Thermal Comfort an Aviation Topic?
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German Social Accident Insurance 38th EAGOSH Meeting Institution for Transport and Traffic 6-7 May 2015 Thermal Comfort An Aviation topic? Thomas Sye EAGOSH, 2015-05-07 Cold feet sensation on the flight deck of commercial aircraft A possible prevention measure? Sye T, EAGOSH 2015 2 Cold feet sensations in the flight deck of Airbus A 320/A 321 aircraft • Cold feet, caused by uncomfortable floor temperature • Large vertical air temperature gradient • Airbus A 320/A321 on medium haul-flights without underfloor heater, only „even with sick socks and lined shoes both pilot‘s feet started to get numb“ Sye T, EAGOSH 2015 3 Possible causes • very low outside temperature at normal flight level (FL 350- 390): about - 60° C ( -76° F, 213 K) • assossiated with cooling of aircraft skin • lack of underfloor-heater (cost reduction) • flight instruments with low or no heat emission Sye T, EAGOSH 2015 4 Investigation • The objectives were to evaluate the thermal local discomfort in the area of the pilot seat especially focusing on • Cold feet and warm head at the same time • Cold feet, caused by uncomfortable floor temperature Taking into account: DIN ISO 7730” "Ergonomics of the thermal environment - Analytical determination and interpretation of thermal comfort using calculation of the PMV (Predicted Mean Vote) and PPD (Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied) indices and local thermal comfort criteria" Sye T, EAGOSH 2015 5 Method • The thermal situation in the flight deck of 3 Airbus A 320/321 has been investigated on 6 medium – haul flights from Germany to Egypt and Teneriffa (Spain) and Fuerteventura (Spain) • 2 flights with under-floor heater (foot warmer) • 4 flights without under-floor heater (foot warmer) • Measured (inflight, 4 - 5 hrs): • course of floor temperature near the pedals • vertical temperature profile at the pilots seat at three measuring points Sye T, EAGOSH 2015 6 Measurement Two measuring points at the pilots seat Sye T, EAGOSH 2015 7 Measurement 3th measuring point near the pedals Sye T, EAGOSH 2015 8 Results (floor temperature and result aircraft without underfloor heater °C und % (PD) 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 ing percentage of dissatisfied (PD) 0 15:45 Sye T, EAGOSH 2015 16:15 16:38 17:00 17:50 18:15 18:45 Airbus A 320 TFS - HAM, 22.02.2012 18:54 maximum floor temperature 22,6°C 19:02 minimum floor temperature: 3,5°C 19:40 minimum outdoor temperature 19:58 (static air temperature, SAT): -64°C 20:10 FL max: 370 20:20 floor temperature pilots seat, left side PD (percentage of dissatisfied, ISO 7730 ) 9 Results (vertical temperature gradient) aircraft without underfloor heater 32 temperature ° C 27 22 17 12 7 Sye T, EAGOSH 2015 2 03:20:10 03:33:10 03:46:10 03:59:10 04:12:10 04:25:10 04:38:10 04:51:10 05:04:10 05:17:10 05:30:10 TFS - HAM 05:43:10 22.02.2012 05:56:10 A 320 06:09:10 min. temp. feet: 06:22:10 3,5° C (08:21 PM) 06:35:10 06:48:10 max. gradient 07:01:10 feet / head 19 K 07:14:10 07:27:10 07:40:10 07:53:10 08:06:10 08:19:10 08:32:10 head hip feet 10 Results (resulting percentage of dissatisfied (PD), ISO 7730, vertical temp. gradient) aircraft without underfloor heater % 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Sye T, EAGOSH03:20:10 2015 03:41:40 04:03:10 04:24:40 04:46:10 05:07:40 05:29:10 05:50:40 06:12:10 TFS - HAM 06:33:40 22.02.2012 06:55:10 Airbus A 320 07:16:40 07:38:10 07:59:40 08:21:10 Percentage of dissatified (PD), ISO 7730 11 Results (floor temperature inflight) aircraft with underfloor heater °C 48 Airbus A 321, 47 DUS - FUE, 14.06.2012 maximum floor temperature 46 45,5°C 45 minimum floor temperature: 42,45°C 44 minimum outdoor temperature (static air temperature, SAT): -64°C 43 FL max: 330 42 41 floor temperature flight deck left 40 :31 :10 :35 :10 :30 :30 :00 :04 6 7 7 8 8 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Sye T, EAGOSH 2015 12 Results (vertical temperature gradient) aircraft with underfloor heater 45,00 40,00 Temperaturen °C temperature° C 35,00 30,00 25,00 20,00 15,00 Sye T, EAGOSH 2015 5:50:35 6:01:45 6:12:55 6:24:05 6:35:15 6:46:25 6:57:35 7:08:45 7:19:55 7:31:05 7:42:15 7: 3:25 5 DUS FUE DUS - FUE 8:04:35 14.06.2012 Airbus14.06.2014 A321 8:15:45 D-ACSA Airbus A 321 8:26:55 Temp. (Min.) Füsse: 21,72°min. temperatureC (07:47 Uhr) 8:38:05 feet 21,27°C 8:49:15 (07:47 AM) 9:00:25 9:11:35 9:22:45 9:33:55 9:45:05 9:56:15 10:07:25 10:18:35 head 10:29:45 hip Füsse 10:40:55 Hüfte feet Kopf 13 Results (resulting percentage of dissatisfied (PD), ISO 7730, vertical temp. gradient) aircraft with underfloor heater % 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 5:50:35 6:00:45 6:10:55 6:21:05 Sye T, EAGOSH 2015 6:31:15 6:41:25 6:51:35 7:01:45 7:11:55 7:22:05 7:32:15 7:42:25 7:52:35 8:02:45 8:12:55 8:23:05 8:33:15 8:43:25 8:53:35 DUS FUE 9:03:45 14.06.2012 9:13:55 Airbus A 321 9:24:05 9:34:15 9:44:25 9:54:35 10:04:45 10:14:55 10:25:05 10:35:15 Percentage of dissatified (PD), ISO 7730 Percentage of dissatified (PD), ISO 7730 14 Discussion Working as a pilot is • connected with high responsibility to flight safety • requires high concentration and attention • Due to the observed local thermal discomforts in the cockpit of the investigated commercial aircraft without underfloor heating a reduction in attention and concentration of the flight deck crew, especially during the takeoff and landing phase can not be excluded. This must be considered in the risk assessment Sye T, EAGOSH 2015 15 Measures/ Recommendations By use of auxiliary electrical heating systems (under- floor heater) an increase of working performance of the cockpit crew is possible. An increase of flight safety is to be expected and thereby a possible peril of passengers can be prevented. Sye T, EAGOSH 2015 16 Thanks for listening! Questions? Sye T, EAGOSH 2015 17.