The US Army AED Propulsion Hydraulic Team at Fort Rucker Alabama was tasked with improving the overall maintenance costs of its helicopters by improving the cleanliness of the hydraulic systems. The team carried out an extensive six-month programme of testing supplier's filters on the hydraulic systems of ten specially instrumented AH64 Apache and UH60 Blackhawk test aircraft at Fort Rucker.
Porvair Filtration Group submitted the Sinterflo F metal filter for this test programme.
Andy Cowan, aerospace market manager at Porvair Filtration Group said: “The testing was a great success and clearly determined the excellent capability of this new filter media. Particulate contamination decreased from a NAS class 5 to NAS class 1, which was an outstanding result. Not one of the indicators which signal filter change actuated during the entire test programme providing additional evidence of not only improved filter efficiency but also long filter life.”
Following the success of the first flight trials AED Engineers fitted Porvair’s Sinterflo F filter elements to a further 60 Apache and 70 Blackhawk training helicopters as a 'lead the fleet' test. The US Army plans to introduce a new Military Specification for the filters so they can be used on all Army Apache and Blackhawk helicopters.
