Variable speed drive spins up aero test rig starter13 May 2010

Aero engine test rig specialist Euravia has invested in variable speed drive technology from Control Techniques for use on Pratt & Whitney PT6 jet engine starter generators.

The Colne, Lancashire-based firm used online automation distributor Direct-Industrial.com to specify and supply the drives, which were required to manage a series of tests to check on refurbished starter-generator performance.

Direct-Industrial.com managing director John Lenehan says that the two organisations pooled engineering resources. His company designed the structural aluminium frame and the electrical and electronic system. Euravia designed and manufactured precision triple mounting heads and a high-speed mechanical bearing system for the final drive shafts.

Lenehan, whose company distributes Control Techniques ac and dc drives, chose a 15kW Unidrive SP ac drive for the central testing function. Control of the rig is then via a HMI (human machine interface), with bespoke test software running in a PLC and communicating via standard ModBus built into the drive.

The drive responds to acceleration and deceleration commands in high torque and speed situations very rapidly and with zero overshoot.

Lenehan explains that the rig comprises three sections: one testing the ability of the starter to run up to starter speed against defined loads; the central section, driven by the Unidrive SP, carrying out tests at defined speeds, with parameters fed back to the PLC; and the third checking starting torque, with 800A being applied to the starter, with its locked shaft.

Readings of shaft torque, temperature, voltage, current, impedance and radial vibration are all then recorded during the test sequences, and fed back to the PLC, where test results are automatically compared against preset parameters.

"The Unidrive SP is a very flexible drive," comments Lenehan. "It proved ideal for this application, because of its instant compatibility with the PLC and for its dynamic and accurate response to commands."

Brian Tinham

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