Business Jet Interiors International - September 2021
Air quality
Izzy Kington 2021-09-15 09:40:20
Air craft
Aircraft cabins can be fitted with a wide range of technologies to improve cabin air quality. Suppliers’ latest offerings include solutions for air purification, humidification and monitoring
Electrokinetic disinfection
The newest cabin air disinfection system from Villinger is called CleanAir. The system uses a patented electrokinetic air disinfection technology called laminar electrode array (LEA). Developed in close collaboration with virologists and medical engineers for improved air disinfection in hospital operating rooms and clean rooms, LEA is now being adapted for aircraft.
Villinger reports that in tests conducted by an FDA-certified laboratory, CleanAir achieved the tester’s detection limit (99.99992%) for inactivation of airborne viruses and bacteria, including COVID-19, in less than half the time estimated for a test trial.
The company says that the effectiveness of HEPA filters against airborne particles larger than 500nm is controversial, and collected pollutants are not inactivated. It explains that LEA can not only remove airborne pathogens and pollutants, but also inactivates them, even if they are the size of an atom, without the emission of ozone or nitrogen oxides.
“During our first trials in an FDA-certified microbiological testing laboratory, using aerosolised surrogate viruses for SARSCoV- 2, we quickly learned that we had something special,” says Markus Villinger, CEO of Villinger. “According to the head of the lab, LEA achieved the highest reduction rate he has seen in that short amount of time compared with conventional technologies such as UV or ionisers.”
Villinger expects the CleanAir system to be installed in an aircraft’s ECS during regular A checks, either replacing or supporting HEPA filters. The system will be available for installation once a launch customer is on board, and the required FAA/EASA STC applications are completed.
Ionisation purification
Aviation Clean Air (ACA) reports that it continues to see outstanding results in laboratory tests of its ionisation purification system. The system makes use of NeedlePoint Bi-Polar Ionization (NPBI), which ACA says is proven to immediately purify the air and surfaces and neutralise up to 99.9% of airborne and surface pathogens, including COVID-19. The NPBI process also removes odours, dust and pollen, sterilises mould, neutralises common industrial gases and reduces static electricity. In addition, with the fresher, cabin air, passengers and crews report feeling refreshed, even after long flights.
Testing has been completed by independent laboratories, on a variety of variants. This was conducted in a setting designed to replicate the conditions of corporate and commercial aircraft interiors. Testing on the Delta variant of COVID-19 is ongoing, but ACA is confident the system will neutralise this variant with similar results and be equally as efficient for future viruses and bacteria. ACA plans to continue to conduct testing as new viruses and bacteria are identified.
The system is installed in the aircraft’s existing ECS, and functions automatically whenever the ECS is running. It creates positive and negative ions electronically from the hydrogen and oxygen molecules in the water vapour present in the air. The system puts approximately 20,000 ions per cubic centimetre into the cabin. ACA explains that those ions bond to viruses, pathogens, dirt and odour particles in the air, whereupon a natural reaction takes place, inactivating the pathogens and dissipating the odours quickly.
The system is designed to provide constant decontamination of the aircraft interior without using or introducing chemicals, and thereby without damaging fabrics, leathers, plastics, finishes, wiring, carpeting, avionics or instrumentation. ACA says the system requires no maintenance and has no moving parts that may wear out. The airborne unit has been certified by FAA STC.
Humidity powered by bleed air
As the atmosphere at high altitude is very dry, cabin air has a very low relative humidity level, which is especially noticeable during long flights. Liebherr supplies humidification systems for both commercial aircraft and business jets. It says the technology can raise the air humidity level up to 20 or 25% to guarantee comfort in the cockpit, cabin or crew rest compartments.
Liebherr’s technology is powered by bleed air, so it doesn’t draw extra energy from the aircraft. On the contrary, the company says that when activated, its systems reduce the energy drawn to power the air-conditioning system.
The latest generation of the Liebherr systems enables the selection of a specific cabin humidity rate from a preset range. Smart controls are embedded to preclude unwanted detrimental condensation effects.
Liebherr says another advantage of its system is that dispensing humidity to the cabin by boiling water ensures extremely clean, sterile content, free of mineral and organic compounds.
In addition, Liebherr proposes a wide range of air quality and comfort enhancement devices as part of its integrated air management systems – including heaters, ozone converters, air filters and sensors.
UVC light disinfection
The ongoing pandemic has adversely affected the sense of safety people feel when travelling by air. Aero Biotek has developed a device called Biotek Shield, which is designed to neutralise 99.9999% of airborne pathogens. The company says HEPA filters leave behind close to 100 times more pathogens.
Biotek Shield is designed to be installed in the air conditioning system of any aircraft, away from passengers and crew. The company explains it uses ultraviolet (UVC) light technology to neutralise pathogens like bacteria and viruses continually, making them incapable of infecting someone. UVC is already used in hospital operating rooms to neutralise airborne pathogens like COVID-19.
Air quality monitoring
Unexpected smoke, odour and fume events can result in potential health hazards to passengers and crew, cancelled flights and expensive maintenance costs. Teledyne has created the Aircraft Cabin Environment Sensor (ACES), an automatic monitoring solution, to address this.
Specifically designed for the aviation market, the ACES system leverages extensive air quality expertise within Teledyne Technologies, combined with Teledyne Controls’ long-standing experience in aircraft data acquisition, wireless transfer and analysis.
ACES’s onboard sensor devices record a range of environmental parameters, including carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, and more. The onboard devices can be installed in the cabin and flight deck, to monitor air quality continuously from the moment the aircraft is powered.
The data recorded by the ACES onboard units is transmitted automatically during flight and can be viewed in real-time on a mobile device, via the ACES mobile app. This app provides instant access to the Air Quality Index in the aircraft, along with snapshots of key monitored parameters.
The data is also transferred to an online cloud service portal for further processing and analysis. Maintenance and engineering teams can access this more comprehensive data securely, to troubleshoot and diagnose events, or for trend monitoring to identify potential emerging issues and help prevent incidents.
Teledyne contends that systematic access to accurate and objective air quality data for every flight not only helps operators provide better flying experiences for passengers and crew, but also results in more efficient operation.
Humidification for health
The moisture in the air we breathe is essential to our respiratory system, however, the air in a VIP/business jet cabin is extremely dry. In fact CTT Systems says it is by far the most dehydrating environment on Earth.
“Human beings are comfortable at relative humidity (RH) levels around 20%, but RH can drop to below 3% in a VIP/business jet cabin,” says Peter Landquist, vice president and senior advisor of sales at CTT Systems. “This is because the cruising altitude of most long-haul flights is usually at a level where there is very little water vapour in the atmosphere, so the fresh air coming in is very dry. The only source of humidity is from passengers and crew, so a VIP/business jet has extremely low cabin RH, because there are very few people compared with on an airliner.”
He explains that the effects of extremely low RH levels include dry and itchy eyes. “The lack of moisture begins to dry out the nasal passages, mucous membranes, mouth and respiratory tract,” says Landquist. “The nasal cavity dries out quickly, reducing the sense of smell, while the viscosity of saliva changes, reducing the sense of taste. A dry nasal cavity also increases susceptibility to colds and viruses, as the activity of cilia, which work to keep the airways clear of mucus and dirt, is suppressed. Our mucous membrane thickens when the air is dry and becomes less effective in beating viruses and bacteria. In turn, this enables more viruses and bacteria to cause respiratory tract infections. Appropriate levels of RH in the cabin could help prevent infections.”
CTT Systems has years of experience in producing humidifiers to raise RH levels on board. The humidifier is installed in the ducting of the ECS. An absorbent pad is drip-fed from the aircraft’s potable water supply. As the air passes through the duct and over the wet pad, it picks up moisture before entering the cabin area. In this way, the RH level can be raised to 22%.
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Air quality
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