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Aerospace Engine Testing - The Sky's the Limit.
Hoffer Flow Controls The Hoffer custom The smaller turbine
has been awarded a contract to supply turbine flowmeters to
a major U.S. space agency. The turbine flowmeters will be
used to test large propulsion engines. We are pleased to be
a part of this program.
The customer specifying the
turbine flowmeters has been playing a key support role
since the early 1960's with work on the Saturn program.
Upon completion of the Apollo and Skylab programs, this
customer's role in engine testing moved to the next
step in space travel -- the Space Shuttle. Using its
three large
Apollo era test stands with thrust capability to 15
million pounds, this location's primary mission is to
test and flight certify the Space Shuttle's main engines,
which power the vehicle during its eight and one-half
minutes of flight prior to orbit. This particular location
began testing the main engines in June, 1975.
This customer is currently prepared to test much of
the propulsion hardware for future launch vehicles at
its state-of-the-art component test facility. Their
flexible,three-celled ground test facility will be capable
of a wide variety of testing including rocket engine
testing using liquid hydrogen, cryogenic liquids and
hydrocarbon fuels. Capabilities also include testing
with ultra-high pressure gases.
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A Titan-Centaur rocket launches Voyager
on its journey to the outer planets. |
The Hoffer custom designed turbine flowmeters will be
installed in their component test facility. The flowmeters
will range in sizes from 2" through 16". The
12" and 16" turbine flowmeters will be used
to test the shuttle's main engine which operates at
greater temperature extremes than any other mechanical
system in common use today. To fuel the engine, liquid
hydrogen (-423 degrees Fahrenheit), is combined with
liquid oxygen (-297 degrees Fahrenheit). When ignited,
they produce a temperature in the engine's combustion
chamber that reaches +6,000 degrees Fahrenheit, higher
than the boiling point of iron.
The smaller turbine flowmeters supplied by Hoffer will
be used for super critical liquid oxygen, and super
critical liquid hydrogen gases. Flow rates will be extremely
high and the meters are designed with custom rotor assemblies
incorporating shallow blade angles on the rotor to minimize
the RPM of the turbine. All meters will include custom
rim rotors which incorporate an outer shroud around
the rotor assembly.This effectively allows HFC to control
the number of pulses (K-factor) that the meter is producing.
This customer requires a high number of pulses for each
turbine meter.
This feature will assure them of better meter resolution
and ultimately better accuracy.
A number of the turbine meters will be used at pressures
to 15,000 PSI. To accomplish this, high pressure R-Con
flanges are incorporated into the meter design along
with a flowmeter housing fabricated with a heavy schedule
wall thickness. For example, two of the flowmeters will
have housings with an I.D. of approximately 2"
and an O.D. of 4". Two additional meters will incorporate
housings with I.D's of approximately 5" and O.D.'s
of 10". This represents a wall thickness of approximately
2½".
A special "fail safe" design, self-lubricating
bearing is also incorporated into the design. This will
prevent flowmeter component parts from being pushed
downstream,in the event of a catastrophic bearing failure.
Hoffer is pleased to be a supplier to this customer
and to provide test support for ongoing projects. The
flowmeters supplied for this program are direct relatives
of the standard HO Series of turbine flowmeters used
for "everyday" applications. If you have a
"unique" flow requirement, contact us. Our
expertise in providing flow solutions for the most challenging
applications can work for you.
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