THE USE OF MINIATURE VAPOUR CYCLE SYSTEMS FOR AIRCREW COOLING
Martin Hart
The pilot of a modern high performance jet aircraft wears many layers of flight equipment. In addition to the normal flying clothing, these include full coverage anti-G suit, immersion suit, NBC suit etc. Even in a conditioned cockpit, the thermal insulation effect of these many layers causes a rise in body core temperature with resultant thermal stress.
Thermal stress causes fatigue (increased heart rate, oxygen uptake), dehydration, impaired concentration and ultimately reduces human performance and endurance. A similar problem exists for aircrew of unconditioned aircraft (particularly rotorcraft) deployed in hot climate regions of the world.
An effective method of reducing aircrew thermal stress is the wearing of a liquid cooled vest (LCV) - a garment containing tubing through which a cooled liquid is circulated. There are a number of systems available for supplying cooling liquid to the LCV including: -
- Aircraft installed systems integrated with the Environmental Control System - an example being the Eurofighter Typhoon.
- Ice pack systems.
- Dry ice systems.
- Miniature vapour cycle systems.
This paper concentrates on the use of miniature vapour cycle systems.
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