ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. – Exhauster motors near the Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) Engine Test Facility at Arnold Air Force Base are being replaced after being in service since at least 1958.
The motors, referred to as the A and B exhauster motors, have been used to exhaust up to a combined total of 1,100 pounds of air per second during testing.
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ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. – They are considered indispensable.
Those at the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex at Moffett Field in Mountain View, California, who observe their contributions every day agree the craftsmen employed there are not only integral to the work at NFAC but play a vital role the Arnold Engineering Development Complex mission as a whole.
“They are essential,” said NFAC Branch Manager Jeff Johnson. “We couldn’t perform this mission without them.”
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ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. – Improvements by team members of the Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) Aerodynamics and Propulsion Test Unit (APTU) at Arnold Air Force Base have prevented unscheduled downtime and avoided equipment damage at the facility.
Adam Webb, an electrical engineer for the Test Operations and Sustainment (TOS) contractor, National Aerospace Solutions, improved upon software for the rectifiers by enabling it to detect an unsafe condition and restore the rectifier to normal operations, preventing damage to expensive equipment. A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current to direct current.
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ARNOLD AFB, Tenn. – After doing her research and realizing there are limited activities locally for children with special needs, Taryn Sjostrom, a Tullahoma mother, reached out to individuals at the Hands-On Science Center about creating a sensory-friendly room.
“The idea started with a family vacation to Dollywood,” Sjostrom said. “It was such an amazing experience to be able to go and have what is considered ‘normal’ family fun. Having a child with autism, I know how hard it can be sometimes to do these things.”
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ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. – When it’s possible to increase operational reliability while minimizing the cost and disruption caused by maintenance, it’s a win-win.
Arnold Engineering Development Complex team members are implementing a trial run of such a solution to the problem of leaks in raw water pipes at Arnold Air Force Base. Raw water is used in the cooling systems of the test cells on base.
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ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. – When a decades-old part could no longer be purchased, the Plant Operations and Maintenance team at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex Engine Test Facility at Arnold Air Force Base coordinated with members of the Condition Based Maintenance group, or CBM, to determine how best to recreate the piece.
The most economical solution was determined to be 3D printing the part, a circuit breaker handle used to supply a 20 horsepower, 480-volt alternating current motor to the lube oil system, which directly supports two of the process air compressors for C-Plant.
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ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. – When those conducting Air Force-sponsored basic science research in hypersonic aerodynamics needed some advice, they relied upon the expertise of engineers and technicians at AEDC Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel 9 in White Oak, Maryland.
Earlier this year, personnel from Tunnel 9 provided instrumentation installation training to members of the research team from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU-APL) in Laurel, Maryland, working on the BOLT flight experiment.
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ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. – Ensuring resources such as utilities, facilities and personnel are available to accommodate high-priority test and maintenance projects is essential to the success of the AEDC mission.
In an effort to reduce work impacts and delays due to resource unavailability and conflicts in testing schedules, a new single master schedule was developed by National Aerospace Solutions. It will improve near- and long-term planning, decision making, efficiency and effectiveness.
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ARNOLD AFB, Tenn. – Engineering students from colleges and universities across the United States spent the summer completing internships with National Aerospace Solutions, LLC (NAS) at Arnold Air Force Base, the headquarters for Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC).
With 25 students, this is the largest group of summer interns NAS has had since starting its internship program in 2017.
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ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. – Contained within much of the work that goes on at Arnold Air Force Base are inherent risks.
“If you think about it, we test rocket motors, jet engines, aircraft, satellite systems, and to do that we have to generate temperatures higher than the surface of the sun and colder than the cold side of the moon,” said Walt Bishop, deputy director of mission execution for National Aerospace Solutions, the Test Operations and Sustainment contractor at Arnold AFB. “We work with rocket propellants, exotic fuels, high pressures, low pressures. We deal with extremely high speeds much faster than a bullet.”
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