Aircraft Ducting
As part of their technology transfer programs, NASA centers
frequently provide assistance to industrial firms who request
it, for example, analysis of a new product design, help in solving
manufacturing problems, or product testing in specialized types
of facilities that are not available commercially. In many cases,
NASA's work results in improvements to the product.
Templeman Industries' J.B. Templeman (left) and Scott Templeman
conduct a quality control test on an Ultra-Seal Duct component.
An example of a company that benefited from such assistance
is Templeman Industries' TI Aerospace Systems, Inc., North Chicago,
Illinois, a manufacturer of composite ducting for aircraft.
TI had developed a composite environmental air duct, known
as the Ultra-Seal Ducting System (Ultra-Seal Ducting System is
a trademark of Templeman Industries.), that offers a 50 percent
weight reduction in comparison with existing metallic ducting.
The ducting is intended primarily for commercial aircraft, but
it also has utility in a number of military applications.
TI had to assure that the air duct design would meet environmental
and cyclic stress specifications, but the company was unable
to find a commercial firm with adequate test capabilities. TI
turned to Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and the center's
Component Test Branch of the Propulsion Laboratory agreed to
conduct a structural evaluation.
A proprietary casting technique allows fabrication of small
and intricate yet high performing Ultra-Seal Duct parts.
MSFC put the duct system through tens of thousands of cycles
of pressure and leakage tests that were collectively equivalent
to 86 years of aircraft takeoffs and landings; the ducting performed
satisfactorily. The system is now in production and in use by
aircraft manufacturers, among them the two largest U.S. commercial
jetliner builders, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group and McDonnell
Douglas Corporation.
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