Patent ID: 8899057

Claim:
A modular air conditioning (AC) unit, comprising: a base unit; a blower module mounted to the base unit and configured to provide air to a grounded aircraft; at least one heat exchanger module that is separate from the blower module, assembled to the base unit, and communicatively coupled to the blower module to form a modular AC circuit, wherein the at least one heat exchanger module comprises at least one stage of compressors; and a controller communicatively coupled to the at least one heat exchanger module of the modular AC circuit and configured to selectively control operation of the modular AC circuit in at least one of a heat mode, a cool mode, and a vent mode, wherein the controller is configured to control operation of the modular AC unit in the cool mode by calculating the number of stages of compressors needed for cooling, and activating the calculated number of stages of compressors, wherein the controller is configured to calculate the number of stages of compressors by determining a mass airflow rate associated with a selected aircraft type, determining an inlet air enthalpy based on a sensed ambient air temperature level and a sensed humidity level, determining an outlet air enthalpy, and determining the number of stages of compressors based on the mass airflow rate, the inlet air enthalpy, and the outlet air enthalpy.