Use of Cabin Sidewall for Thermal Management Applications

With increased electrification of new aircraft designs, cooling becomes more challenging. The most straightforward solution is to activate yet unused heat sinks available in the aircraft. The crown and cabin sidewall are such an unused area suitable for heat transfer. Here, only a thin plate separates the warm cabin from the cold exterior environment in cruise. Air used for the cooling of devices could be guided along the fuselage skin to benefit from the large heat exchanging surface. Scaling test results indicate that up to 24 kW of additional heat could be dissipated in the short term through this system in flight.