Aircraft engine manufacturers use non-standard sump sizes, making it difficult to change out coolant from the sumps and reduce odors and bacteria.
Tramp Oil Separators, Automatic Air Sparger
Pratt & Whitney operates multiple vertical turret lathes, vertical machining centers, and horizontal machining centers within its aircraft engine manufacturing facility. The biggest challenge that Pratt & Whitney faced with these machines was the non-standard sump sizes. Some were only 3 to 4 inches in depth and very narrow, while others were much deeper and narrow. PRAB’s engineers evaluated and tested all types of skimmers before finalizing a design for a Hammerhead skimmer. This oil skimmer, shaped like a “T”, can lay flat in a shallow sump and skim tramp oil and coolant down to 1.5 inches in depth in a coolant sump. If the coolant level rises, the Hammerhead skimmer pivots upward in response to the increased coolant level. Additionally, due to its compact size, the Hammerhead skimmer will operate effectively in the deep, narrow confines of the sumps on Giddings & Lewis vertical turret lathes.
Pratt & Whitney was unable to develop a convenient maintenance program to change the coolant in the machine sumps on a regular basis. This was due to the configuration of machine sumps, operations of individual machines, and a limited number of maintenance personnel. Therefore, the decision was made to install individual tramp oil separators on each machine to maintain the coolant’s cleanliness continuously. The installation of the tramp oil separators eliminated the need to change out coolants from the sumps, reducing odors and bacteria.
PRAB also developed a method to clean the media daily with an automatic air sparger. The separator’s controller will shut off the separator pump and then turn on the air sparger to clean the media. After the sparger runs for two minutes, it shuts down, and the separator turns back on. This allows them to operate maintenance-free for extended periods.
Pratt & Whitney replaced several Phase separators with the PRAB units. This was due to their poor skimmer design, the unreliable air diaphragm pump, and the high maintenance required by their plate pack media.
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