-
Select Shopping Cart Account
Choose the account number for your parts ordering shopping cart. Your current cart will be saved when switching accounts.
Account# Account Name City Zip/Post Code My Account
-
About us
About us
- About Honeywell Aerospace
- About MyAerospace
- Careers
- Global Customer Committee
- Operator Conferences
- Product Stewardship
- Sales & Service Partners Resource Center
- News
- Customer Success Stories
- Blogs
- Webinars & Conferences
- Press Releases
- Webinars
- Aerospace Unplugged: the Podcast
- Safety
- Exceptional Design for the Future of Flight
- Blogs
- Honeywell Works to Improve Air Turbine Starter Reliability
Your browser is not supported.
For the best experience, please access this site using the latest version of the following browsers:
By closing this window you acknowledge that your experience on this website may be degraded.
Honeywell Works to Improve Air Turbine Starter Reliability
Bobby Sohi
You never give the starter on your car a second thought until it fails. The same is true with the air turbine start system (ATSS), the reliable system used to start the turbine engines that power all kinds of aircraft. Honeywell’s ATSS already sets a high bar when it comes to system reliability. In fact, the mean time between unscheduled removal (MTBUR) rate for our ATSS is around 60,000 operating hours. In spite of that impressive number, Honeywell engineers are constantly looking for ways to take ATSS reliability to the next level.
In the rare event the ATSS or one of its components fails to start, it causes frustrations for operators, pilots, maintenance teams, and passengers. One such starter component that can fail on occasion is the clutch. Honeywell has developed a decoupling output shaft to prevent secondary damage from occurring after a clutch failure. In the event of clutch failure, the decoupling output shaft “decouples,” separating the starter from the engine backdriving force, thus eliminating the additional damage that occurs from a backdrive event.
If the ATS clutch fails, the engine and starter will not disengage after the engine has started, causing the engine to back drive the starter. This is known as “backdrive” failure. Backdrive events generate significant heat and damage to the starter, typically breaching the housing, leading to the oil loss, including engine oil loss if it is a shared lube system, and in worst case, engine fire.
Over the years, Honeywell has perfected the output shaft design to eliminate risk of inadvertent decoupling events. Inadvertent decoupling event occurs when an output shaft decouples even though a clutch failure has not yet occurred.
For example, we recently improved the B737NG/CFM56-7 decoupling output shaft. 11,500 starters have been upgraded to the latest design – equivalent of 82% of fleet. No inadvertent decoupling event has been reported for starters with latest output shaft design. Other improvements are in the works as Honeywell looks to create a new generation of ATS systems that will be even smaller, lighter, smarter, more reliable and more connected.
Sign up to receive exclusive communications about offerings, events, news, surveys, special offers and related topics via telephone, email and other forms of electronic communication.
Copyright © 2023 Honeywell International Inc.
We just wanted to let you know...
This page is not available in English. You will be redirected to our US homepage.
Só queremos que você saiba…
Este conteúdo não está disponível em Português. Você será redirecionado para a nossa página inicial no Brasil.
Maximum File Size
Maximum Files Exceeded
Due to inactivity you will be logged out in 000 seconds.

Comments