The aerospace industry stands at the forefront of technological innovation, integrating complex systems and components to ensure the safety, efficiency, and reliability of aircraft and spacecraft. Among them, electrical components play a pivotal role in the functioning of these advanced machines. This blog aims to illuminate these components, offering a professional yet accessible exploration of their varieties and functions within aerospace electrical systems.
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In the realm of mechanical engineering and industrial design, retaining rings play a pivotal role in ensuring the integrity and reliability of various machinery and equipment. These unassuming circular devices, also known as snap rings or C-clips, are often overlooked, but their importance cannot be overstated. In this blog, we will delve into the functionality and operation of retaining rings, with a particular focus on tapered retaining rings and their role in bore assemblies.
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In aviation, aircraft lights serve a crucial role by ensuring visibility and safety during various phases of flight. These lights come in different types and are strategically placed on an aircraft to convey specific information to other pilots and ground personnel. In this article, we will explore the purpose and significance of the numerous aircraft lights in aviation operations.
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The tailplane of an aircraft, or horizontal stabilizer, is one of the main elements of the entire vehicle that allows for control and stability to be provided for safer and more efficient flight. The tailplane is simply a small lifting surface situated toward the back of the fuselage, though not all fixed-wing aircraft have them. If one does, they will have the appearance of two wing surfaces that extend out the sides of the tail.
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Aircraft are constructed with numerous materials that are usually durable, lightweight in composition, weather resistant, and corrosion resistant. Generally, materials are selected with safety specifications in mind, ensuring that various aircraft parts, such as the fuselage, engines, landing gear, and controls can be relied upon with ease. Aircraft cockpit windows are just one example of aircraft components that require a specific design.
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Though modern aircraft are equipped with high quality glass cockpits, a majority of airplanes still rely on traditional round-dial panels with gyroscopes operated by vacuum pumps. Also called pressure pumps, vacuum pumps are available in a variety of designs and they are all utilized to power vital gyroscopic instruments and accessories.
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The wheel assembly of an aircraft is paramount for its ability to land and traverse solid surfaces, tasked with taking on large amounts of wear and tear through normal operations. As the wheels must be capable of withstanding the load of the aircraft and are fitted with disc brake systems that enable high stopping power, they are robustly designed in regard to their materials and construction. In this blog, we will discuss the design and construction of aircraft wheels and how they benefit landing operations.
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As airlines are endeavoring to become more eco-friendly, they are turning to the process of harvesting parts from decommissioned aircraft in the interest of increasing reuse. With the average lifespan of a commercial jet spanning twenty-five years,12,000 aircraft are currently estimated to reach the end of their service life within the next two decades. Due to the exponentially increasing amount of aircraft, not only will recycled components become significantly more advantageous, but also cost efficient.
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During a typical flight operation, knowing the airspeed that the aircraft is traveling at is important for carrying out a number of standard procedures. Whether maintaining a level speed for fuel efficiency, reducing it before a turn or landing, or increasing speed to ready for a liftoff, knowing how fast the aircraft is moving assists in upholding safe and efficient piloting. With an instrument known as the airspeed indicator, pilots are provided with the speed that the aircraft is moving at in relation to its surrounding air. As the airspeed indicator serves as one of the primary aircraft instruments, having an understanding of its functionality is very important for any pilot.
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When riding in passenger aircraft that travel upwards of 30,000 feet or more, the surrounding atmosphere is often extreme in its conditions. From very low temperatures to air pressure values well below safe breathing limits, humans are unsuited for such high altitudes. Despite this, passengers most often only face some lighter side effects such as a dry mouth and popping ears throughout a flight. This is due the fact that aircraft cabins are specifically designed to create an environment that is closer to that of sea level, and this is achieved through aircraft pressurization.
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When operating moving systems within an aircraft, actuators serve as components capable of converting electrical signals into physical variables. With the ability to utilize actuation to create mechanical movement, pressure, or temperature, actuators can ensure that flight control surfaces and other equipment pieces operate correctly and efficiently. In this blog, we will discuss aircraft actuators more in detail, allowing you to understand how they function and where they are commonly implemented.
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For an aircraft to optimally navigate through the sky and maintain efficient heavier-than-air flight, they require a number of control surfaces, linkages, and other related components that work together. Through surfaces such as flaps, slats, slots, rudders, and their respective cockpit controls, pilots can govern the flight dynamics of an aircraft in order to assist in flight operations. While many aircraft may feature similar primary and secondary controls for piloting, the means of operating such surfaces may come in various forms of flight control systems. In this blog, we will discuss the three main types of aircraft flight control systems, allowing you to better understand how different aircraft models are handled.
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While many may be familiar with the wings of aircraft and how they generally affect the ability of flight, others may not be aware of the smaller wing components that assist in manipulating lift, drag, and other aerodynamic forces in order to improve flight efficiency. As a small, hinged section placed on the trailing edge of aircraft wings, ailerons are components that alter lift on aircraft. With aircraft ailerons, pilots may govern the roll of the aircraft, allowing them to more efficiently control direction. Due to their benefits and high usage during flight operations, understanding how they work is important for safe flying.
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If you’ve flown in the passenger seat of an airliner, you’ve surely caught yourself gazing out the window at the system of flight controls moving up and down. These flight controls are known as flaps, but what exactly do they do? This blog will explain what flaps are, how they work, and their types.
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Pumps and compressors are both used to move hydraulic fluids through a system. Despite this, both do so through differing methods. Pumps are able to move both liquid and gas. Compressors generally only move gas, due to its natural ability to be compressed. This blog will explain pumps, compressors and their differences.
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When flying an aircraft, flight control surfaces are the devices that enable pilots to govern the flight dynamics and attitude of the aircraft. They are located across the aircraft in areas such as the wings, fuselage, tail, and other areas in which aerodynamic forces may be manipulated. During commercial flights, you may have noticed large panels placed on the wings of the aircraft that open during landing operations. These panels, known as spoilers, are important flight control surfaces that are controlled by the pilot to aid in flight and landing.
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The jet engine system is a very intricate and complex system and while there are many moving parts that contribute to the engine and how it helps propel an aircraft, this article will provide a basic outline of the process. Every jet engine, also called gas turbines, takes air in at its front with a fan. A blower raises the weight of the air. The blower is made with numerous edges appended to a pole. The cutting edges turn and pack or crush the air. The packed air is then showered with fuel and an electric lights the blend. The consuming gases extend and impact out through the spout, at the rear of the engine. As the planes of gas shoot in reverse, the engine and the airplane are pushed forward. As the tourist is heading off to the spout, it goes through another gathering of cutting edges called the turbine.
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N95 respirators and surgical masks are two examples of personal protective equipment (PPE). PPE refers to any equipment worn to minimize exposure to hazards that cause injuries or illnesses resulting from contact with chemical, radiological, physical, electrical, or, in the time of COVID-19, biological hazards. This blog will explain the differences between N95 face masks and surgical masks as well as their importance in preventing the spread of diseases.
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De-icing is a very important procedure that removes snow, ice, and frost from the skin of an aircraft. De-icing may come in the form of mechanical methods, heat, chemicals, or combinations of the three to create an ice protection system. This is critical for both the safety of the aircraft, as well as those within them as ice can affect the aerodynamic properties of the aircraft, damage engines, and cause issues that can warrant delays and danger. In this blog, we will discuss a few of the common methods and de-icing technologies that aircraft utilize, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each.
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American wire gauge (AWG) is a standardized wire gauge system that provides for the measurement of wires based on logarithmic steps. In general, the American wire gauge system is used for measuring the diameters of electrically conductive wiring that is solid, round, and nonferrous. The American wire gauge system may also be known as Brown & Sharpe Gage, and it has served as the current United States standard method of measuring cross sections of wire for electrical resistance since 1857. In this blog, we will discuss the American wire gauge system and how measurements are made, as well as the various types of conductive wiring that are categorized by it.
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Bearings are mechanical devices used to assist machinery in linear and rotational movement, friction reduction, and load support. They produce less friction than a sliding surface, and therefore enable the systems to which they are affixed to operate faster and more efficiently. Bearings are in use throughout the aerospace, civil aviation, defense, and marine sectors. Though bearings are simple parts, their importance cannot be overstated. The most commonly found bearings in the aerospace and defense industries are roller bearings, ball bearings, ball thrust bearings, screw bearings, baffle bearings, actuator bearings, and needle bearings.
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Due to the risk that a failure poses to the passengers and crew of an aircraft, the windows mounted in an aircraft’s fuselage are exhaustively designed and tested against any possible dangers they may face. The Federal Aviation Administration’s Advisory Circular 25.775-1 mandates that aircraft windows must undergo the same level of strength and resilience testing as other parts of the fuselage, like the wings and engines.
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Hydraulic systems need piping to transport hydraulic fluid from one point to another. To provide transportation in a safe and effective manner, engineers use a variety of hard metal tubing and flexible hosing, depending on the requirements of the hydraulic system and the aircraft in general.
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When we think about how aircraft fly, we are prone to automatically thinking about planes, their engines, and how they have to race down a runway in order to generate enough speeds to achieve lift. While rotorcraft such as helicopters follow similar principles of aerodynamics in order to achieve lift, the system they use, rotors, are quite different.
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In 1903, The Wright Brothers’ airfoil shaped propeller blades made the first powered flight in history. Nowadays, we still use a similar airfoil design for modern propeller blades, but we have a few options as far as pitch and angle of attack. Two commonly seen propeller types are fixed pitch propellers and variable pitch propellers.
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