Parker Aerospace is at the 2023 Paris Airshow this week with a broader product portfolio and as a stronger market player following the combination of Parker-Hannifin and Meggitt Group in September. The merger not only brought together complementary product lines but also like-minded employees and company cultures, Parker v-p of business development and global support Austin Major told AIN. One of the products resulting from the combined companies is an "energy buffer" for fuel cells.
Major stressed the complementary nature of the two companies' product lines. Parker-Hannifin specialized in hydraulics, flight control actuation, fuel systems, and wing sealing and shielding on airframes, among other products, while Meggitt encompassed avionics and sensors, fuel tanks and bladders, fire protection, electric power, and braking systems on airframes. Though the two companies had some overlap on engine mounts, fuel and exhaust nozzles, oil pumps and tanks, Meggitt brought added engine sensors, composites, valves, and thermal management, among other products and technologies.
According to Parker Aerospace v-p of technology Tracy Rice, the company is working to make aircraft systems more lightweight—and thus more sustainable. A new turbine engine oil reservoir made of composites instead of aluminum serves as an example of the effort.
“The challenge was the extreme environment—it’s in a fire zone and there is a lot of heat and vibration that the reservoir has to withstand,” Rice said. “But it’s worth the effort to reduce aircraft weight and increase efficiency—every pound and ounce counts on the road to sustainability.”
Parker also turned to composites for its ballistic fuel bladders, a growing business segment at the company thanks to requirements for new-production helicopters to be fitted with crash-resistant fuel tanks. Rice said the company ranks as the "number-one supplier" of the more robust fuel bladders.
Meanwhile, Parker is involved in helping to develop standards for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and fuel gauging for hydrogen. It sits on committees for standardizing SAF, which will help lead to more efficient production and wider adoption by operators.
The company also is developing power management systems for electric and hybrid-electric aircraft. Increasingly, OEMs ask for higher power systems, Rice said.
The fuel cell energy buffer is one example of that priority. “Since fuel cells take 60 to 90 seconds to produce power, Airbus asked us to come up with a solution for temporary power to fill in this gap,” he said. Parker’s energy buffer uses supercapacitors and batteries to provide power while the fuel cells spool up.
With the product line-up neatly integrated post-merger, Parker now takes a more “thoughtful” approach to combining customer support, according to Major. “Both companies were known for exceptional worldwide product support, so we didn’t want to break what’s working,” he told AIN. “So we’re taking our time to combine these parts of the businesses.”