Advanced Seal Technology for Helicopter Drive System Application

Gearbox seal wear and leakage is a major source of maintenance and downtime for rotorcraft. Sentient will use our advanced tribology modeling technology to evaluate coatings and surface texturing processes for carbon face seals and provide a generalized modeling approach that can replace physical testing of seals. These models will be used to evaluate several rotorcraft seal designs proposed by our industry partner University of Akron to determine the real performance, durability and cost-benefit. During the project, these models will be validated with physical testing, resulting in advanced seal technology that is backed up by simulation and testing. Current seals are designed, manufactured and tested before fielding. Problems that arise in fielding often take years to manifest, meaning that retrofits and repairs are costly. Instead, Sentient will simulate the lifetime performance and durability of seals before manufacturing, thus reducing or eliminating problems that will arise later, leading to reduced maintenance cost and aircraft downtime.