Complete Sourcing Solutions Blog

Whether one is operating an aircraft with a turbine or reciprocating engine, excessive heat can prove very detrimental to the overall health and functionality of internal combustion engines. With consistent ignition of fuel and air mixtures and large amounts of extremely hot exhaust gases being forced through systems, cooling is crucial to avoid damaging parts or a complete engine failure. Through the use of air cooling, liquid cooling, heat exchangers, and other methods, aircraft engines can be protected and maintained over numerous flight operations.

As aircraft and their respective technologies have continued to advance and grow more complex, an increased amount of power has been needed to efficiently actuate systems and carry out normal operations. Through the use of pressurized fluids such as gases and liquids, power can be transferred throughout an enclosed system to overcome the physical limitations of a human pilot. As such, brakes, doors, landing gear, flight surfaces, and other assemblies may be operated without the sole reliance on pilot strength and mechanical systems. As one of the most popular methods of power transfer, pneumatic systems serve many aircraft for their operations due to their reliability and cost-efficiency.

For vehicles, industrial settings, and even home appliances, vacuum pumps and air compressors are common apparatuses that manipulate gases for specific functionalities. Despite seeming similar in their implementation and operation, both devices are quite different in their varying uses. With vacuum pumps and air compressors serving well for the operation of vehicle brakes, air conditioners, gas station pumps, and other common day-to-day applications and devices, understanding the differences between the two can be very useful.

When operating aircraft in high altitudes in which air pressure is low, engines must be able to compress air in order to provide optimal combustion for propulsion. This is because oxygen is less dense in the air at higher altitudes, causing aircraft engines to function with lower performance than they would when closer to sea level. With an externally driven supercharger, commonly known as a turbosupercharger, the carburetor or control unit is supplied with compressed air for combustion. As a result, aircraft are able to reach better efficiency despite their surrounding atmospheric air pressure, and this allows them to operate at much higher altitudes without fail.

Within the cockpit of an aircraft, a number of instruments and gauges are available for the pilot to be aware of the operating conditions of the aircraft, allowing them to safely pilot it. For an aircraft to be considered airworthy for certification, it must have a working airspeed indicator. The airspeed indicator, also known as an airspeed gauge, is a flight instrument that provides the speed of an aircraft in km/h, kn, MPH, or m/s. Airspeed indicators are crucial to the safe and efficient operation of an aircraft, and understanding their functionality is beneficial to anyone working with or aspiring to work with aircraft.

A shim is a thin, tapered or wedged piece of material used to fill small gaps or spaces within objects. They are commonly used to support, adjust for better fit, or provide a level fit. In many cases, shims are also used as spacers to fill gaps between parts subject to wear and tear. The material a shim is made from is known as shim stock. Common shim stock can be made from a variety of materials but is typically composed of wood, stone, plastic, metal, or even paper. Aerospace specific shims come from materials such as carbon steel, stainless steel, brass, copper, aluminum, titanium, and others.

Synchros are an electromagnetic device, or transformer, that electrically transmits positional data between locations. Within an aircraft, synchros may be used as a rotary position sensor for aircraft control surfaces or as remote position indicators for landing gear, radar systems, and autopilot. Synchros may benefit both defense and commercial aircraft systems, and their easy installation and great reliability across many different aircraft components makes them a beneficial and desired device. In this blog, we will discuss the principles of synchros, as well as the various types of synchros and synchro components.

The intricacy of turbine engines is nothing short of an engineering marvel. Just as important as each of the parts that go into a turbine engine are the instruments that monitor the engine. The most important turbine engine instruments are the engine pressure ratio indicator (EPR), torquemeter, tachometer, exhaust gas temperature indicator (EGT), and the fuel flow, engine oil pressure, and engine oil temperature indicators. This blog will look at each of these instruments and explain their place on a turbine engine powered aircraft.

Temperature detection is indispensable for any type of temperature control application. Within an advanced system, temperature detection circuits read and record ambient temperatures, which are the baseline temperatures of objects or environments. Depending on the complexity of the detection circuit, they can even gauge and notify when temperature control occurs. With temperature sensors, there are four common types to be familiar with that we will discuss below.

An airplane global positioning system (GPS) is currently the most efficient, economical, and time prioritized way to navigate the skies. Created in 1973 by the Department of Defense, this global satellite navigation system provides time information and geolocation to GPS receivers worldwide. Utilizing motion sensors, rotation sensors and a computer to calculate velocity, position, and even the orientation of an object in motion (without external references). Radio aid is then used to send navigation signals, GPS data and inertial reference system information to the Flight Management System (FMS) or Black Box of an aircraft. The FMS itself has its own built-in navigation aids, airways needed for the route, and a complete database of airports. Once an optimal route is determined the proposed route is sent to the Air Route Traffic Center for analysis to determine if the current air traffic can accommodate the route. The approval of a route by the Air Route Traffic Center is then relayed to the pilot during pre-flight take-off for final route confirmation.