Modeling and Simulation of a Fighter Aircraft Cabin Pressure Control System Using AMESim

Environmental Control System (ECS) of an aircraft provides required temperature, pressure and air flow to the cockpit or cabin or occupied compartments for the comfortable and required conditions of the occupant. Cabin pressure control system (CPCS), one of the sub-systems of ECS, controls and maintains the cabin pressure to provide a physiologically safe environment for the occupants inside the cabin. As ECS takes engine bleed air as input, any variation in engine rpm affects the cabin pressure and further the comfortable condition inside the cabin. This paper is focused on modeling and simulation of a fighter aircraft CPCS to evaluate its performance for its entire range of operation. The system is modeled and simulated in AMESim and the dynamic behavior of the system and its components are studied. Also, this paper emphasizes the effect of transient input characteristics on the cabin pressure with the cases of extreme variation in engine rpm and aircraft altitude. For the purpose of model validation, the simulated results are compared with the actual data and found that the simulated cabin pressure profile and the dynamics of cabin pressure control valve match with the actual data. The validated system model and results can be further used in designing a better CPCS.