ASAP Aero Supplies Blog

In the past few decades, the aviation industry has advanced dramatically and exponentially. With the evolution of our understanding of aerodynamics, the industry and aircraft engineers have continuously produced bigger and better aircraft. To support these enhanced, more sophisticated aircraft, the aerodynamic forces powering control surfaces have also advanced significantly. As a result, aircraft designers and engineers have developed robust, complex aircraft flight control systems that support flight.

First introduced in World War ll, aircraft hydraulic systems were a minor part of flight operations for a while. However, with their growing capabilities and advantages, this technology became a mandatory part of critical operations in planes, choppers, and military aircraft over time.

Aircraft use several control surfaces to carefully manipulate opposing forces in order to initiate flight. While it is easy to appreciate prominent control surfaces, such as the wing and tail, the ailerons also play a significant role in flight operations. In this blog, we will discuss everything you need to know about ailerons, including their design, function, and variants.

The fuel delivery system in many modern aircraft is complicated and made up of many different components that all work together to deliver a continuous amount of fuel to the engines. Of the various elements in the delivery system, one of the most integral is the fuel nozzle. An obstruction or any other event that may damage this component could prove devastating to the fuel system as a whole and risk a flight's integrity. In this blog, we will discuss all you need to know about the critical fuel nozzle.

Most modern aircraft rely on the combustion of fuel-and-air mixtures to produce the necessary power for heavier-than-air flight, and this is done by igniting mixtures within pistons or a combustion chamber. Spark plugs are often utilized to deliver the energy needed for igniting fuel-and-air mixtures, and they owe their firing capability to magnetos. While magnetos are a technology that has served aviation for over a century, they remain reliable for aircraft operations but require regular maintenance and inspection to ensure proper functionality.

Critical for the operation of industrial machinery, an AC motor is an electric motor driven by an alternating current (AC). Routinely constructed in the form of two primary parts, AC motors consist of an exterior stator and an internal rotor. Affixed with coils that are supplied with an alternating current, it is imperative that stators generate a rotating magnetic field. Meanwhile, the rotor can be attached to an output shaft to produce a secondary magnetic field. Creating rotational motion to supply various equipment with power, AC motors are essential for converting alternating currents into mechanical energy.

Springs are components that are commonly added to assemblies to control motion and provide force, coming in a number of types to accommodate varying needs. The gas spring is a common type, serving as an alternative to conventional springs that are coil-based. With a gas spring, a cylinder filled with gas has a piston attached to one end. Extended by default, force will cause the piston to retract into the cylinder, resulting in an outward exertion when the force of compression is surpassed or drops. While simplistic in operation and design, gas springs provide various benefits that make them quite useful for applications such as door supports, office chairs, medical instruments, and more.

Particular in design for their shape and application, spring pins are unthreaded fasteners that must be inserted into a hole with a diameter that is smaller than the pin itself. Also commonly referred to as roll pins, these components are built with an open seam down their length, allowing for a snug fit once placed. Manufactured with a chamfer on each end to facilitate easy insertion into a hole, spring pins are typically made from thin sheet metal meant to decrease in diameter and curve to form the outer expansion of the pin. Available in two primary pin types, slotted pins and spiral pins, these mechanical fasteners are the perfect solution for mating parts together or fastening one shaft to another. To better understand how spring pins work, we will discuss their common types and how you can best apply each to satisfy your part needs.

The gas turbine engine is a common internal combustion engine used by aircraft, serving to produce thrust and propulsion through the combustion of fuel and air mixtures. Similar to the piston engine, gas turbine engines feature a cycle of operation consisting of induction, compression, combustion, expansion, and exhaust. In order to carry out this standard set of operations for achieving flight, gas turbine engines comprise a number of common parts and components. In this blog, we will discuss the makeup of gas turbine engines and their functionality, allowing you to best understand how such combustion engines serve aerospace applications.

Nothing delivers flexibility and weight distribution against forces to fasteners as equally as washers do. While washers may come in a diverse variety of sizes and flexible ring formations, they are not to be confused with circular gaskets found in faucets or valves. Typically characterized as a thin and circular plate or piece of material with a hole bored in its center, washers can be categorized into three primary types: plain washers, spring washers, and locking washers. Being a prolific piece of equipment, these tools are commonly found in local hardware stores and are specifically made to be used in tandem with either a screw, bolt, or the like. Also being a necessity for nearly all construction projects when dealing with tightening nuts, bolts, screws, and a myriad of other nut-bolt assemblies, washers are almost always applied to serve numerous critical roles. To better understand the different types of washers and how they work, we will go over how to discern common types and why each is important for their own nut-bolt pairings.