FPI processing system

Citation

(2004), "FPI processing system", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 76 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2004.12776aab.005

FPI processing system

FPI processing system

Keywords: Aerospace industry, Components, Equipment, Jet engines

A major Italian-based aerospace component manufacturer has selected equipment manufactured and supplied by Coventry-based Ardrox Engineering, part of the Norman Hay Group, to perform non-destructive testing (NDT) of aircraft engine components at its manufacturing facility near Naples (Plate 5).

Europa Microfusioni Aerospaziali (EMA), a joint venture in which Rolls-Royce holds a 51 per cent share, is to take delivery of an Ardrox Carousel, a British designed and built, fully automatic fluorescent penetrant inspection (FPI) processing system, in a deal worth around 500,000 Euros (£320,000).

Plate 5 A typical carousel NDT machine manufactured by Ardrox Engineering

EMA is a major sub-contract producer of jet engine components, for aircraft, marine and land-based turbines, and the decision to select Ardrqx Engineering equipment was based on the performance and reputation of similar plant installations at Rolls-Royce plc's component production facilities in Derby, UK.

The new machine, which will be delivered in January 2004, is closely based on the eight similar systems currently in use at Rolls-Royce sites in Derby and Glasgow, but incorporates improvements discovered from the most recent installations and modifications required to suit the particular requirements of the components that require to process. This Carousel brings the total of similar machines worldwide to almost 100, the first having been built in the UK in 1980.

Ardrox Engineering, recently acquired by the Norman Hay group and at present based in Coventry, is a long-standing supplier of this type of equipment to Rolls-Royce, with around a dozen similar machines supplied over the last two decades.

The Ardrox Carousel, which is available in a range of sizes, processes components held in fixtures with a cycle time of 8 min, ready for manual inspection. Method A (water washable) and Method D (post emulsifiable) penetrants – both with multiple sensitivities – can be programmed, and process recipes selected to suit individual fixtures of components, irrespective of the preceding or succeeding basket's process.

Antonio Niola, EMA's NDT Level 3 inspector, commented: “Ardrox technology is well proven and recognised across the industry as offering consistently high levels of quality and repeatability in the preparation of components of all types for manual inspection”.

“We had seen this machine in operation in Rolls-Royce, Derby, and had no hesitation in specifying similar equipment for our facility here in Italy.”

Keith Lewis, Senior Project Engineer at Ardrox Engineering, who has been managing the project, added: “Orders of this type confirm not only the status of Ardrox Engineering as a supplier to the world leaders in aerospace manufacturing, but also the status of equipment designed and manufactured in the UK as a benchmark within this industry sector.”

Details available from: Ardrox Engineering. Tel: +44 (0) 2476 559986; Fax: +44 (0) 2476 551402; E-mail: sales@ardroxengineering.com; Web site: www.ardroxengineering.com