A novel system for aircraft cabin heating based on a vapor compression system and heat recovery from engine lubricating oil

At present, the cabin heating of aircraft mainly depends on engine bleed air, which results in large power loss from the engine. To address this problem, a new system coupling the vapor compression system and lubricating oil system to recover heat from the lubricating oil to heat the cabin is proposed based on the design concept of the integrated thermal management of aircraft. To investigate the feasibility and efficiency of the new system, an experimental system was established, and performance experiments were conducted under cold ground weather (5, 0 and -5 ?C), which was simulated in an environmental chamber. The lubricating oil temperature was kept at approximately 45 ?C, and heat was recovered from the lubricating oil at 0 and -5 ?C but not at 5 ?C. The experimental results and thermodynamic analyses indicate that when the lubricating oil system works rather than being closed, the heating time needed for the cabin temperature to reach 25 ?C is shortened from 494 s to 121 and 363 s, the compression ratio of the compressor is reduced from 7.65 to 2.81 and 3.73, the heating coefficient of performance is raised from 3.46 to 6.87 and 5.27, and the system exergy efficiency is improved from 22.9% to 33.2% and 32.8%. Therefore, the proposed system can be treated as feasible, efficient, and promising.

Automated summary

This study proposes a new aircraft cabin heating system that recovers heat from the lubricating oil to heat the cabin, reducing engine power loss. Experimental results indicate that the system has high heating efficiency and system performance.