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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1059.PDF
FLIGHT, 3 August 1961 161 KEEPING IT COOL The Production of Aircraft Heat Transfer and Insulation Equipment—and much else Besides—by Delaney Gallay Ltd. FIFTY-ONE years ago the late L. T. Delaney established afactory in London for the assembly of a world-famousmarque of French car, the Delaunay-Belleville; and shortly afterwards he secured English rights for the Gallay film-block andfin-and-tube radiators, which were fitted to quality cars right up to the time of the Second World War. The early aircraft constructors soon recognized the efficiency ofthese coolers; and in due course Delaney's radiator company, drawing upon its accumulated experience, began to design equip-ment specifically for aeronautical use. The first aero-engine coolers of Delaney Gallay design and manufacture were airborne in 1917. The business was a family concern, and the family were allenthusiasts for motoring and aviation. Early in his career the present managing director, Mr C. T. Delaney, was a keen partici-pant in car racing and aviation. Closely associated with many record-breaking projects both on land and in the air, he held one ofthe early pilot's certificates issued by the Brooklands Flying Club. At the outbreak of the Second World War the company wentinto large-scale production of radiators and oil coolers for the Spitfire and many other military aircraft and fighting vehicles. Since that time the Delaney Gallay range of aircraft products—in common with equipment in the automobile field, which it also covers—has greatly increased. In the main, the company's work forthe aircraft industry is the manufacture of oil coolers; heat ex- changers; water extractors for air-conditioning systems; thermalinsulation for engine installations; insulated ducting; and stainless- steel aircraft toilets. Sheet-metal fabrication in stainless steel andvarious other materials is undertaken—typical components under this heading including oil, water and waste tanks, exhaust collectorrings and other complex ducting assemblies—together with brazing of various kinds (including flux-bath and vacuum) and an almostunlimited range of prototype and other work. They have, too, the facilities to conduct research and development work, particularlyinto modern metal-joining techniques, for their customers. A recent tour of the main works at Cricklewood, in north-westLondon, showed how well the company is equipped to undertake such activities.Among the particularly interesting components they manufacture are heat exchangers for wing anti-icing. Broadly, an exchanger ofthis type consists of a multiplicity of tubes across which part of a turboprop efflux is blown and through which ram air is passed and,thus heated, ducted to the wing leading-edge. Made entirely of stainless steel, the heat exchanger for the Van-guard is a complex of no fewer than 4,684 tubes 15in long, of ^in internal diameter and 0.004in wall thickness. The assembly processis interesting to watch. The more repetitive stages are done by girls, the tubes being inserted by hand in the accurately drilled shelland one end expanded by a powered mandrel. Then, after interim inspection, the unit is reversed and the other ends of the tubes arebelled, allowing 0.040in float to absorb thermal shock. Vanguard, Viscount, Britannia, Argosy, Herald and Friendship are among theaircraft in which Delaney Gallay heat-exchangers are used. Usually smaller than the air heat exchangers, oil coolers and oil/fuel heat exchangers are generally made of light alloy—though here, too, stainless steel is gaining ground; for equivalent pressure-resistance, it can save material-weight in comparison with light alloy. In the assembly of heat exchangers brazing processes are widelyused—among others the flux bath (for aluminium) and vacuum brazing (for assemblies in stainless steel and those high-temperaturealloys which develop highly resistant refractory films at the metal surfaces, e.g., titanium and the nickel-chrome-cobalt series).Among aircraft equipped with Delaney Gallay oil coolers are the Assembling insulating blankets for Vanguard jetpipes. The complete jackets are ISft long for the inboard Rolls-Royce Tyne engines and 13ft for the outboard, below, manufacture of stainless-steel anti-icing heat exchangers for the Vanguard: jig-drilling and reaming collector plates Insertion of tubes in oil coolers prior to expanding the ends is done quickly and efficiently by girls, below, a skilled job is the assembly— by resistance welding—of insulating blankets on engine ducting of complex shapes
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