Story ID: 432 Lord
Lord's New Bearings Stretch Service Life
By: Mark Huber
Caption: Lord is adding a number of new repair offerings and launching an MRO mobile services app.
Word Count: 338
The Lord Corporation is extending its warranty, repair and service programs and launching an MRO mobile services app. New repair offerings include overhauls for Bell 412 main driveshaft boots and a spindle-exhange program for 412 main rotor spindles. For the Bell 206, Lord has developed FAA-approved PMA TT Straps and it also offers a Bell 206 trunnion bearing three-year/2,500-hour warranty. Other offerings includes a Bell 430 shear restraint exchange program and Schweizer 300 main rotor damper and tail rotor bearings.

Lord (Booth 2817)  is also developing the next generation of elastomeric components to increase reliability and decrease costs, including its SPE IIA elastomer on lead-lag and shear bearings that the company predicts will offer a minimum increase of 30 percent service life. The bearings are expected to exceed a 2,500-hour service life and provide users with an additional value of at least $13,000 per main rotor hub.

The new Lord MRO Services mobile app allows users to access more than 110 aftermarket parts for a wide variety of rotorcraft including 15 of the 25 platforms that the company currently services. Information available includes part numbers, service types and pricing. The app will also connect users directly to the company service manager in their region.

Lord also noted it has placed more than 1,500 active vibration control and electromechanical systems in service on 10 different aircraft models that have logged more than two million flight hours. Systems for eight more aircraft are under development and/or certification testing. Lord has served the active vibration and noise control business since the 1980s.

The company has developed systems for every major helicopter OEM and several fixed-wing OEMs, and its active vibration control systems (AVCS) are now standard equipment in many helicopter models. Lord AVCS use accelerometers, centralized computers, proprietary algorithms and force generators to create "anti-vibration" to cancel out main rotor vibration, deliver a smoother ride and in some cases track rotor speed and communicate with onboard maintenance systems. AVCS can provide a lighter and more effective solution than traditional absorbers, according to Lord.