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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1692.PDF
780 FLIGHT, 15 Novem Left, a general view of the high-altitude test laboratory, with small chamber in foreground and heat exchanger on right. In the main chamber (right), final adjustments are made to a 40 kVA alternator prior to testing. AIRCRAFT ELECTRICS . . . D.C. generator testing, a 30-volt loading being provided up to15 kW. Both A.C. and D.C. motors up to the largest sizes envisaged for aircraft can be handled, and starter test rigs arealso available. Equipment in the vibration laboratory includes three Moymechanical tables, each capable of applying circular vibrations to equipment weighing up to 25 lb and over the frequency range0-150 c/s; and a de Havilland moving-coil type transducer capable of applying linear vibrations at frequencies up to 500 c/s toequipment weighing up to 120 lb. The effects of Aspergillus Amstelodami on a Type 98 voltageregulator might sound an improbable sort of thing to investigate, but this was one of the tests taking place in the climatic laboratoryat the time of our visit. The resistance of various electrical units to attack by the above-mentioned and other tropical fungi wasbeing studied in one of two small chambers, in which the units were being kept for 28 days at a time, at 32 deg C and 95 per centhumidity. A transformer rectifier unit was undergoing simulated tropical exposure testing in a second humidity chamber, and acontrol panel was being alternately heated and frozen in the main panclimatic chamber. This measures 3ft x 3ft x 3ft, and its rangeof test conditions comprises temperatures from — 65 to + 70 deg C, humidities up to 100 per cent and simulated altitudes up to60,000ft. Two large ovens, controllable to 200 deg C, are used for long-period, high-ambient tests on smaller pieces of equipment.In the acceleration and explosion laboratory, two explosion chambers are used for the flameproof testing of components. Anexplosive mixture of iso-pentane is introduced into the chamber in use, and a spark is generated inside the case of the unit undertest. The gas inside the component should ignite, but that in the rest of the chamber should not. Other equipment in this sectionincludes a centrifuge capable of applying between 6 and 20g; and a shock-test machine capable of 25g. Other departments of the new laboratories are concerned withcontrol-gear development; hydraulic components; investigation of new materials, bearings, insulation, etc.; measurement problems(e.g., frequency transients, airflow, humidity); and endurance testing. An interesting tailpiece to our Bradford visit arose from thesight of a large wing-rib hanging on the wall of one of the labora- tory offices. This had been found a few months ago, together witha four-bladed propeller, during the re-building of the works to accommodate the new laboratories. The spruce rib, it transpired,belonged to one of the Phoenix P. 5 Cork flying boats designed and built on these premises at Bradford by the Phoenix DynamoManufacturing Company some 40 years ago. Left, an aircraft alternator being connected on a dynamometer test rig. Right, checking a 300-amp wide speed-range generator in the inspection and test department of the aircraft equipment division.
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