what is Ecopower wash and compressor wash || How do you clean a jet engine? Advantage & Purpose of EcoPower wash -: Chandan Saha
EcoPower Wash
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EcoPower Wash
This is environment friendly as contaminated water that leaves the engine is collect and is not mixed with ground water .
This is closed loop engine wash system that uses pure atomized water to wash engine for optimum efficiency.
Why Engine Wash Mandatory ? What is the purpose of compressor washing?
The main purpose is to engine wash is to increase the EGT Margin.
● engine ingest contaminants during taxi, take off, and landing .
●dirt, dust, insect salts etc which build up on flow path surface as a result it reduces compressor efficiency.
●it also result in increase in fuel burn & EGT.
●washing frequently prevent heavy contamination.
●lower operating temperature mean lower turbine deterioration and longer maintenance intervals.
What is EGT Margin ?
It is a difference between EGT red line & EGT observed on a full power takeoff.
Advantage of Ecopower wash over Compressor wash
◆ Note -: Hot water under high pressure combined with nozzle makes water droplets to correct size and travels through the engine on same path as the contamination.
More Advantage of EcoPower wash -:
●Increase EGT margins .
● improve TSFC by upto 1.7%.
●Cleans compressor and fan in one process.
●used only demineralized / De-ionised hot water as it is free of salt & Minerals so no corrosion.
●extends on-wing time .
Reason for Eco-Power wash -:
● Carried out to improve the performance of engine with respect to the EGT & TSFC and also extend engine on-wing time.
●over a period of time the efficiency of compressor airfoil deteriorate due to contaminants that build up from polluted air which are ingested into engine and adhare to rotor and stator blades and result in loss of surface finish and loss of original design profile of engine.
● to compensate this loss engine has to be operated at higher rotational speed to achieve same label of thrust that was achieved before contamination build up , resulting in higher SFC .
This results in higher operating temperature and reduced EGT margins.
◆ Note -: Data for improvement of EGT Margin and TSFC is provided by P&W regularly to Respective Customer.
The relative improvement in EGT margin and TSFC is monitored by Powerplant Group.
What is Total dissolved solid ( TDS ) meter ?
It represents the total concentration of dissolve substance in water.
It is the total amount of charged ions & including minerals , salts, or metals dissolve in a given volume of water. Also reffered as part per million (PPM).
How Works TDS Meter ?
A TDS meter is based on electrical conductivity of water.
Pure water has zero conductivity.
The amount of cations and anions will increase the conductivity og water.
What is PALL meter ?
PALL meter is a device to measure The water content of a fluid .
It is expressed in ppm or % saturation.
The % saturation value is a direct measurement of the severity of the water contamination.
Author
Chandan Saha
Aircraft Maintenance Engineer
Airbus A320/A321
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