Modular Multi-Platform Rotor Hub Fatigue Test Rig

Rotor system components must be tested prior to flight certification to assess fatigue life. Developing custom test rigs for each different rotor hub due to their varying sizes and numbers of blades is the most costly approach. Safe, Inc. (Safe) has proposed a single test rig design with modular elements that can be reconfigured to address any rotor assembly or component. Hydraulic actuators can be moved into different locations and orientations for any combination of centrifugal, bending, and torsion loads. The hydraulic system accommodates differing numbers of actuators and load ranges. The control and data acquisition software also reconfigure to operate one or many actuators at different loads, independently or in unison, while measuring strain and load data. The rig will address all combinations of test items and loads such that reconfiguring for a different test does not require a new structural assessment of the rig. Safes team has prior experience developing hydraulic test equipment, as well as related experience designing aerospace hardware for structural loads including vibration-induced fatigue. The commercialization strategy describes how to transition the rig from development into production using marketing and manufacturing approaches that Safe has successfully used in the past to commercialize SBIR technology.