Aviation Purchasing Platform Blog

Hydraulic systems are commonly used in aircraft to move and articulate landing gear, flaps, and brakes. Larger aircraft will also use them to handle flight controls such as ailerons and flaps, spoilers, thrust reversers, and more. Hydraulics are popular because they transmit high amounts of pressure and force with a small volume of liquid, which is very useful in the aviation industry, where space and weight aboard an aircraft are at a premium.

Many of an aircraft’s important functions, such as operating wheel brakes, landing gear, and deploying flaps, all rely on linear hydraulic actuators. More and more systems are able to find functionality that can be improved with hydraulics. With these many increased utilizations and benefits, actuators have become almost an essential part of any aircraft vehicle.

Aircraft hydraulic systems play a pivotal role in the operation of aircraft components. Landing gear, flaps, flight control surfaces, and brakes operate through hydraulics. Hydraulic systems have lots of advantages over other power sources; they are lightweight, easy to install, simple to maintain and inspect, and have very few maintenance requirements. This blog will explain hydraulic systems and tell a little more about their function.

Water and electricity obviously do not mix. So putting devices that run off  electricity in an environment dominated and defined by water the outcome can be disastrous. When you’re installing new electronics in your marine vessel, here are some essential tips, tricks, and things to keep in mind.

Pressure transducers are sensors that convert pressure variations in a fluid into an electrical signal. Signals delivered by pressure transducers can be continuous, and therefore feed constant readouts to control systems. This means that smart control systems where falling pressure levels triggers alarms can be installed, which can be customizable and cause a system shutdown in the most serious cases. Because pressure transducers can operate with liquid interfaces and at high temperatures and pressures, they find use in marine applications like propulsion units, gearboxes, and oil systems. Three technologies are central in how useful modern transducers are: chemical vapor deposition (CVD), sputtered thin-film, and application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) electronic packaging.

The debate between marine diesel versus gasoline engines is a hot topic - literally. Both engines turn chemical energy into mechanical energy using an internal combustion process. The marine industry argues for the pros and cons of each engine type, with neither coming up on top. There is a lot of information surrounding the topic, however it is often misleading.

Some of the most exciting components of an aircraft are highly visible, such as the fuselage, the engines, and the aircraft instruments. These are intense displays of innovations in aviation. However, sometimes we don’t realize that there are millions of other aircraft parts that are integral parts of an aircraft, or that some of the simplest components can also be exciting and impressive. For example, the nuts and bolts utilized on an aircraft are not your everyday kind of material. For example, aircraft bolts are composed of corrosion resistant steel and exceed a tensile strength of 125,000 psi. They don’t bend easily like an average bolt. Aircraft fasteners may be made from aluminum, super alloys, titanium, or steel and include screws, rivets, bolts, pins, collars, and many more.

Aircraft engine mounts are weldment structures that fasten an engine to the airframe, while simultaneously holding all the associated power plant parts and accessories in place. They are an integral part of aircraft hardware and are the only fixture that attaches the engine and its accessory parts to an aircraft. As you can imagine, proper inspection of an engine mount is critical to safe operation of an aircraft.

Ships come in many shapes and sizes according to what their purpose is and how they are propelled or which engine design they use. Someone might wonder what the difference between a boat and a ship is. Well, the distinction is based on size, shape, load capacity, and tradition— but, there is no universally accepted distinction.

Thrust bearings are a common feature in the automotive and aerospace industries. Thrust bearings are low friction bearings with a rotating shaft— they help with rotation between parts while simultaneously resisting thrust. The main purpose of a thrust bearing is to handle the axial load. Thrust bearings can also be used in an application where the support shafts are out of alignment. These bearings are mainly used in applications that operate at higher speeds and require oil lubrication.