Aircraft Thermal Management

Aircraft thermal management is increasingly important to the safe and efficient design and operation of commercial and military aircraft due to the continually increasing heat loads from expanded avionic functionality, more electrical systems architectures, and the greater temperature sensitivity of composite material systems relative to traditional metallic designs. Military aircraft designers face the additional challenges of removing the waste heat from advanced weapon systems. This article provides an overview of the multiple thermal design issues faced in maintaining an acceptable temperature environment for the flight crew, passengers, cargo, and airplane structure and systems on a modern commercial aircraft. Keywords: aircraft thermal design; ECS; EE cooling; fires; thermal control; thermal management