Superior Wear-reducing Improved Friction Technology (SWIFT)

Auxiliary Power Units used on C-130 aircraft regularly cease function due to bearing failures. This project sets out to study this bearing design and suggest improvements to the component, including thin film and low-friction coatings designed to increase bearing life, decrease operating friction, and help prevent catastrophic structural divergence of the bearing. A complete test program comparing existing bearings to the new design is planned as a part of this work. While the phase I work was focused on Reaction Wheel Bearings, the data gathered during that work on coating typical bearing materials directly applies to the work proposed for the bearings being studied in the phase II effort.  The work proposed seeks to extend bearing life by a minimum of 50% and to decrease the parasitic friction in the bearings by a minimum of 15%, leveraging UPT’s strong technical background in thin film coating technology and extensive experience taking SBIR technology to TRL9/MRL10 levels. All coating work will be accomplished in UPT production reactors, where 1.5 million parts will be coated in 2023.