Final Report Summary - ELECFILTER (DESIGN OF COMPRESSOR AIR INLET PROTECTION FOR ELECTRICAL ECS)
Executive Summary:
The present document serves as Final Report corresponding to the closure process of the ELECFILTER project. Therefore, the main tasks performed, stages and results obtained are presented.
A short summary description of ELECFILTER, including an introduction to the problem and a resume of the main objectives and methodology is first presented.
Moreover, the main results achieved during the project are also summarized. ELECFILTER has been designed and optimized as a 4-stages filtration system, and the demonstrator has been manufactured and delivered for testing.
Finally, the potential impact and the summary of the dissemination and exploitation planned activities are presented.
Project Context and Objectives:
INTRODUCTION
Modern aircrafts are equipped with an Environmental Control System (ECS), which is the system in charge of maintaining comfortable and safe conditions for passengers, crew or any kind of payload carried by the plane. In bleed ECS configurations, external air is bled from the fan or from the low/intermediate pressure stage of the compressor in flight or from APU’s compressor on ground.
In the case of a civil passengers airplane this means the need to control temperature, humidity, pressure, pressure change rate and air pollutant. Usually the comfort values for these magnitudes are given, together with the limits on pollutants concentration in cabin, by international organizations like ICAO, FAA, CCAR, etc. depending on the country of application.
ECS is the main power consumer and reaches up to 75% of non-propulsive power on cruise, which means 1% of propulsion power. It leads to produce the most important extra consumption of fuel. For this reason aircrafts manufacturers are moving towards electrical ECS solutions which get fresh air directly from the atmosphere eliminating the bleed system. One of the advantages of the direct intake electrical systems architecture is the greater efficiency gained in terms of reduced fuel burn.
This change, apart from reducing fuel consumption and implying a significant simplification in engine buildup due to the elimination of the pneumatic system and associated pre-coolers, control valves, and required pneumatic ducting, takes to some important disadvantages:
• Low inlet pressure, implying the need of compressing inlet air in order to meet ECS standards. It additionally causes air intake drag increase because of the compressor, filter etc.
• Low inlet temperature at ECS air scoop.
• Lower temperature and pressure inhibits ozone dissociation into oxygen leading to the need of an ozone filter.
• No previous filtration operated by the engine fan/compressor implies the usage of a more robust filtration/protection system for the air inlet compressor.
OBJECTIVES
Therefore, the main objective of ELECFILTER is to develop an air filtration system for electrical ECS packs that meet the specifications. Different sub-objectives can be defined to get main goal:
• Defining the debris and pollution ingested together with outside air at scoop air inlet: characterization of the particles (nature, size, weight, concentration, orientation upon entry into scoop, energy, energy restitution coefficient function of the surface material and type, etc.).
• Review of existing technologies and similar or comparable applications, to be used directly or with modifications. Performing a brainstorming for new concepts, and analyzing trade-off to allow choice of one technology and preliminary design/sizing of the selected solution.
• CFD modeling of the polluted airflow from entrance of scoop air inlet to compressor and CFD modeling of various filtration concepts. Different operating conditions (aircraft speeds, altitudes and A/C attitudes –climb, descent, and cruise–) should be modeled, and the characterization of the debris and pollutants trajectory analysis occurring in the channel will be performed.
• Performance tests of the applicable current filtration solutions (with the corresponding feasible modifications) for this purpose.
• Fluid Dynamic Optimization (CFD based) of the selected solution (frozen design)
• Detailed (manufacturing) design and production of a prototype that will be used to confirm the key characteristics: weight, pressure drop and filter life.
Project Results:
DESCRIPTION OF WORK
ELECFILTER has been implemented as 21-month project (after an amendment requested and approved in March’14). The coordination Work Package (WP1, UPVLC) is extended along the whole duration of the project. Work Packages regarding technical work (review, CFD, testing, demonstration) are WP2 to WP7. Leading participants and responsibilities for each WP (WP2 to WP7) are shared between the partners. Finally, dissemination and exploitation plans are gathered in WP8.
WP1 is devoted to project management. It is also part of this WP the activation of the website for a data and information exchange server.
WP2 is dedicated to the definition of pollutants (nature, size, weight, concentration …) of interest for this topic. Furthermore, the specifications and requirements of the filtration system has to be defined in this WP.
WP3 serves as a complete review of current technology and state of the art for filtration systems in similar applications in the industry. Also is part of this WP the definition of main aspects for the CFD methodology to be followed (mesh, turbulence, algorithms, debris simulation …).
WP4 is focused on the CFD modelling of the scoop air inlet flow of the E-ECS system for different operation conditions. Test Cell and real Flight conditions are simulated and characterized, and the influence of the attitude in the flow structures around the scoop has been also characterized.
WP5 consists of the computational and experimental analysis of feasible technical solutions to be applied to ELECFILTER. Main advantages and drawbacks of each technology are analyzed, and main aspects to be optimized / adapted are detected. As a result of this WP, a frozen solution concept for the filtration system is selected. A Multistage filtration solution (x4) has been selected as filtration solution. (1) Pre-filtering retractable flap, (2) Inertial vortex separator, (3) Coalescence filter and (4) Media Filter to fit specifications and requirements.
Finally, optimized solutions for each filtration stage is obtained in WP6, and a final demonstrator has been manufactured and delivered for testing (WP7). This prototype will be used to confirm the key characteristics: weight, pressure drop and filter life as post-project activity.
RESULTS & FOREGROUND
ELECFILTER has been a 21 months project to develop the filtration system of compressor air inlet protection for Electrical ECS. All the Work-Packages and the corresponding tasks were carried out following the project planning. Furthermore, all the Deliverables were available on time, including the final demonstrator delivered in June’14.
A complete review of the state of the art about anti-FOD and filtration systems has been carried out.
CFD methodology (mesh independence, turbulence, boundaries, solver…) was also developed for the computational analysis of the flow (air + particles) around the scoop and inside the system. Different approximations have been taken into account for the scoop simulations. On one side, real flight conditions including the fuselage of the aircraft have been analyzed, on the other side, simplified Test Cell conditions in order to study the validity of such Test Cells and its influence on the flow features inside the scoop.
A deep analysis of the main flow phenomena have been performed by means of the CFD calculations.
Computational and experimental tests were carried out with some current feasible solutions to be applied or adapted to ELECFILTER
A multi-stage (x4) filtration system has been developed and optimized as solutions for ELECFILTER. These 4 stages are: (1) Pre-filtering protection flap, (2) Inertial Separator, (3) Coalescence media and (4) Barrier media filter.
Finally, the ELECFILTER demonstrator has been manufactured and delivered as final result of the project. This prototype will be used to confirm the key characteristics: weight, pressure drop and filter life as post-project activity.
Potential Impact:
IMPACT
This section summarizes topics and impacts to be addressed by ELECFILTER. All of them directly refer to the objectives stated in the project Clean Sky JTI: Systems for Green Operations (SGO). In particular, the subproject SGO-02 is committed to develop systems for improved Management of Aircraft Energy. First topics totally or partially related with the proposal are summarized; afterwards a revision of project expected impact is given.
Topics Addressed
• Conceptual design of a filtration solution for Electrical ECS
• Performance studies of the proposed filtration solutions.
• Final design and production of a demonstrator.
Expected impacts (from CleanSky programme-ACARE goals)
The Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) is the European Union’s largest ever aeronautics research programme, with a total value of €1.6bn supporting demonstration of a wide range of aeronautics technologies for reduced emissions of CO2, NOx and noise.
• Reduction of fuel consumption (CO2) and NOx emissions
• Perceived external noise
• “Ecolonomic” life cycle
DISSEMINATION AND TRAINING
Public Web Site
It is the aim of the website to provide all the entities involved in the project (partners, Topic Manager, CSJU) with an interactive tool to achieve transparency and efficient communication. The website will be used as dissemination platform to other Clean Sky ITDs but also to the worldwide aerospace community. The www.elecfilter.org domain has been acquired for this subject.
Training
Given the academic nature of UPVLC, technological information about electrical ECS and the corresponding filtration systems have been provided to Aerospace students.
Commercial development
The dissemination of technology is every day business for LBFS and Donaldson. LBFS is in daily contact with most players of the Aerospace industry in Europe and in the World. LBFS has a strong presence either in face-to-face meetings, on e- or virtual meetings via our website or press-releases. LBFS also frequently attend the main Aerospace shows (Paris – Le Bourget, Farnborough) where its technology is marketed strongly to the targeted audience.
It is the clear intention of LBFS/Donaldson to include into Donaldson marketing material all the specific technology developed during ELECFILTER, once the system is fully developed and the maturity (TRL) is enough to go to the market.
Scientific papers
Publication of the suitable results (in agreement with all the parts) is planned to be performed in international Conferences and papers Scientific Indexed (JCR). Some of the topics suitable to be published could be:
• Combined CFD / experimental methodology for design & optimization of filtration system for E-ECS
• Optimization of low restriction / high efficiency inertial filters
• Optimization of pre-filtering flaps for low restriction, flow distortion and noise
Finally, taking into account these aspects, dissemination activities shall be compatible with the protection of intellectual property rights, confidentiality obligations and the legitimate interests of the owners of the Foreground.
Other activities
The partners have assisted to the “SGO Annual Review’2013” celebrated in Toulouse. In this event the TM (LTS) presented some of the results of ELECFILTER as part of the Work Package of the SGO program that is currently leading.
EXPLOITATION
These actions would be addressed once ELECFILTER is finished (post-project activities), depending on the final results on the prototype testing.
Given the maturity of the technical solution proposed and delivered to TM as demonstrator, can be considered that it can be identified as TRL 3 (Analytical and experimental critical function and/or characteristic proof-of-concept). Furthermore, taking into account the solutions proposed and results obtained during the project, is considered between all the parts (UPVLC, LBFS, LTS) that there are some components to be taken into account for further exploitation, once the Technology Readiness Level is increased.
List of Websites:
PUBLIC WEBSITE ADDRESS
www.elecfilter.org
MAIN CONTACT UPVLC
Antonio Gil
PhD Mechanical Engineer, Senior Lecturer
CMT-Motores Termicos
Edificio 6D
Universitat Politecnica de Valencia
Camino de Vera s/n
46022 - Valencia (Spain)
Phone: +34 96 387 76 50. Ext: 76513
e-mail: angime@mot.upv.es
MAIN CONTACT LBFS
Julien Joncquiert
Key Account Manager
Donaldson Aerospace & Defense Group
Phone: +33 (0)1 30 86 66 56
Mobile: +33 (0)6 70 99 04 84
Fax: +33 (0)1 30 86 99 17
julien.joncquiert@donaldson.com
The present document serves as Final Report corresponding to the closure process of the ELECFILTER project. Therefore, the main tasks performed, stages and results obtained are presented.
A short summary description of ELECFILTER, including an introduction to the problem and a resume of the main objectives and methodology is first presented.
Moreover, the main results achieved during the project are also summarized. ELECFILTER has been designed and optimized as a 4-stages filtration system, and the demonstrator has been manufactured and delivered for testing.
Finally, the potential impact and the summary of the dissemination and exploitation planned activities are presented.
Project Context and Objectives:
INTRODUCTION
Modern aircrafts are equipped with an Environmental Control System (ECS), which is the system in charge of maintaining comfortable and safe conditions for passengers, crew or any kind of payload carried by the plane. In bleed ECS configurations, external air is bled from the fan or from the low/intermediate pressure stage of the compressor in flight or from APU’s compressor on ground.
In the case of a civil passengers airplane this means the need to control temperature, humidity, pressure, pressure change rate and air pollutant. Usually the comfort values for these magnitudes are given, together with the limits on pollutants concentration in cabin, by international organizations like ICAO, FAA, CCAR, etc. depending on the country of application.
ECS is the main power consumer and reaches up to 75% of non-propulsive power on cruise, which means 1% of propulsion power. It leads to produce the most important extra consumption of fuel. For this reason aircrafts manufacturers are moving towards electrical ECS solutions which get fresh air directly from the atmosphere eliminating the bleed system. One of the advantages of the direct intake electrical systems architecture is the greater efficiency gained in terms of reduced fuel burn.
This change, apart from reducing fuel consumption and implying a significant simplification in engine buildup due to the elimination of the pneumatic system and associated pre-coolers, control valves, and required pneumatic ducting, takes to some important disadvantages:
• Low inlet pressure, implying the need of compressing inlet air in order to meet ECS standards. It additionally causes air intake drag increase because of the compressor, filter etc.
• Low inlet temperature at ECS air scoop.
• Lower temperature and pressure inhibits ozone dissociation into oxygen leading to the need of an ozone filter.
• No previous filtration operated by the engine fan/compressor implies the usage of a more robust filtration/protection system for the air inlet compressor.
OBJECTIVES
Therefore, the main objective of ELECFILTER is to develop an air filtration system for electrical ECS packs that meet the specifications. Different sub-objectives can be defined to get main goal:
• Defining the debris and pollution ingested together with outside air at scoop air inlet: characterization of the particles (nature, size, weight, concentration, orientation upon entry into scoop, energy, energy restitution coefficient function of the surface material and type, etc.).
• Review of existing technologies and similar or comparable applications, to be used directly or with modifications. Performing a brainstorming for new concepts, and analyzing trade-off to allow choice of one technology and preliminary design/sizing of the selected solution.
• CFD modeling of the polluted airflow from entrance of scoop air inlet to compressor and CFD modeling of various filtration concepts. Different operating conditions (aircraft speeds, altitudes and A/C attitudes –climb, descent, and cruise–) should be modeled, and the characterization of the debris and pollutants trajectory analysis occurring in the channel will be performed.
• Performance tests of the applicable current filtration solutions (with the corresponding feasible modifications) for this purpose.
• Fluid Dynamic Optimization (CFD based) of the selected solution (frozen design)
• Detailed (manufacturing) design and production of a prototype that will be used to confirm the key characteristics: weight, pressure drop and filter life.
Project Results:
DESCRIPTION OF WORK
ELECFILTER has been implemented as 21-month project (after an amendment requested and approved in March’14). The coordination Work Package (WP1, UPVLC) is extended along the whole duration of the project. Work Packages regarding technical work (review, CFD, testing, demonstration) are WP2 to WP7. Leading participants and responsibilities for each WP (WP2 to WP7) are shared between the partners. Finally, dissemination and exploitation plans are gathered in WP8.
WP1 is devoted to project management. It is also part of this WP the activation of the website for a data and information exchange server.
WP2 is dedicated to the definition of pollutants (nature, size, weight, concentration …) of interest for this topic. Furthermore, the specifications and requirements of the filtration system has to be defined in this WP.
WP3 serves as a complete review of current technology and state of the art for filtration systems in similar applications in the industry. Also is part of this WP the definition of main aspects for the CFD methodology to be followed (mesh, turbulence, algorithms, debris simulation …).
WP4 is focused on the CFD modelling of the scoop air inlet flow of the E-ECS system for different operation conditions. Test Cell and real Flight conditions are simulated and characterized, and the influence of the attitude in the flow structures around the scoop has been also characterized.
WP5 consists of the computational and experimental analysis of feasible technical solutions to be applied to ELECFILTER. Main advantages and drawbacks of each technology are analyzed, and main aspects to be optimized / adapted are detected. As a result of this WP, a frozen solution concept for the filtration system is selected. A Multistage filtration solution (x4) has been selected as filtration solution. (1) Pre-filtering retractable flap, (2) Inertial vortex separator, (3) Coalescence filter and (4) Media Filter to fit specifications and requirements.
Finally, optimized solutions for each filtration stage is obtained in WP6, and a final demonstrator has been manufactured and delivered for testing (WP7). This prototype will be used to confirm the key characteristics: weight, pressure drop and filter life as post-project activity.
RESULTS & FOREGROUND
ELECFILTER has been a 21 months project to develop the filtration system of compressor air inlet protection for Electrical ECS. All the Work-Packages and the corresponding tasks were carried out following the project planning. Furthermore, all the Deliverables were available on time, including the final demonstrator delivered in June’14.
A complete review of the state of the art about anti-FOD and filtration systems has been carried out.
CFD methodology (mesh independence, turbulence, boundaries, solver…) was also developed for the computational analysis of the flow (air + particles) around the scoop and inside the system. Different approximations have been taken into account for the scoop simulations. On one side, real flight conditions including the fuselage of the aircraft have been analyzed, on the other side, simplified Test Cell conditions in order to study the validity of such Test Cells and its influence on the flow features inside the scoop.
A deep analysis of the main flow phenomena have been performed by means of the CFD calculations.
Computational and experimental tests were carried out with some current feasible solutions to be applied or adapted to ELECFILTER
A multi-stage (x4) filtration system has been developed and optimized as solutions for ELECFILTER. These 4 stages are: (1) Pre-filtering protection flap, (2) Inertial Separator, (3) Coalescence media and (4) Barrier media filter.
Finally, the ELECFILTER demonstrator has been manufactured and delivered as final result of the project. This prototype will be used to confirm the key characteristics: weight, pressure drop and filter life as post-project activity.
Potential Impact:
IMPACT
This section summarizes topics and impacts to be addressed by ELECFILTER. All of them directly refer to the objectives stated in the project Clean Sky JTI: Systems for Green Operations (SGO). In particular, the subproject SGO-02 is committed to develop systems for improved Management of Aircraft Energy. First topics totally or partially related with the proposal are summarized; afterwards a revision of project expected impact is given.
Topics Addressed
• Conceptual design of a filtration solution for Electrical ECS
• Performance studies of the proposed filtration solutions.
• Final design and production of a demonstrator.
Expected impacts (from CleanSky programme-ACARE goals)
The Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) is the European Union’s largest ever aeronautics research programme, with a total value of €1.6bn supporting demonstration of a wide range of aeronautics technologies for reduced emissions of CO2, NOx and noise.
• Reduction of fuel consumption (CO2) and NOx emissions
• Perceived external noise
• “Ecolonomic” life cycle
DISSEMINATION AND TRAINING
Public Web Site
It is the aim of the website to provide all the entities involved in the project (partners, Topic Manager, CSJU) with an interactive tool to achieve transparency and efficient communication. The website will be used as dissemination platform to other Clean Sky ITDs but also to the worldwide aerospace community. The www.elecfilter.org domain has been acquired for this subject.
Training
Given the academic nature of UPVLC, technological information about electrical ECS and the corresponding filtration systems have been provided to Aerospace students.
Commercial development
The dissemination of technology is every day business for LBFS and Donaldson. LBFS is in daily contact with most players of the Aerospace industry in Europe and in the World. LBFS has a strong presence either in face-to-face meetings, on e- or virtual meetings via our website or press-releases. LBFS also frequently attend the main Aerospace shows (Paris – Le Bourget, Farnborough) where its technology is marketed strongly to the targeted audience.
It is the clear intention of LBFS/Donaldson to include into Donaldson marketing material all the specific technology developed during ELECFILTER, once the system is fully developed and the maturity (TRL) is enough to go to the market.
Scientific papers
Publication of the suitable results (in agreement with all the parts) is planned to be performed in international Conferences and papers Scientific Indexed (JCR). Some of the topics suitable to be published could be:
• Combined CFD / experimental methodology for design & optimization of filtration system for E-ECS
• Optimization of low restriction / high efficiency inertial filters
• Optimization of pre-filtering flaps for low restriction, flow distortion and noise
Finally, taking into account these aspects, dissemination activities shall be compatible with the protection of intellectual property rights, confidentiality obligations and the legitimate interests of the owners of the Foreground.
Other activities
The partners have assisted to the “SGO Annual Review’2013” celebrated in Toulouse. In this event the TM (LTS) presented some of the results of ELECFILTER as part of the Work Package of the SGO program that is currently leading.
EXPLOITATION
These actions would be addressed once ELECFILTER is finished (post-project activities), depending on the final results on the prototype testing.
Given the maturity of the technical solution proposed and delivered to TM as demonstrator, can be considered that it can be identified as TRL 3 (Analytical and experimental critical function and/or characteristic proof-of-concept). Furthermore, taking into account the solutions proposed and results obtained during the project, is considered between all the parts (UPVLC, LBFS, LTS) that there are some components to be taken into account for further exploitation, once the Technology Readiness Level is increased.
List of Websites:
PUBLIC WEBSITE ADDRESS
www.elecfilter.org
MAIN CONTACT UPVLC
Antonio Gil
PhD Mechanical Engineer, Senior Lecturer
CMT-Motores Termicos
Edificio 6D
Universitat Politecnica de Valencia
Camino de Vera s/n
46022 - Valencia (Spain)
Phone: +34 96 387 76 50. Ext: 76513
e-mail: angime@mot.upv.es
MAIN CONTACT LBFS
Julien Joncquiert
Key Account Manager
Donaldson Aerospace & Defense Group
Phone: +33 (0)1 30 86 66 56
Mobile: +33 (0)6 70 99 04 84
Fax: +33 (0)1 30 86 99 17
julien.joncquiert@donaldson.com