Aircraft cabin air and engine oil : an engineering update

Abstract

Cabin air ventilation in passenger aircraft is done with outside air. At cruise altitude, ambient pressure is below cabin pressure. Hence, the outside air needs to be compressed before it is delivered into the cabin. The most economic system principle simply uses the air that is compressed in the engine compressor anyway and taps some of it off as "bleed air". The engine shaft is supported by lubricated bearings. They are sealed against the air in the compressor usually with labyrinth seals. Unfortunately, the jet engine seals leak oil by design in small quantities. The oil leaking into the compressor contains toxic additives. Furthermore, the oil includes toxic metal nanoparticles – normal debris from the engine. An alternative source for the compressed air is the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU). Like the aircraft's jet engine, it is a gas turbine, built much in the same way when it comes to bearings and seals. For this reason, also compressed air from the APU is potentially contaminated in much the same way. Compressed air from the engine is also used to pressurize the potable water. It has been observed that the potable water on board can also be contaminated. Fan air and bleed air ducts at the interface between engine and wing carry outside compressed air. The inside of the ducts shows differences. The brown stain in the bleed air duct appears to be engine oil residue. In comparison, the fan air duct is clean. This shows that oil leaves the compressor bearings. Ducting further downstream shows a black dry cover. The reason for the change in color seems to result from the different air temperatures: 400 °C at engine outlet and 200 °C further downstream behind the precooler. The water extractor is a part of the air conditioning pack. The inlet of the water extractor is covered with black oily residue, because the temperature is even lower at this point. The air conditioning air distribution ducts in the cabin are black inside from contaminated bleed air. New ducts are clean. Air duct are even clean inside at the end of the aircraft's life, in areas where they are used such that no bleed air flows through them. Flow limiters have been found in ducts of the air conditioning system that are clogged from engine oil. Also riser ducts feeding the cabin air outlets are black inside from engine oil residue. Cleaning on top of the overhead bins brings to light dirt that is clearly more than dust. The black residue known from the ducts settles also on the bin surface. Deicing fluid and hydraulic fluid can find their way into the air conditioning system via the APU air intake. A fence and a deflector around the air intake cannot fully prevent contaminants from entering the APU. Traces of contamination tend to be visible on the lower part of the fuselage. Contaminants are carried by the air flow in flight, from the landing gear bay to the APU inlet. Hydraulic systems are never leak free. A hydraulic seal drain system tries to collect hydraulic fluid leaving the system with partial success. It is impossible to catch all leaking hydraulic fluid. If the containers of the seal drain system are not emptied they spill over. In old aircraft, surfaces in the landing gear bay are covered with a layer of hydraulic fluid. Dirt accumulates on the sticky surface. The hydraulic fluid is not confined to the inside of hydraulic bays, but continues its journey on the lower side of the fuselage towards the APU. Deicing fluid if applied in the winter to the aircraft and can leak from the tail into the APU inlet. Fuel and oil also leak down onto the airport surfaces. These fluids can be ingested by the engine from the ground and can enter the air conditioning system from there. Entropy is the law of nature that states that disorder always increases. This is the reason, why it is impossible to confine engine oil and hydraulic fluids to their (predominantly) closed aircraft systems. This is why engine oil with metal nanoparticles hydraulic fluids, and deicing fluids eventually go everywhere and finally into the human body.