Mechanism of Oxygen in aeroplanes at higher altitudes?

Question

How oxygen in mantained in aeroplanes. wht kind of substances are used for appropriate level of oxygen at higher altitudes. how this mechanism works......

plz provide in-dept information.....thxs

Answer 1

In airliners and other pressurized aircraft, no special action is taken to add oxygen to the air.  Keeping the air at a suitable pressure (not more than the equivalent of 8000 feet MSL) is sufficient to ensure adequate oxygen for crew and passengers, without any change in the gas mixture or any supplemental oxygen.

Answer 2

Don't think of it so much as 'lack of oxygen', there is the same percentage of oxygen at cruise altitude as there is on the ground.  It is the low air pressure which means we can't breath the same volume of air period.

In a turbine powered aircraft, the fuselage (cabin area) is sealed and pressurized.  High pressure air from the compressor section of the engine is cooled and pumped into the cabin.  Valves are used to regulated the amount of this 'bleed' air and in many aircraft, a computer controls this relative cabin 'altitude' (we use that term to describe the pressure in the cabin).

Should a decompression occur the bleed air will be useless (i.e. window blow out) and the passengers and crew will need to use supplemental oxygen.

In large transport aircraft they use oxygen generators for the cabin oxygen masks.  These generators max various chemicals to generate oxygen (and lots of heat).

Cockpit crews will not use generators, but will breath off an independent high pressure oxygen tank.

Answer 3

Mike Tyson above is correct on the pressuriztion of the aircraft, but aircraft that fly at high atlitudes also have oxygen for emergency situtions such as a loss of cabin pressure.

There are two types on board, liquid and solid oxygen.

The liquid is stored in green metal cylinders that is available to the crew during flight, and is required if one member leaves his post, or above certain alitudes, one crewmember has to be on oxygen. These are refilled whenever they get low by refilling the tanks.

The oxygen avaialbe in emergency situations to the passengers is a solid form, where as a chemical reaction with the solid releases pure oxygen, which is usually done by burning magenuissum. These cylinders can be stored safely and for long periods of time, and because they only need to be used for a short peroid of time, they reduce weight on the aircraft, because they do not have to store large oxygen tanks.