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Helicopter health monitoring system
New director for MIRA MIRA, the Motor Industry Research Association has announced the appointment of a new Director, Mr David Swallow, who joined the Association in mid-August. He is well known to MIRA as he was first elected to its governing Council in December 1980. David Swallow joined Perkins Engines as a student apprentice after leaving Sherwood Hall Boys School in 1962. His career has concentrated on the field of engine and engine associated vehicle engineering. This continued with Perkins where he became Senior Project Engineer responsible for developing the V8 engine. He then spent two years with Massey FergusonPerkins as Senior Project Engineer and in 1976joined Ford Motor Co. becoming Engine Programme Controller on the 'Dover' diesel engine. In 1980 he joined his present company, A.E. Hepworth & Grandage as Director of Product Engineering. In this position he has held responsibility for research, design, development and exploitation of a new generation of lightweight, low friction, low cost engine products. Last year he was appointed Director of Product Engineering and Quality Assurance for A.E. Cylinder Components UK Hepworth & Grandage. His additional responsibility for quality assurance has spanned a company of some 2000 employees.
David Swallow succeeds Dr Cedric Ashley CBE, who has taken up an appointment as Managing Director of Lotus Engineering. MIRA is a financially independent R & D establishment, with a current turnover of over £8 million, providing technical expertise world-wide from a team of over 90 specialists in all spheres of automotive engineering. The Motor Industry Research Association, Watling Street, Nuneaton, Warwickshire CVI0 0TU, UK
Helicopter health monitoring system A health monitoring system for helicopters is being developed jointly in the UK by Hawker Siddeley Dynamics Engineering Limited (Dynamics) of Welwyn Garden City and Southampton-based Stewart Hughes Limited. The equipment will monitor continuously the state of critical components and assemblies in the aircraft, noting serviceability or logging their use. The new system will monitor a helicopter's gearboxes by a special vibration method. This will provide the necessary early warnings to prevent the type of failure that caused a Chinook to crash in the North Sea last year. The system is designed on a modular basis to enable it to monitor other vital operational parameters on rotors, engines and airframe at the same time. Intended as a permanent on-board installation, the unit would provide advance warning of potential equipment failure with visual displays on the pilot's centralised warning panel. Data would simultaneously be stored for transfer to ground-based information management equipment. For helicopters landing away from base, equipment and component serviceability can be checked either by a hand-held computer or from fault codes displayed on the unit itself.
David Swallow, the new Director o f MIRA
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The advanced system technology will be provided by Stewart Hughes, which specialises in the design and implementation of integrated monitoring and
diagnostic systems. The hardware will be manufactured by Dynamics, whose full-authority helicopter engine control systems have completed more than five million flying hours worldwide. Hawker Siddeley Dynamics Engineering Ltd, Bridge Road East, Welwyn Garden City, Herts AL7 1LR, UK
Bearing mounting tool kit Two SKF tool kits, just introduced on the market, simplify the mounting and dismounting of rolling bearings.
SKF bearing mounting tool kit
The kit for bearing mounting is designated TMFT 33 and includes all that is needed for mounted bearings of up to 1 lOmm outside diameter quickly, securely and reliably. The kit can also be used to mount other components such as bushings and seals. The kit consists of 33 mounting rings, 3 mounting dollies and a plastic tip hammer. The novelty of this kit compared with other models is that the mounting rings are made of shockresistant plastic and the dollies of light alloy instead of the conventional steel. The complete kit including the case weighs only 4.5kg. The withdrawal kit TMBT 7 is also supplied in a practical case and is specially designed for the dismounting of deep groove ball bearings (sizes 6000-6013, 6200-6212, 6300-6311 and 6403-6408). The case contains three pullers with seven sets of claws, all made of high-strength steel. The kit weighs 6.5kg. SKF Engineering Products Limited, North Crawley Road, Newport Pagnell, Bucks MK16 9HB, UK
October 1987 Vol 20 No 5
David Swallow succeeds Dr Cedric Ashley CBE, who has taken up an appointment as Managing Director of Lotus Engineering. MIRA is a financially independent R & D establishment, with a current turnover of over £8 million, providing technical expertise world-wide from a team of over 90 specialists in all spheres of automotive engineering. The Motor Industry Research Association, Watling Street, Nuneaton, Warwickshire CVI0 0TU, UK
Helicopter health monitoring system A health monitoring system for helicopters is being developed jointly in the UK by Hawker Siddeley Dynamics Engineering Limited (Dynamics) of Welwyn Garden City and Southampton-based Stewart Hughes Limited. The equipment will monitor continuously the state of critical components and assemblies in the aircraft, noting serviceability or logging their use. The new system will monitor a helicopter's gearboxes by a special vibration method. This will provide the necessary early warnings to prevent the type of failure that caused a Chinook to crash in the North Sea last year. The system is designed on a modular basis to enable it to monitor other vital operational parameters on rotors, engines and airframe at the same time. Intended as a permanent on-board installation, the unit would provide advance warning of potential equipment failure with visual displays on the pilot's centralised warning panel. Data would simultaneously be stored for transfer to ground-based information management equipment. For helicopters landing away from base, equipment and component serviceability can be checked either by a hand-held computer or from fault codes displayed on the unit itself.
David Swallow, the new Director o f MIRA
300
The advanced system technology will be provided by Stewart Hughes, which specialises in the design and implementation of integrated monitoring and
diagnostic systems. The hardware will be manufactured by Dynamics, whose full-authority helicopter engine control systems have completed more than five million flying hours worldwide. Hawker Siddeley Dynamics Engineering Ltd, Bridge Road East, Welwyn Garden City, Herts AL7 1LR, UK
Bearing mounting tool kit Two SKF tool kits, just introduced on the market, simplify the mounting and dismounting of rolling bearings.
SKF bearing mounting tool kit
The kit for bearing mounting is designated TMFT 33 and includes all that is needed for mounted bearings of up to 1 lOmm outside diameter quickly, securely and reliably. The kit can also be used to mount other components such as bushings and seals. The kit consists of 33 mounting rings, 3 mounting dollies and a plastic tip hammer. The novelty of this kit compared with other models is that the mounting rings are made of shockresistant plastic and the dollies of light alloy instead of the conventional steel. The complete kit including the case weighs only 4.5kg. The withdrawal kit TMBT 7 is also supplied in a practical case and is specially designed for the dismounting of deep groove ball bearings (sizes 6000-6013, 6200-6212, 6300-6311 and 6403-6408). The case contains three pullers with seven sets of claws, all made of high-strength steel. The kit weighs 6.5kg. SKF Engineering Products Limited, North Crawley Road, Newport Pagnell, Bucks MK16 9HB, UK
October 1987 Vol 20 No 5