Performance of an Integrated Thermal Management System for helicopter

The traditional environment control systems for helicopter are mainly the air cycle or evaporative refrigeration system and the engine bleed air heating system. But they have low exergy efficiency and high fuel mass penalty in order to work in all climatic conditions. In this paper, an Integrated Thermal Management System (ITMS) is proposed for helicopter to satisfy the heating and refrigerating demands. This ITMS is a Heat Pump Air Conditioning System (HPACS) based on waste heat recovery from the lubricating oil system. A performance evaluation method is set up to investigate its working performances using exergy, energy level and fuel mass penalty. In a hot day, the input exergy and exergy efficiency of ITMS are 3.2 kW and 34%, respectively, the energy level difference is 0.0274, and the total fuel mass penalty is 22.75 kg. In a cold day, the input exergy and exergy efficiency of ITMS are 3.8 kW and 53%, respectively, the energy level difference is 0.026, and the total fuel mass penalty is 24.76 kg. Therefore, the comparison results show the performance advantages of the proposed ITMS in different climate conditions. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

An Integrated Thermal Management System (ITMS) based on waste heat recovery is proposed for helicopters to satisfy heating and refrigerating demands, showing significant performance advantages in different climate conditions.