre-cooler
102
before being practically adiabatically compressed by a radial compressor
103
; the air which has thereby been raised in temperature is cooled by a heat exchanger called a main cooler
104
and practically adiabatically expanded by expansion turbine
105
. Cooled air is thereby obtained. In this pre-cooler
102
and main cooler
104
, cooling is performed by external air passing through ram air flow path
109
. The expansion work of this expansion turbine
105
is utilized as compressive power by being transmitted to compressor
103
through shaft
106
. It should be noted that when the aircraft is on the ground or in low-level flight, the external air temperature is high and the moisture content of the air is high, so when expansion takes place in the expansion turbine
105
, moisture in the air condenses and a mist of water droplets is formed. A water separator
107
is therefore arranged downstream of expansion turbine
105
to capture the moisture. Cabin cooling is performed by supplying the cooled air that has passed through this water separator
107
to the interior of cabin
108
, including the cockpit space of the aircraft. If the engine is stopped while the aircraft is on the ground, it is arranged to be possible to supply extracted air from a high-pressure air supply unit such as an auxiliary engine called an auxiliary power unit, instead of engine
101
, to the air conditioner.
In order to perform cabin heating at high altitude etc., a bypass air flow path
111
is provided to feed air extracted from engine
101
into cabin
108
; this bypass air flow path
111
is opened/closed by means of a hot-air modulating valve
112
. Some of the extracted air is fed to a mixing duct
113
arranged downstream of water separator
107
instead of being cooled by the air cycle cooling device constituted by compressor
103
and expansion turbine
105
, by opening this hot-air modulating valve
112
. In this mixing duct
113
, extracted air cooled by the air cycle cooling device and extracted air that has not been cooled are mixed. Air of a suitable temperature is thus obtained by adjusting the degree of opening of hot-air modulating valve
112
. Cabin heating can be performed by supplying this air of suitable temperature into cabin
108
. When cruising at high altitude, the ram air flow path
109
is throttled, so the air extracted from engine
101
is kept in a moderately high temperature since it is not excessively cooled in pre-cooler
102
or main cooler
104
. The air within this cabin
108
is discharged directly into the space
114
outside the fuselage through pressure reducing valve
110
in an amount corresponding to the difference obtained by subtracting the amount of leakage from the fuselage from the amount supplied by the air conditioner.
In conventional air conditioners, in order to control the temperature and pressure and to prevent the reduction of oxygen concentration such as to achieve comfort of the people in the cabin, it is necessary to increase the rate of air extraction from engine
101
. It was therefore difficult to combine lowering of engine load with cabin comfort.
An object of the present invention is to provide an aircraft air conditioner capable of solving the above problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An aircraft air conditioner according to the present invention wherein air extracted from an engine that is fed through a main air flow path into an aircraft cabin is cooled by a cooling device comprises: an outflow air flow path for outflow of air in the cabin; an auxiliary air flow path for feeding air into the cabin; a plurality of adsorption sections respectively constituted of adsorption agent that adsorb molecules contained in the air and that release the adsorbed molecules by being raised in temperature to more than the temperature thereof on adsorption; an air flow path changeover mechanism; and a controller that controls the air flow path changeover mechanism, wherein each of the adsorption sections is made capable of being changed over between a condition in which it is connected to an auxiliary air flow path in which air of higher temperature than the air within the cabin flows and a condition in which it is connected to the outflow air flow path by means of the air flow path changeover mechanism; and each of the adsorption sections is changed over between the condition connected to the auxiliary air flow path and the condition connected to the outflow air flow path by controlling the air flow path changeover mechanism by the controller.
Preferably, the adsorption sections are constituted by at least either an adsorption agent capable of adsorbing water molecules or an adsorption agent capable of adsorbing oxygen molecules.
According to the present invention, when the air flowing out from the cabin into the outflow air flow path passes through the adsorption sections, the molecules contained in the air are adsorbed by the adsorption agent in the adsorption sections. When the air flowing in the auxiliary air flow path passes through the adsorption sections, since this air is of higher temperature than the air flowing out from the cabin, the molecules adsorbed by the adsorption agent in the adsorption sections are released into the air flowing in the auxiliary air flow path. Since the adsorption sections are changed over between a condition connected to the auxiliary air flow path and a condition connected to the outflow air flow path, the molecules contained in the air flowing out from the cabin can be returned into the cabin. Also, the adsorption agent in the adsorption sections is regenerated so that molecules in the air can again be adsorbed. If the adsorption agent adsorbs and releases water molecules, this adsorption and release of water molecules can contribute to maintaining humidity within the cabin. If the adsorption agent adsorbs and releases oxygen molecules, this adsorption and release of oxygen molecules can contribute to maintaining the oxygen concentration within the cabin. Furthermore, the present invention can easily be applied to small aircraft, because regeneration of the air in the cabin can be achieved by an uncomplicated construction of adding adsorption sections and a mechanism to change over the flow of air to these adsorption sections.
Preferably, when at least one adsorption section is connected to the auxiliary air flow path, at least one other adsorption section is connected to the outflow air flow path. In this way, adsorption and release of molecules into the air by the adsorption sections can be performed efficiently.
Preferably, there is provided a discharge mechanism capable of discharging at least some of the air flowing through the outflow air flow path to the space outside the fuselage in accordance with conditions during flight or the conditions of the air within the fuselage, after passing through the adsorption section. In this way, molecules contained in the air are absorbed before the air is discharged to the space outside the fuselage to maintain the pressure within the cabin at a suitable level, so molecules such as water or oxygen co
Mitani Hisashi
Saito Hidefumi
Doerrler William C.
Shimadzu Corporation
Westerman Hattori Daniels & Adrian LLP
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