FARNBOROUGH, England, 16 July 2014. Engineers at Parker Aerospace, a business segment of Parker Hannifin Corp., are developing a family of polyalphaolefin (PAO) cooling pumps ideally suited for specialized electronic or sensor suites. Modular products will support low-production volumes that are common in domestic and international defense markets.
The pumps will use 90 percent common parts, regardless of the coolant flow-rate requirement. The remaining 10 percent will be a module specific to the system requirement that determines coolant flow of 12 to 25 gallons per minute. The pump at the core of the system runs on 115-volt, 400-hertz electrical power common in multiple aerospace platforms.
Recognizing that many sensor or electronics suites are produced in small numbers, maximizing common parts reduces both recurring and non-recurring costs and shortens development schedules. This new approach will be essentially an off-the-shelf cooling system to meet a variety of thermal management applications, officials say.
Parker has incorporated a wet-motor design that uses PAO coolant to extract heat not only from the sensor or electronic suite, but the pump motor as well. This is especially important when the device is placed in an enclosed environment.
“The goal is to provide cooling solutions for varying flow requirements with minimal development costs for multiple aerospace thermal management applications,” explains Jim McShane, director of business development, Parker Aerospace Gas Turbine Fuel Systems Division. “We see a wider market for cooling systems where low production rates and short development schedules are the norm.”
