Month: December 2016

December 28, 2016

Novaer Trainer Will Take To the Sky with CPI

It was a number of years ago that enterprising aviation experts at Embraer, Brazil’s largest aircraft manufacturer, noticed that the market for turboprop planes was dominated by foreign imports. Despite Brazil being the second biggest market for general aviation the trainer used at the Brazilian Air Force Academy is over 40 years old and lacks the most basic advances in materials and handling of modern turboprops.

Privately owned Novaer was formed by ex-Embraer employees with the goal to produce a general purpose small turboprop that could update these aircraft as well as having handling characteristics worthy of an aerobatic single engine monoplane.

T-Xc Calls on CPI for Thermal Switch Solution

The T-Xc had its first flight in 2014 and is headed for production in 2017. Like many aircraft CPI Thermal Switches for Aircraft and Avionicsthe Novaer T-Xc has requirements for critical temperature monitoring and control in the ECS equipment bay. This is an enclosed area housing critical avionics systems where temperature needs to be tightly monitored. This application is no stranger to CPI thermal switches. On the T-Xc Novaer will use our M2001 Plug-Stat switch. This is a bimetal close-on-rise switch with a programmable set point anywhere through the range 0F – 650F (-17C to 343C). It is also a tough and hardened switch proven to withstand vibration with an all stainless steel construction and a hermetically sealed design. Electrical operation can be specified in multiple options and there is an option for a glass sealed MIL-SPEC connector as well.

CPI Thermal Switches Own the ECS

With reliable temperature detection and switch activation from 0F to 1750F across our product line, CPI products have been a go-to solution for ECS temperature monitoring for many aircraft manufacturers and military aircraft for many years. The switches are proven, reliable, heavy duty, and cost effective.

If you need your equipment to keep its cool when you take to the skies, call CPI today, our thermal switch engineering team can help.

Original content posted on https://www.cpi-nj.com/blog/novaer-trainer-will-take-to-the-sky-with-cpi/

December 4, 2016

Thermal Switches for Military and Commercial Jets

In a past life I was privileged to work on the very first fly-by-wire system used on the F16. This was the first system of its type used in an operational jet fighter utilizing a quad redundant custom designed CPU and optical fiber to relay cockpit commands to control surfaces in a matter of milliseconds.

Since then there have been thousands if not millions of improvements large and small to the F16 which remains a staple of NATO allied air forces around the  world

One aircraft in our inventory however, hasn’t had a major upgrade in over 5 decades. It’s the T38 Talon, used to train almost all our jet pilots for the last 50 years. Production of this aircraft actually stopped in 1972 and it lacks capability for upgrade to much of the current generation avionics and display technology. The Air Force is finally going to do something about it and while the contract is not awarded yet, all the major players are lined up for this lucrative potential business.

Not content to wait for the contract award, Lockheed-Martin has already produced its version of the new T35 called the T-50A based on their FA50 golden eagle. This trainer will have the kind of large HUD and sophisticated, Ultra-modern glass cockpit design that will allow it to serve as a proper training bed for the next generation of fighter pilots.

Ultra-Modern Jets, yes, but with the same ageless challenges.

While many applications for thermal controls have gone the way of remote switches and local sensors, there is still a place for the hardened, standalone, autonomous thermal switch. One of those places, may well be the avionics bay of the Air Force’s next generation of fighters like the T-50A.  With concerns around fail-safe operation, and various “golden bullet” scenarios, a locally active thermal switch is still the best solution for monitoring temperature in many avionics applications.

CPI has supplied reliable thermal switching solutions to various major aircraft manufacturers worldwide for applications in the avionics bay ECS, APUs, compressors, galley equipment, for hydraulic fluid temperature monitoring, and many more. Our most common aerospace designs have been qualified per RTCA DO-160C and MIL-STD-810.

General Product Features of CPI Thermal Switches

temperature_switchesAll CPI thermal switches are designed and manufactured in the USA at our East Hanover NJ facility. Most commonly used is our M series thermal switches referred to as our “Plug-Stat” series. Contact movement is achieved via the different expansion rates of two metals fused together. This is a slow-make-and-break device, which provides very close tolerance temperature sensing, with a small differential and a set point range: 0°F-650°F (-17.8°C-343°C). For those requiring even higher temperature operation, our Rod & Tube series can operate reliably at set points up to 1750F.

In general CPI’s line of thermal switches have the following characteristics and options:

  • Capable of setpoints from 0 to 1750F
  • Hermetically sealed designs available
  • Glass-sealed MIL connectors
  • Thread and surface mount designs
  • Various probe lengths
  • Meet the requirements of RTCA DO-160C, and MIL-STD-810

Call CPI today for more information about proven thermal switching solutions for commercial and military avionics.

Original content posted on https://www.cpi-nj.com/blog/thermal-switches-for-military-and-commercial-jets/