Method to predicting optimal cabin operative temperature for civil aircraft

Aircraft passengers are becoming more demanding in terms of thermal comfort, and many researches were conducted on this issue. But it is not yet easy for aircraft crew to control the Environment Control System (ECS) to satisfy the thermal comfort for passengers. By surveying 31 investigated flights, we draw the conclusion that there were uncomfortable levels of thermal phenomena in some civil aircraft flights, especially in some short-haul continental flights. It is then necessary to develop an easy way to predict and control the optimal operative temperature for a civil aircraft cabin so that the thermal comfort requirements can be satisfied for most of the passengers. In this paper, we use a Corrected Predicted Mean Vote (CPMV) model to obtain the thermal neutrality temperatures (Tn,CPMV) for the investigated flights. We constructed a linear regressive relationship between Tn,CPMV and the mean outdoor new effective temperature (ET*). The statistical significance of regression probably reflects the dependence of Tn,CPMV on the outdoor climate of the departure city. By using this relationship, an optimal cabin operative temperature can be predicted easily. Hence the method presented in this paper can help the crew to control cabin temperature easily and directly according to the ET* of the departure city.