Pneumatics

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 See also Air Conditioning & Pressurisation

General

The pneumatic system can be supplied by

engines, APU or a ground source. The
manifold is normally split by the isolation
valve. With the isolation valve switch in
AUTO, the isolation valve will only open when
an engine bleed air or pack switch is selected
OFF.

Air for engine starting, air conditioning packs,

wing anti-ice and the hydraulic
reservoirs comes from their respective
ducts. Air for pressurisation of the water
tank and the aspirated TAT probe come
from the left pneumatic duct. External air for
engine starting feeds into the right pneumatic
duct. Ground conditioned air feeds directly
into the mix manifold.

The minimum pneumatic duct pressure (with

anti-ice off) for normal operation is 18psi.

On the Max, the pneumatic bleed air system

now has an electronic controller. This allows
the aircraft to digitally tune the amount of air
that is needed in whatever flight regime you’re
in. This is different to the previous "all or
nothing" system which would often take more
bleed air from the engines than necessary
thereby reducing performance.

If engine bleed air temperature or pressure

exceed limits, the BLEED TRIP OFF light will
illuminate and the bleed valve will close. You
737-3/500 Pneumatics Panel
may use the TRIP RESET switch after a short
cooling period. If the BLEED TRIP OFF light
does not extinguish, it may be due to an
overpressure condition. Bleed trip off's are
most common on full thrust, bleeds off, take-
off's. The reason is excessive leakage past
the closed hi stage valve butterfly which leads
to a pressure build up at the downstream port
on the overpressure switch within the hi stage
regulator. The simple in-flight fix is to reduce
duct pressure by selecting CLB-2 and/or using
engine and/or wing anti-ice.

WING-BODY OVERHEAT indicates a leak in

the corresponding bleed air duct. This is
particularly serious if the leak is in the left
hand side, as this includes the ducting to the
APU. The wing-body overheat circuits may be
tested by pressing the OVHT TEST switch;
both wing-body overheat lights should
illuminate after a minimum of 5 seconds. This
test is part of the daily inspection.
 Differences

1/200's - The PACK switches are simply

OFF/ON, rather than OFF/AUTO/HIGH on all
other series.

4/8/900's - Have two recirc fans for pax

comfort and PACK warning lights instead of
PACK TRIP OFF. See Air conditioning for an
explanation. There are also two sidewall
risers either side instead of one on all other
series, this is why there appear to be two
missing windows forward of the engine inlet.

MAX - BLEED TRIP OFF lights renamed

BLEED. This is to indicate that either a bleed
has tripped off due to excessive bleed air
temperature, pressure or under-pressure, OR
there is a failure in the bleed air system OR
that there is an incorrect bleed config after
take-off or go-around.

The MAX pneumatic bleed air system now

has an electronic controller. This allows the
aircraft to digitally tune the amount of air that
is needed in whatever flight regime you’re in.
This is different to the previous "all or nothing"
system which would often take more bleed air
from the engines than necessary thereby
reducing performance.

One of the faults detected by the system is an

underpressure. If the duct pressure drops
below 13psi with engines running, the
controller closes the suspect valve to protect
the affected system.

Note that the system conducts a series of self

tests after landing known as Post-Flight Built
737-400 Pneumatics Panel In Tests (PFBIT). This is a controller initiated,
non-interactive test sequence that checks the
capability of the PRSOV solenoid to close the
valve, independent of the torque motor. These
can be observed as duct pressure splits and
are normal on the MAX.
 737-400 Sidewall risers
The hydraulic reservoirs are pressurised to
ensure a positive flow of fluid reaches the
pumps. A from the left manifold and B from
the right. See wheel-well fwd.

Schematic

Schematic courtesy of Derek Watts

Click here to see a larger air conditioning & pneumatics schematic diagram for
the 300/500 or 400.
Limitations
Max external air pressure: 60 psig
Max external air temp: 450°F / 232°C
One pack may be inoperative FL250
provided maximum altitude is: