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Advance thermal management systems are being developed to optimise the energy balance within aircraft. This is being done in parallel to the concept of the More Electrical Aircraft (MEA) which has been developing throughout the last decades. The objective of such complex systems is to use efficiently the hot and cold sources available within the air vehicle to reduce the engine fuel consumption. A reduction of electrical power consumption, minimisation of weight, optimisation of aircraft aerodynamics (for example RAM inlets area minimisation) and the reduction of bleed air from engine all result in fuel consumption savings. Any thermal management system to optimise energy consumption implies complex and advanced systems. This requires a high engineering effort to design and integrate the system within an aircraft due to the large quantity of variables and interfaces that need to be taken into account.

As aviation enters the future, new technologies and philosophies are required to keep up with ever changing demands and increased market competition. Aircraft designers are required to come up with new and innovative ways to optimise systems and improve efficiencies. Onboard thermal management is an area that can take advantage of several new technologies to do just that. This paper is based on the development project “Advanced Thermal Management in Aeronautics” (ATMIA). Project ATMIA focuses on the use of Loop Heat Pipes (LHPs) in the aeronautical industry, specifically their onboard feasibility and the unique requirements found on an aeronautical platform such as those due to vibrations, gravitational forces and the need for disassembly due to maintenance. LHPs are passive two-phase devices that allow free-energy heat transportation between certain subsystems without needing additional power consumption.

The optimisation of energy is of the upmost importance within any vehicle and is a key driver in the design of all aeronautical projects. Modern aviation is trending towards the “More Electric Aircraft” (MEA), a model of increased electric power demand whereby traditional hydraulic, mechanical and pneumatic systems are replaced by electrical ones. This paper is based on the development project entitled “Advanced Thermal Management in Aeronautics” (ATMIA). The main target of which was to examine the potential for Loop Heat Pipes (LHPs) to be used in an aeronautical platform as assessed in previous the paper ref. 1. Until now the use of LHPs has been primarily on aerospace platforms. Project ATMIA addressed some specific requirements for an aeronautical platform such as the effects of vibrations, gravity and the possibility of disassembling for maintenance and transportation.

The optimization of the available energy within a vehicle is one of the key drivers for all the ongoing projects. This topic is even more critical when the possibility of recharge energy into the vehicle it is quite improbable or even impossible. Hence all the system involved in the energy management shall create synergies. The Thermal Management is based on two paramount bases. The first one is the location of thermal sources (it can rather been cold sinks or heat sources). The second is the transportation of the energy from one source to a sink. The identification of the sources is based on the vehicle necessities. The definition of the transportation means depend on the vehicle capacities. Traditional system to transport the heat from one place to another are based on fluid displacement. Therefore they need some energy to pump this fluid. In the last years the use of passive transportation means is being developed in the aerospace industry.