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Tool for Sizing Suction Pumps for Hybrid Laminar Flow Control Concepts

Mikael Bottemanne 1 and Chris Atkin 2
1. Airbus Defence and Space, Aeromechanic systems, Munich, Germany
2. City University London, Department of Mechanical Engineering & Aeronautics, London, United-Kingdom

Abstract—This paper describes a tool developed for estimating performance of suction pumps for Hybrid Laminar Flow Control (HLFC) with constraints related to real aircraft application. The suction pump has three components: a compressor, a generator and a motor. The last two must fit the overall aircraft electric system, which is unknown at this stage. Therefore, general linear approximations are used. The compressor is independent from other systems and is optimized specifically for HLFC. The models have been validated with data from previous HLFC concept studies. The tool, developed in Python, provides sufficient details to ensure the constraints are satisfied, while still requiring minimal computational efforts and allowing the user to choose freely any optimization variables, constraints and objectives functions. This represents the first step toward a system-level optimization of HLFC concepts.

Index Terms—HLFC, suction pump, compressor, tool, optimization

Cite: Mikael Bottemanne and Chris Atkin, "Tool for Sizing Suction Pumps for Hybrid Laminar Flow Control Concepts," International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 1-8, January 2018. DOI: 10.18178/ijmerr.7.1.1-8