Water removal downstream of a turbine

A method of removing water from a stream of air in an air conditioning system, comprising:

• passing air through an air turbine to cause small water droplets to form and be discharged from the air turbine;
• coalescing the small water droplets into larger water droplets in a demister pad, the demister pad being made of strands packed together;
• flowing air through the demister pad to carry the larger water droplets to an inertial water removal device downstream from the demister pad;
• separating the larger water droplets from the stream of air by passing the larger water droplets exiting the demister pad into an inertial water removal device downstream from the demister pad;
• and
• collecting water from the airstream only in a water collector of the inertial water removal device.

An aircraft air conditioning subsystem connected to an air turbine, the subsystem comprising:

• a demister pad located downstream of the air turbine and adjacent the air turbine, the demister pad capable of coalescing small water droplets from the air turbine into larger water droplets that exit the demister pad, the demister pad being made from fibers or strands, the demister pad having a porosity from approximately 0.5 to approximately 0.95;
• an inertial water removal device comprising a water extractor, the inertial water removal device located downstream of the demister pad and adjacent the demister pad, the inertial water removal device capable of receiving the larger droplets that exit the demister pad and separating the large water droplets from the stream of air;
• and
• the demister configured to allow all of the water that enters the demister to emerge into the inertial water removal device so that all water that is removed from the air stream by the subsystem is collected in a water collector of the inertial water removal device.