A High Reliability, Electric Drive System for Carrier Deck Edge Doors

The present deck edge door drive system for aircraft carriers is a complex system of sheaves, wire ropes, and associated equipment that has low reliability and high maintenance cost. The main system attributes that result in this situation are the indirectactuation of the door panels, and the use of a heavily loaded track in the hangar deck floor. SatCon is proposing a development program that will address these two issues, replacing the present system with one that uses direct actuation of the door panelsand unloads, and potentially eliminates, the deck track. The SatCon solution will make use of electromagnetic lift mechanisms and linear electric machinery drawing on our experience from programs such as the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS),and collaborating with established naval equipment manufacturers. The system will be significantly more simple to operate and maintain, and have the potential for significant reductions in the total ownership cost for a hangar door actuation system. Thisinitial development, which is targeted for the carrier deck edge doors, is directly applicable to the interior hanger bay division doors. Similar design elements can also likely be applied to other naval linear electric machinery opportunities such aselevator lifts and munitions/missile/torpedo loading mechanisms. Furthermore, similar technology can be applied to markets in the commercial sector for anything from low load, high precision semiconductor manufacturing equipment to large maglevtransportation systems.