Method for reducing outside air inflow required for aircraft cabin air quality

A method for calculating an aircraft fuselage leakage calculation of an aircraft, the method comprising:

• determining a calculation period for an aircraft fuselage leakage value and inputting the calculation period into a computer to obtain a first input data, the calculation period selected from the group comprising one of a continuous period, each flight of the aircraft, and a regular interval of days;
• obtaining an air conditioning pack outside air inflow rate from an aircraft air conditioning pack and inputting the air conditioning pack outside air inflow rate into the computer to obtain a second input data;
• obtaining a nitrogen generation system outflow rate from the aircraft and inputting the nitrogen generation system outflow rate into the computer to obtain a third input data;
• accumulating the first input data, the second input data, and the third input data in the computer to obtain an accumulated input data;
• processing the accumulated input data with a process software selected from the group comprising a ground based software that is part of a ground data processing station and an in-flight software that stores the input data on the aircraft for subsequent download to a ground based data processing station, in order to obtain an output data in the form of a calculated aircraft fuselage leakage value;
• sending the output data to a data file;
• using the calculated aircraft fuselage leakage value to calculate an aircraft fuel savings potential value;
• and,
• communicating the aircraft fuel savings potential value to an aircraft operator,
• wherein the method communicates the aircraft fuselage leakage value and an increase in a fuel consumption rate due to an additional amount of outside air inflow required to replenish air loss due to fuselage leakage, due to aerodynamic drag, and due to reduced thrust recovery.

A system for calculating an aircraft fuselage leakage calculation of an aircraft, the system comprising:

• a computer having accumulated input data comprising a first input data comprising a calculation period for an aircraft fuselage leakage value, a second input data comprising one or more outside air inflow rates, and a third input data comprising one or more air outflow rates;
• a process software for processing the accumulated input data to obtain an output data in the form of a calculated aircraft fuselage leakage value;
• a data file for receiving the output data;
• and,
• wherein the calculated aircraft fuselage leakage value is used to calculate an aircraft fuel savings potential value,
• and further wherein the system is configured to communicate the aircraft fuselage leakage value and an increase in a fuel consumption rate due to an additional amount of outside air inflow required to replenish air loss due to fuselage leakage, due to aerodynamic drag, and due to reduced thrust recovery.