Abstract
Enhanced soiling is frequently observed near the multi-slot cabin supply air nozzles in twin-aisle commercial airplanes, which would increase the cleaning and maintenance costs. This study proposed a computer-aided design approach to develop a new cabin supply air nozzle for reducing particle deposition in commercial airplanes. In the new nozzle, the slot dividers were removed to reduce particle deposition, while the shape of the plenum was re-designed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to ensure supply air uniformity. The new nozzles were fabricated using a 3D printing technique. The performance of the new cabin supply air nozzles was compared with that of the original multi-slot nozzles by both experimental measurements and numerical simulations, in terms of supply air velocity distribution, particle deposition, pressure drop, noise level, and weight. The results show that the new cabin supply air nozzles can significantly reduce particle deposition on the target surface in comparison to the original multi-slot nozzles, while providing similar airflow and temperature distributions in the aircraft cabin. Furthermore, the new nozzles exhibited better supply air uniformity, lower pressure drop, lower noise level, and were lighter in weight than the original multi-slot nozzles.
