Aerodyn Capability Spotlight – Strain Gage Application
Published: October 30, 2020
Aerodyn have a wealth of experience installing various types of strain gages for static or rotating component vibration monitoring in mechanical integrity tests for customers worldwide in the Aerospace, Power Generation, Oil and Gas, Marine, Industrial and Automotive sectors.
We provide design, fabrication, and installation of sensors to meet our customers measurement needs, from simple tests at ambient conditions to the most challenging aerospace test conditions. We routinely design for harsh environments with high temperature requirements and complex lead-out routes.
We pride ourselves on continually achieving extremely low instrumentation mortality rates for sensors that are applied by our skilled and experienced engineers. We understand the significance of the costs to instrument and test customer components and the high cost of failure, so we take every step possible to succeed.
High Temperature Strain Gage Installation
Aerodyn have recently completed an application of High Temperature Strain Gages, utilizing our purpose-built Flame Spray facility, on customer supplied Nozzle Guide Vanes (NGV’s) and Blades. The flame spray process uses Rokide, a ceramic oxide, to spray, bond and encapsulate the strain gages. This specialized application offers serviceability at high temperatures, typically in the region of 700°C to 1260°C.
Medium to High Temperature Strain Gage Application
Aerodyn also carry out medium to high temperature applications using ceramic cements. These cements usually operate in temperatures ranging from 280°C to 800°C. The below example uses Hitec NCC-3 ceramic cement on a customer component which was tested at approximately 550°C and at speeds of up to 40,000 RPM.
Low Temperature Strain Gage Application
For low temperature applications, up to approximately 280°C, Aerodyn use both air and heat curing adhesives. Below is an example of an Impeller strain gage application, operating at approximately 200°C. This application used Vishay M-Bond 610 to bond the strain gages to the surface, the application was then covered with Epoxylite 813 and silk cloth to encapsulate and protect the application. The silk cloth helps reinforce and strengthen the sensor application against high centrifugal loading.
Aerodyn engineers are able to carry out such applications in house at Aerodyn but also at customer locations globally (customer facilities dependent).
Aerodyn are also experienced in defining and executing risk reduction tests for sensor applications that are new or deemed to be particularly challenging. This could be due to high speed, high centrifugal / G loading, high temperature or other environmental issues that may impact upon the integrity of the sensors being applied. Using our in-house spin testing capabilities, customers’ rig or engine conditions can be replicated to test new, or variations of existing application techniques without the need to use a customer’s full rig or engine test as the proving ground and thus saving a great deal of cost and time.
If you have a requirement you believe we can assist you with, please contact us, we will be happy to discuss further.