Energy Optimization of Commercial Airliner Electrical Environmental Control System (EECS) Using Energy Recovery Unit

The environmental control system (ECS) of an aircraft is vital for maintaining a suitable environment for both cabin and avionics. More Electric Aircraft (MEA) aims to tackle critical issues by increasing energy efficiency by the use of electric power for non-propulsive systems in an aircraft. The electrical power of the compressor can be sourced from either the engine shaft or an independent electrical power source, which has a lower energy cost than that of engine power extraction. This study proposes to enhance the energy efficiency of a commercial aeroplane electric driven ECS (EECS) by incorporating an energy recovery unit that captures energy from the cabin exhaust air. This energy recovery unit compressor aids in the precompression of air before being compressed in electric compressor. This results in less power required for fresh air compression, which saves 35.77% of energy required to run the ECS. Coefficient of performance improved by 25%.