Effect of Electric Environmental Control System Retrofit on Fuel Burn of a Medium-Range Aircraft

Master thesis (2019)

Authors

D.M.N. Milewski Aerospace Engineering

Contributors

Roelof Vos Flight Performance and Propulsion - Aerospace Engineering (mentor)
Ferdinand Spek (graduation committee member)
Faculty
Aerospace Engineering, Aerospace Engineering
Copyright: © 2019 Damian Milewski
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Published Date

27-05-2019

Language

English

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Faculty

Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

The environmental control system is an essential system on all modern aircraft and is the largest consumer of secondary power. System power consumption is potentially reduced by using electric compressors to feed the system, instead of bleed air. The aim of this research is to provide a first order estimate of the potential benefits on mission fuel requirements resulting from retrofit of an electric environmental control system architecture on a medium-range aircraft. For this purpose a steady state model is used, based on the Airbus A320. It is concluded that the implemented EECS architecture has the potential for fuel reduction, due to 50% less energy demand during cruise compared to a conventional architecture. With an estimated retrofit weight increase of 200 kg, fuel burn is reduced by 0.4% to 1.4% for the baseline case depending on range. On fleet level, this translates to 0.50% through flight frequency statistics. Further, more accurate research is recommended to improve accuracy and assess economic and environmental benefits.