Cavotec Successfully Trials Pre-conditioned Air System with Airbus

27 October 2008

Cavotec MSL recently completed a two-week series of trials of its pre-conditioned air system, PCAir Caddy, with Airbus at the group’s production plant in Toulouse, France.

The PCAir Caddy hooked up to an A380. Click to enlarge.

When in a parking position, a pilot will likely run the plane’s APU (auxiliary power unit) to cool the aircraft, as oftentimes conventional systems are ineffective. On average, a plane’s APU can burn anywhere from 200 to 600 liters of fuel per hour, generating pollution at the airport and consuming costly fuel which should be used to fly the plane—not cool it on the ground.

It is very difficult to cool aircraft on the ground using conventional systems as the inlet temperature should be at least -5C°. The Cavotec PCAir system is unlike any other air-based technology on the market, expanding dry compressed air to produce 100m³/min preconditioned air at -25C° at the inlet.

—Ottonel Popesco, Cavotec CEO

The Cavotec PCAir system provides a dual benefit of reducing pollution and cutting expenses. The culmination of in-house-testing and the two-week trials at Airbus showed that the Cavotec PCAir system operates effectively, having successfully delivered -25C° ‘dry air’ in environments with ambient temperatures of up to 48C°. The PCAir system was tested on and cooled in under 30 minutes Airbus’ largest wide body aircraft, the A380, proving the system’s adaptability for the entire range of Airbus fleet.

The PCAir Caddy is scheduled to go on sale during 2009.