Project Title:Test Stand Hoist-Heater Design
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Date
2018-12-05
Authors
Umar, Muhammad
Szymanksi, Filip
Zacharuk, Derek
Chimdinma, Chibe
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Abstract
The main goal of this project was to develop a heating strategy for MDS AeroTest to heat their Test Stand Hoist. The design specifications were that their Test Stand Hoist needs to be operational in temperatures as low as-40?C. The final design was to improve the time delays that are caused by the hoist system freezing and to improve worker safety. The gearboxes on each of the hoist systems were determined to be freezing in extremely cold temperatures so the focus of our final design was to heat just the gearboxes and not the entire hoist system. Using ANSYS CFX, a preliminary heat transfer analysis was performed to determine how much power would be required to heat the gearbox to from -40?C to 15?C. Once a baseline was set for the amount of heat that would be required, we were able to source commercially available heaters that would satisfy the design and heat requirements. Our final design uses four separate pad heaters that adhesively bond to the perimeter surface of gearbox. The team chose Tempco Electric Heating Corporation (Tempco)as our design supplier because of their wide range of customizable options and a large catalog of relevant engineering data. The pad heaters are made from flexible silicone rubber with wire-wound heating elements imbedded inside. The dimension of the pad heaters are 53inby 8 in, which is adequate to wrap around the entire perimeter of each gearbox according to our preliminary CAD model. The cost of the individual heating pads are $200.00USDeach, there is a $60.00USDcustom design fee imposed by the pad heater manufacturer Tempco. The final design incorporates the use of four heating pads, which bring the total cost of the design to $860USDincluding the custom design fee. The results of our preliminary numerical heat transfer analysis indicated that the final design will be able to heat up the gearboxes from as low as-40 ?C to the operational conditions of 15?C in 22 minutes. This will satisfy the client’s needs and will reduce the time delays incurred from inoperable, frozen gearboxes.