Experimental studies of thermal environment and contaminant transport in a commercial aircraft cabin with gaspers on

Abstract

Gaspers installed in commercial airliner cabins are used to improve passengers' thermal comfort. To understand the impact of gasper airflow on the air quality in a cabin, this investigation measured the distributions of air velocity, air temperature, and gaseous contaminant concentration in five rows of the economy-class section of an MD-82 commercial aircraft. The gaseous contaminant was simulated using SF6 as a tracer gas with the source located at the mouth of a seated manikin close to the aisle. Two-fifths of the gaspers next to the aisle were turned on in the cabin, and each of them supplied air at a flow rate of 0.66 l/s. The airflow rate in the economy-class cabin was controlled at 10 l/s per passenger. Data obtained in a previous study of the cabin with all gaspers turned off were used for comparison. The results show that the jets from the gaspers had a substantial impact on the air velocity and contaminant transport in the cabin. The air velocity in the cabin was higher, and the air temperature slightly more uniform, when the gaspers were on than when they were off, but turning on the gaspers may not have improved the air quality.

Predicting airflow distribution and contaminant transport in aircraft cabins with a simplified gasper model

“…To validate the claim above in regard to the computing cost and accuracy of the CFD prediction, this study used two cases: a cabin mockup (You et al 2016) and a real cabin (Li et al 2016). In the mockup, high-quality air velocity distribution measurements were performed with PIV.…”

“…Thus, the simplified gasper model reduced the total grid number and computing time needed to predict the air distribution in the cabin mockup without compromising accuracy. Li et al (2016) conducted air distribution measurements in a section of the economy-class cabin of an MD-82 plane with the geometric configuration shown in Figure 7(a). Each row of the cabin had five seats and five gaspers.…”

“…The gaspers in columns B and C were open during the test. As shown in Figure 7(b), Li et al (2016) measured the distributions of air temperature, air velocity, and an airborne contaminant simulated by a tracer gas in five cross-sections (CS7 to CS11, indicated by solid red lines) and three longitudinal sections (ASLS, CALS, and WSLS, indicated by dashed red lines). The experiment also measured the time-averaged velocity and velocity fluctuation at the diffusers; air temperature and airflow rate for each opened gasper; and the temperature of the cabin walls, ceiling, floor, manikins, and seats.…”

“…Email: yanchen@purdue.edu the cabin, and the thermal plume from a passenger in a cabin mockup. To study the impact of gaspers in actual airliners, Li et al (2016) measured the distributions of air velocity, air temperature, and contaminant concentrations in the economy-class cabin of a retired MD-82 airliner with two-fifths of the gaspers open and compared them with the distributions when the gaspers were off. They found that turning on the gaspers would not necessarily improve the air quality.…”

Influência De Sistema De Ventilação Personalizada Instalado Na Poltrona Na Dispersão De Partículas Expiratórias Em Cabine De Aeronave: Resultados Finais

“…Figura 3 -a) Saídas de ar personalizadas do tipo válvula gasper [10]; b) aplicação -em destaque -em cabine de aeronave [15] O sistema de válvula gasper, contudo, não tem se mostrado eficiente e suficiente [15]; [16], e novos sistemas personalizados mais complexos estão sendo desenvolvidos, aperfeiçoados e testados, razão pela qual ainda não têm sido efetivamente empregados em cabines de aeronaves.…”