Pojawiła się już krótka, nie oficjalna informacja odnośnie przyszłości APU na samolocie 737, choć nic jeszcze nie wiadomo z tym APU w 737 MAX.
"Boeing has started flight tests of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) APU. The SOFC uses jet fuel as the reformer in the proton exchange membrane to give a 440kW APU that is 75% efficient compared to the conventional 40-45% efficient APU's. This would give a typical fuel saving of 1,360t for a 737 over a year. It is actually a hybrid gas turbine / fuel cell due to the sudden surges in demand eg engine starts and gear retraction etc. The SOFC will use air from a compressor passed through a heat exchanger for its gas turbine section. A potential drawback is that it has a 40min start-up time, so it would have to remain on for the whole day and depending upon its noise levels this could be a problem at airports which require the APU to be shutdown during the turnaround. The technology for the SOFC APU to replace the current APU is not likely to be available until at least 2015".
The 737 APU
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