Air Force orders ground power units from Essex Electro Engineers for aircraft maintenance
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga., 6 June 2014. U.S. Air Force maintenance experts needed ground-based electrical generators to supply a variety of different power voltages for military aircraft. They found their solution from Essex Electro Engineers Inc. in Schaumburg, Ill.
Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., announced a $6.7 million order Thursday to Essex Electro Engineers for 72-kilowatt generators to provide 400 Hz, 28- and 270-volt DC power for various aircraft maintenance tasks on Air Force aircraft.
The power electronics order announced this week is part of an estimated $72.1 million Air Force contract that Essex Electro Engineers won in 2011 for 72-kilowatt ground power units.
These stand-alone, trailer-mounted, self-contained ground power units are for providing external ground power during maintenance for Air Force C-130 utility turboprop aircraft, C-17 transport jets, C-5 heavy-lift transports, B-1B jet bombers, B-2 stealth bombers, F-22 advanced tactical jet fighters, f-35 joint strike fighters, A-10 ground-support jets, KC-135 mid-air refuelers, and B-52 bombers.
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The Essex Electro Engineers ground power units also can provide secondary power during ground maintenance for the F-15 and F-16 jet fighters.
Essex Electro Engineers provides several 72-kilowatt ground power units. One example is the B809D-1, which is designed to supply 90-kilovolt-ampere, 0.8 power factor, 115- and 200-volt, three-phase, 400 Hz , 28.5- and 270-volt DC electrical power for starting and servicing aircraft.
The unit consists of a diesel engine driving a 400-cycle brushless generator, which supplies 400-cycle power for servicing aircraft. the unit is mounted on a four-wheel steerable trailer inside a metal enclosure to protect the unit from the weather.
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It can operate in temperatures from -40 to 125 degrees Fahrenheit, can operate at altitudes as high as 8,000 feet, and can burn a variety of diesel and aircraft fuels from DF-1 to JP-8.
For this order Essex Electro Engineers will do the work in Schaumburg, Ill., and should be finished by January 2016. For more information contact Essex Electro Engineers online at www.essexelectro.com, or the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Robins Air Force Base at www.robins.af.mil/units/aflcmc.
John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
