Innovation Awards
Australian Aerospace Engineering (AAE) is proud to announce that the company has been short listed for the prestigious 2017 Aerospace Australia Limited Industry Innovation Awards. For over a decade AAE has been working on improving the performance of existing rotary wing platforms through refined main rotor blade design. In doing so the company has developed the software and hardware tools required to rapidly transition new blade concepts into flying prototypes, opening the possibility of producing multiple blade types for a given platform.
“The concept of Mission Specific Blades (MSB) is in stark contrast to the traditional design philosophy of producing a single blade type that is a ‘best fit’ for all mission requirements”, said project engineer Viv Johnston. “The understanding of rotary wing aerodynamics has largely matured and to continue pushing the performance envelope we need to change our thinking. One approach is to design blades for specific missions, and we’ve proven that this approach has considerable merit. A parallel can be drawn from motor racing where competitive performance can be a sole function of tyre selection,” said Viv.
Drawing on the experiences from the core business as a structural repair and MRO facility, AAE has developed a methodology to achieve timely blade installations. “Expeditiously hot swapping blades can realistically be achieved through initial quality control of manufacture and after-manufacture balancing methodologies, before installation on a given aircraft,” said Managing Director and CEO, Colin Johnston. “This concept provides the opportunity for the end-user to unhitch from the original OEM in pursuit of a unique performance characteristic, and we are proud to have been short listed for the innovation award within the Defence Industry SME Innovation category,” said Colin. Details of the announcement can be found through the Australian Defence Magazine website.
AAE will have a presence this year at the Avalon Airshow (stand 2G6) within the NSW Department of Industry exhibit. The company will also be partaking in the innovation pitch fest to present a 3 minute overview of the MSB concept.
We hope to see you at Avalon 2017!
For further information on AAE’s blade research, please contact Viv Johnston on (02) 60262614 or email viv@austaerospace.com.
