Case Study

Aircraft Manufacturer

The Client

High Pressure Gas Turbine Application for a leading aircraft manufacturer

The Problem

The client was experiencing difficulty identifying the location of hot gas leaks in the Environmental Control System on an Aero gas turbine engine. Attempts had been made to use thermal sensitive paint, thermal imaging cameras and temperature sensors, but none gave reliable results.

The Solution

A non-contact probe system was proposed which monitored the pressure front around the escaping gas stream. The pressure differential caused modulation of an audio oscillator feeding a set of earphones. This allowed the operator to follow the pressure front inwards towards the actual the actual point of the leak, in much the same way as a metal detector located items hidden underground.

The customer contracted Castlet to carry out a feasibility study, which involved a development unit and bench trials. This was successful, and it led to Castlet being contracted to manufacture several equipments for service trials.

The customer now has a safe and reliable means of detecting the leaks.

This equipment was designed in such a way that the application met the exact requirements of the customer but was transferable to other products and applications.

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