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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1076.PDF
230 FLIGHT, 21 August 1953 Extreme-temperature Component Testing NOW in use by Northrop's research department is a new extreme-temperature chamber for testing aircraft and guided-missile components and materials. Temperature can be lowered from 70 to minus 85 deg F in ten minutes or raised from 70 to 180 deg F in seven minutes. The chamber is capable of operation at any temperature between minus 100 and plus 250 deg F. The unit was designed to Northrop's specifications by the Industrial Refrigeration Company of California. Low tempera tures are obtained by a "dry-ice" methanol system commonly used in the refrigeration industry. Dry ice is used to cool methanol in a sublimation tank, and the solution is then pumped through the tubes of a finned-tube heat-exchanger. A fan circulates air from the test chamber through the fins of the heat-exchanger and cools the air. An unusual feature of the unit is that it is equipped with auxiliary devices for cooling the methanol "with liquid instead of solid CO2. Use of this system is said to eliminate many of the disadvantages of dry-ice operation, such as storage losses, handling and contamination of the methanol. Heating the chamber is accomplished by circulating air through a group of finned electric heaters. Temperature is governed by an air-operated controller made by the Bailey Meter Company. Low-temperature control is accomplished by modulation of air-operated flow-control valves in the methanol system. For high-temperature control, the Bailey controller imposes proportional-reset action on a Taylor pneu matic interrupter, which in turn controls the electrical input to the heaters on a time-cycle basis. The control range of the unit is further enhanced by the use of a multi-speed motor to drive the air-circulating fan. The control thermocouple circuit is con nected through a selector switch to four of the thermocouple JIMK^: In the icebox: Northrop engineers test a Scorpion component. terminals provided inside the chamber. The remaining ten thermocouple terminals are connected through a selector switch to a second recorder in the controller which may be used to record temperatures of specimens being tested in the chamber. The test chamber and sublimation tank, together with all operating and control components and accessories, are integrally mounted on a steel base equipped with casters. Thus the equip ment may be moved to the sites of other series of tests and oper ated, if necessary, in conjunction with them. The fast rate of temperature change available in the unit makes possible the performance of several repeat tests in a single day. MASS-PRODUCED CERAMIC COATINGS THE Solar Aircraft Company of San Diego, California, have now set up a production-line installation for applying their "Solaramic" coatings to combustion chambers and transition liners of J-47 turbojet engines. The installation, described as a "conveyorized, mass production facility," covers 4,000 sq ft, cost over $ 150,000 and, with 12 men working a single shift, will produce 5,000 combustion chambers and 5,000 "transition liners" a month. Basically, the effect of ceramic coating (which was described in Flight, August 1st, 1952) is that (1) by preventing burning, Part of the Solar Company's ceramics conveyor-line it lengthens the service life of parts operating at normal temperatures, (2) alternatively, that it allows parts to operate at their existing standard life, but at higher temperatures, or (3) that it permits the substitution of lower grade alloys, less rich in "strategic" elements. The production sequence takes the fabricated parts, cleans them and passes them to be sprayed. This is at present done manually, but a semi-automatic method is being studied. The inside is sprayed first and parts are then hung on the conveyor line before the outside coat is applied, and remain on the con veyor throughout the processing outlined below. The conveyor line now travels at 2ft a minute. Following the spray operations, the coating is dried, using gas- fired direct-flow dryers operating at 150 deg F. After spraying, parts enter the furnace, where the coating is fired at a temperature of approximately 1,700 deg F. The gas-fired furnace has a 15ft firing zone. When the components leave the furnace, they continue on the conveyor line while cooling. Finally they are inspected and packed for shipment. Entire cycle time, from receipt of the parts to packing of the coated components far shipping, is stated to be one hour. Many parts of the production facilities themselves, including conveyor hooks and furnace fixtures, have been Solaramic-coated to extend their service life. WELCOME WINDFALL THE Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund benefits to the extent of 1,000 guineas as a result of the Coronation Year Ball organized by A. Cdre. J. A. Cecil-Wright and his son, G/C J. P. Cecil-Wright, and held at the Council House, Birmingham, earlier this year. The total was at first just over £934; but when, during a subse quent luncheon, the organizers came to hand over the cheque to the Controller of the Fund, A. V-M. Sir John Cordingley, it was announced that Mr. James Cooper, of Sutton Coldfield, had made up the sum to £1,000 and that an anonymous luncheon guest had increased it to 1,000 guineas. Mr. Cooper served in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War.
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