The aim of the article was to develop a tool to support the process of planning and managing aircraft (ac) maintenance. Aircraft maintenance management has been presented for scheduled technical inspections resulting from manufacturers’ technical documentation for ac. The authors defined the problem under investigation in the form of a four-phase decisionmaking process taking into account assignment of aircraft to airports and maintenance stations, assignment of crew to maintenance points, setting the schedules, i.e. working days on which aircraft are directed to maintenance facilities. This approach to the planning and management of aircraft maintenance is a new approach, unprecedented in the literature. The authors have developed a mathematical model for aircraft maintenance planning and management in a multi-criteria approach and an optimisation tool based on the operation of a genetic algorithm. To solve the problem, a genetic algorithm was proposed. The individual steps of the algorithm construction were discussed and its effectiveness was verified using real data.

The paper presents diagnoses of example start-up processes of drive units built in military aircraft operated in the Dęblin's “School of Eaglets” during the flight. The significance of this process is very important, especially from the point of view of flight safety, especially as it concerns the training aircraft, on which officer cadets-candidates for pilots are trained. The diagnosis of the start-up process was conducted using data from on-board flight recorders recorded during a flight training, whose aim was an emergency launch of particular drive units, and with the help of the so-called phase mapping of the selected operating parameters of the particular flight drive systems. The standard diagram of typical start-up systems was shown, while presenting their base subassemblies. At the end, the obtained results and the main problems that need intervention were commented, as well as further preventive activities were proposed.

The paper contains analysis of the impact on the quality of the fuel spray of droplets on the number and the value of the surface area of the droplets that have a direct impact on the efficiency of the combustion process. It presents a change in the level of toxic exhaust emissions with an increase in the so-called. Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD) of fuel droplets. The presented figures show that the increase in the average droplet diameter SMD in particular causes an increase of toxic exhaust gases emissions, i.e. mainly nitrogen oxides NO, carbon monoxide CO, hydrocarbons HC and Particulate Matter (PM). This tendency is not constant, because it is changing according to changes of the coefficient of equivalence Φ. For example, emissions of nitrogen oxides for the lean mixtures (Φ <1), with an increase in average droplet diameter increases, while now for the rich mixtures (Φ> 1), this trend is significantly changed, i.e. the level of this emission decreases.

In recent years, organic Rankine cycle (ORC) micro-turbine distributed energy systems have become increasingly popular. Design methods for this type of fluid-flow machinery are still being developed. In this paper, a 2.5-kW radialflow four-stage ORC micro-turbine with HFE7100 is experimentally and numerically analysed. CFX ANSYS was used for the numerical analysis as well as a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in-house code based on finite volume discretisation with Godunov-type upwind differencing, a high-resolution essentially non-oscillatory (ENO) scheme and a turbulence model with twoequation shear stress transport (SST). The experimental stand and measurements are described. The numerical results are compared with experimental ones and prove to be satisfactory. The developed micro-turbine does not require the use of any traditional lubricant (oil-free technology) because the bearings are lubricated with the vapour of the low-boiling HFE7100. The developed micro-turbine is an innovative solution providing maintenance-free operation and high durability with low friction losses. The experimental studies have also confirmed a considerable reduction in noise and vibration levels.

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The paper aims to verify the thesis that the reactivity model, developed in earlier research, can be used to compare the fuels combustion processes in turbine engines, which is important for predicting the behavior of different alternative fuels in combustion process. Synthetic blending components from alcohol to jet and hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids technologies and their blends with conventional jet fuel were used in tests. The undertaken laboratory tests reveal the differences between the properties of the tested fuels. Bench tests were carried out on a test rig with a miniature turbojet engine, according to authorial methodology. For each blend, on selected points of rotational speed the carbon oxide concentration in the exhaust gases was recorded. The obtained results allowed the formulation of empirical power functions describing relations between carbon oxide concentration and fuel mass flow rate. Based on general assumptions, the reactivity model was adopted to compare the combustion processes of the different fuels in turbine engines. The directions of further research on the development of the proposed model were indicated.

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The article analyses the impact of emulsified fuel, containing H2O2 hydrogen peroxide, on the emissions of nitrogen oxides and diesel engine smoke. The process of forming toxic components in exhaust gases of reciprocating engines during the engine operation, and the relationship that specifies the hydrogen peroxide decomposition process were presented. The research was carried out with the use of fuel containing 30%, 20% and 10% of hydrogen peroxide. The concentration courses of the nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), as well as the (CO) carbon monoxide concentration and (S) engine smoke courses were shown separately for the external characteristics of the engine. Finally, the importance of knowledge related to the mechanisms of generation of toxic components in exhaust gases in the reciprocating engines was emphasised.