Team Members and Role:

Abstract:

This project aims to provide a solution to dynamically balance general aviation wheel assemblies. Out of balance wheel assemblies on general aviation aircraft can cause operating issues and may require premature maintenance due to wear, vibration, and pilot fatigue. Currently, no dynamic balancing systems suitable for general aviation wheels exist in the market; however, aircraft maintenance facilities already have dynamic propeller balancing tools, such as the DynaVibe system. To solve this issue, we developed a product to adapt existing propeller balancing products to a dynamic balancer capable of balancing an aircraft wheel assembly safely and effectively by a mechanic. The balancing system is a single-plane, soft-balancer configuration, where a vertical shaft is supported by pillow block bearings with controlled and measured movement by rubber isolators. A mechanic operates the machine with a foot pedal to spin wheel assemblies at 400 RPM. Using the accelerometer and digital tachometer from the propeller vibration analyzing system, the system identifies the magnitude and location of mass imbalance on a tire, which is corrected with a developed solver and commercially available adhesive weights.