Project description
Personalised climate control on airplanes
Indoor ventilation is a common passenger complaint onboard aircraft. Until now, passengers could only manipulate an air jet in the ceiling. The EU-funded project COCOON is developing a breakthrough active seat control system that will enable travellers to set their climate control and adjust air supply to their personal preference. It will add less than a kilogramme in weight without compromising seat space. What’s more, passengers will be able to set their preferences via a tablet or a smartphone. Personalised in-flight climate control will improve individual travel experience without inconveniencing other passengers.
Objective
The COCOON project will develop and demonstrate integrated seat climatization, ventilation and air supply system, maturing the technology bricks to TRL6 for a standard economy 3-seat row with a target weight of <1kg to achieve personalised comfort control and a 2% fuel saving through reduced thermal load at the cabin level. Thermoelectric heating and cooling modules combined with a ventilation and air supply system will be controlled via a tablet or smartphone to provide advanced in-seat personalised microclimate control. The project will leverage previous work by UTRC which developed an in-seat microclimate control module for the business jet market by adapting it to the economy sector. UTRC Ireland will work with UTAS GEC Poland to design, test and validate a prototype of the system which will be integrated into BE’s current economy 3-row seat configuration and tested at the BE facility in Kilkeel, Northern Ireland.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringaircraft
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringinformation engineeringtelecommunicationsmobile phones
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuels
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
CS2-IA - Innovation actionCoordinator
T23 Cork
Ireland