Personal Ventilation System for Aircraft Cabin Air Quality
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current aircraft cabin ventilation systems fail to prevent exhaled contaminants from one passenger from being inhaled by others, as they only dilute contaminants through increased airflow and rely on recirculation systems that do not address direct exhalation zone contamination, leading to potential cross-infection and inefficiencies in air purification.
Innovation Solution
A personal ventilation system integrated into aircraft seats, comprising an inlet, contaminant conditioning system, and fan, which draws air from the breathing zone, conditions it using filters and ultraviolet light, and expels purified air back into the same or adjacent breathing zones, effectively isolating each passenger's air from contaminants.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If recirculated air is increased to improve fuel efficiency, then fuel consumption decreases, but contaminant levels in cabin air increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the cabin air treatment into individual seat-level units, with each personal ventilation system independently filtering and treating air for its specific zone. This segmentation allows localized contaminant removal without requiring high volumes of recirculated air throughout the entire cabin, thus maintaining fuel efficiency while reducing contaminant exposure.
Solution Approach 2:
The personal ventilation systems perform preliminary air conditioning and contaminant removal at the seat level before air is inhaled by passengers. By pre-treating air individually at each seat rather than relying on bulk recirculation, the system maintains lower contaminant levels while using less overall air recirculation, thereby reducing fuel consumption.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If high-efficiency particulate air filters are used for entire passenger cabin to dilute contaminants, then contaminant levels decrease, but device complexity and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of implementing a single complex centralized filtration system for the entire cabin, the patent distributes multiple simpler filtration units at individual seats. Each unit handles a small portion of the total air volume, reducing the complexity of each individual component while collectively achieving effective contaminant removal across the cabin.
Solution Approach 2:
Each personal ventilation system operates independently to serve its own zone, filtering and conditioning air locally without relying on a centralized complex system. This self-service approach at each seat reduces overall system complexity while maintaining effective contaminant control.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If ultraviolet lights are installed in ventilation ducts to inactivate contaminants, then bacterial and viral contamination decreases, but device complexity and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The ultraviolet contamination control is distributed across multiple individual seat units rather than concentrated in a single centralized duct system. Each personal ventilation system includes its own UV lighting capability, treating air locally as it passes through the seat-level housing, which reduces overall energy consumption while maintaining effective pathogen inactivation.
Solution Approach 2:
The ultraviolet lights inactivate contaminants in advance within the personal ventilation housing before the conditioned air is delivered to the passenger breathing zone. This preliminary treatment at the seat level ensures bacterial and viral contamination is eliminated without requiring energy-intensive centralized duct treatment systems.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If outside air flow is increased to dilute contaminants, then air quality improves, but fuel consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The personal ventilation systems perform preliminary contaminant removal and air conditioning at each seat using individual filters and fans. This pre-treatment allows the system to maintain high air quality with minimal outside air intake, thereby reducing the energy required for air circulation and lowering fuel consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
Each seat's personal ventilation system independently conditions and filters air for its own zone, requiring minimal outside air to be circulated throughout the cabin. This self-service approach at each seat maintains high air quality while significantly reducing the overall outside air flow requirements and associated fuel consumption.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution provides purified air to each passenger, reducing the risk of cross-infection and improving air quality by directly addressing contaminants at the source, while also reducing the need for high outside airflow and associated fuel consumption.
Implementation Method 1
The contaminant conditioning system may include at least one of a high efficiency particulate air filter and an ultraviolet light system
Implementation Method 2
ultraviolet lights may be included within the aircraft ventilation ducts. The ultraviolet lights may be used to inactivate airborne bacteria and/or viruses
Implementation Method 3
The fan system may be capable of drawing the air from a breathing zone through the inlet, moving the air drawn from the inlet to the contaminant conditioning system to form the conditioned air, and moving the conditioned air out of the outlet
Data Source
AI summary
A method for providing purified air to an occupant of a seat in a mask lacking corporeal features that is generated by an apparatus. The apparatus includes a contaminant conditioning system that delivers purified air to a first and a second laminar flow generator. Each laminar flow generator produces a respective laminar flow that combines to form and fill a breathing space with purified air that envelopes an inhalation sphere of the occupant and inhibits air other than the purified air from entering the breathing space.