It was a number of years ago that enterprising aviation experts at Embraer, Brazil’s largest aircraft manufacturer, noticed that the market for turboprop planes was dominated by foreign imports. Despite Brazil being the second biggest market for general aviation the trainer used at the Brazilian Air Force Academy is over 40 years old and lacks the most basic advances in materials and handling of modern turboprops. Privately owned Novaer was formed by ex-Embraer employees with the goal to produce a general purpose small turboprop that could update these aircraft as well as having handling characteristics worthy of an aerobatic single engine monoplane. T-Xc Calls on CPI for Thermal Switch SolutionThe T-Xc had its first flight in 2014 and is headed for production in 2017. Like many aircraft the Novaer T-Xc has requirements for critical temperature monitoring and control in the ECS equipment bay. This is an enclosed area housing critical avionics systems where temperature needs to be tightly monitored. This application is no stranger to CPI thermal switches. On the T-Xc Novaer will use our M2001 Plug-Stat switch. This is a bimetal close-on-rise switch with a programmable set point anywhere through the range 0F – 650F (-17C to 343C). It is also a tough and hardened switch proven to withstand vibration with an all stainless steel construction and a hermetically sealed design. Electrical operation can be specified in multiple options and there is an option for a glass sealed MIL-SPEC connector as well. CPI Thermal Switches Own the ECSWith reliable temperature detection and switch activation from 0F to 1750F across our product line, CPI products have been a go-to solution for ECS temperature monitoring for many aircraft manufacturers and military aircraft for many years. The switches are proven, reliable, heavy duty, and cost effective. If you need your equipment to keep its cool when you take to the skies, call CPI today, our thermal switch engineering team can help. Original content posted on https://www.cpi-nj.com/blog/novaer-trainer-will-take-to-the-sky-with-cpi/ Systems like municipal water supplies, sewage treatment plants, massive cooling and lubrication systems used in chemical, petrochemical, and the oil and gas industry, all share one thing in common: large flow valves that are critically opened and closed by computer controls to insure proper system operation, or prevent critical safety thresholds from being violated. Flow rates in these systems can be 10’s of thousands of gallons per hour at high pressure so valve control has to work every time and failure is not an option.
It turns out that valve position sensing is one of the ideal applications for our line of CPI waterproof switches. To insure that valve positions are indeed fully closed or fully open, variations of our sealed momentary or toggle switches are mounted in a customized bracket that is affixed to the valve housing. Commonly used for example, are the E1 Momentary Contact Limit Switches. These switches are completely sealed in a watertight neoprene or santoprene enclosure depending on your temperature requirements with leads of any specified length extended from the housing. This basic sealed waterproof switch design is then used in any of dozens of mounting and actuator bracket combinations. Most common to the valve class of sensing is the simulated roller mount. As the valve arm slides over the roller in one direction it actuates the switch, sending confirmation to the control system that the valve is open/closed, and releasing when the valve moves the other way. In the dirty, wet, extreme temperature environment that our switch commonly finds itself it, our sealed pendant mechanism is designed to survive, for thousands or even millions of cycles. Cold Weather Switch PerformanceWhile our switches can operate at high temperatures up to 120F, one of the more unique abilities of our designs is actually thier ability to operate at low temperatures, without sticking or freeze up. CPI engineers learned long ago the tricks related to insuring low temperature operation and making this engineering part of our manufacturing process. CPI switches can be specified for low temperature operations to -40F. Make the Switch To CPI Today!Original content posted on https://www.cpi-nj.com/blog/valve-position-sensing-for-mission-critical-flow-applications/ In a past life I was privileged to work on the very first fly-by-wire system used on the F16. This was the first system of its type used in an operational jet fighter utilizing a quad redundant custom designed CPU and optical fiber to relay cockpit commands to control surfaces in a matter of milliseconds.
Since then there have been thousands if not millions of improvements large and small to the F16 which remains a staple of NATO allied air forces around the world One aircraft in our inventory however, hasn’t had a major upgrade in over 5 decades. It’s the T38 Talon, used to train almost all our jet pilots for the last 50 years. Production of this aircraft actually stopped in 1972 and it lacks capability for upgrade to much of the current generation avionics and display technology. The Air Force is finally going to do something about it and while the contract is not awarded yet, all the major players are lined up for this lucrative potential business. Not content to wait for the contract award, Lockheed-Martin has already produced its version of the new T35 called the T-50A based on their FA50 golden eagle. This trainer will have the kind of large HUD and sophisticated, Ultra-modern glass cockpit design that will allow it to serve as a proper training bed for the next generation of fighter pilots. Ultra-Modern Jets, yes, but with the same ageless challenges.While many applications for thermal controls have gone the way of remote switches and local sensors, there is still a place for the hardened, standalone, autonomous thermal switch. One of those places, may well be the avionics bay of the Air Force’s next generation of fighters like the T-50A. With concerns around fail-safe operation, and various “golden bullet” scenarios, a locally active thermal switch is still the best solution for monitoring temperature in many avionics applications. CPI has supplied reliable thermal switching solutions to various major aircraft manufacturers worldwide for applications in the avionics bay ECS, APUs, compressors, galley equipment, for hydraulic fluid temperature monitoring, and many more. Our most common aerospace designs have been qualified per RTCA DO-160C and MIL-STD-810. General Product Features of CPI Thermal SwitchesAll CPI thermal switches are designed and manufactured in the USA at our East Hanover NJ facility. Most commonly used is our M series thermal switches referred to as our “Plug-Stat” series. Contact movement is achieved via the different expansion rates of two metals fused together. This is a slow-make-and-break device, which provides very close tolerance temperature sensing, with a small differential and a set point range: 0°F-650°F (-17.8°C-343°C). For those requiring even higher temperature operation, our Rod & Tube series can operate reliably at set points up to 1750F. In general CPI’s line of thermal switches have the following characteristics and options:
Call CPI today for more information about proven thermal switching solutions for commercial and military avionics.Original content posted on https://www.cpi-nj.com/blog/thermal-switches-for-military-and-commercial-jets/ |
Author
Archives
February 2024
Categories
All
|