Story ID: 
Parker reflects its customers’ diversity
By: Bernard Fitzsimons
Caption: Parker Aerospace companies are supplying a wide range of systems and components to airframes that range from the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 airliners to th
Word Count: 538
Parker Aerospace companies are supplying a wide range of systems and components to airframes that range from the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 airliners to the unmanned combat aircraft, including the first inert gas generating system (IGGS) for an Airbus aircraft.

On the 787, Parker-supplied elements include the hydraulic subsystem and galley cooling, plus the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000’s fuel system. The company’s Abex, Air & Fuel and Stratoflex product divisions will provide components such as pumps, reservoirs and flow-control devices for the hydraulic subsystem, while its Mentor, Ohio-headquartered Gas Turbine Fuel Systems division will manage the complete fuel system for the Trent 1000.

Other 787 contracts include the liquid-cooling pumps and reservoirs that Parker’s Nichols Airborne Division is supplying to Hamilton Sundstrand, and low-NOx combustor technology that the Gas Turbine Fuel Systems division is developing with General Electric for the Dreamliner’s GEnx engine. All told, the 787 work should be worth more than $1 billion to Parker, including aftermarket spares and repair activities; the value of the Trent 1000 fuel system alone exceeds $190 million.

Parker’s Air & Fuel division will supply the IGGS for the A380-800F to Airbus UK. The system will use conditioned air supplied by the air-management system to eliminate flammable vapors in the center fuel tank by reducing the oxygen concentration. Toward the other end of the airliner size spectrum, Air & Fuel has a long-term contract worth an estimated $10 million to supply a major control valve for the Embraer 190’s General Electric CF34-10E engine.

Another contract for the Air & Fuel division has come from Rolls-Royce Deutschland, which has awarded Parker the contract for the EuroProp International TP400’s pneumatics suite. The TP400 will power the Airbus A400M Military airlifter, and the contract is worth more than $20 million. Parker’s Stratoflex Products division, meanwhile, has been selected as a subcontractor by Seville, Spain-based Airgrup to provide flexible hoses and quick disconnect valves for the A400M engine buildup program.

Air & Fuel, which has facilities in Irvine, California, and Tolleson, Arizona, has won further contracts for new aircraft. Northrop Grumman has selected it to supply the air turbine starter control valve system for the X-47 joint unmanned combat air system; Parker also supplies the X-47’s frequency-monitoring unit and pressure-control unit. And Japanese equipment manufacturer Shimadzu has picked Parker Air & Fuel’s shut-off valves for all three hydraulic motors for the proposed C-X jet transport and P-X antisubmarine patrol aircraft.

Parker Aerospace is already a strategic supplier to Lockheed Martin’s F/A-22 Raptor, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, F-16 Fighting Falcon and C-130J Hercules programs. 

On the product support side of the business, Parker Aerospace recently signed a joint venture agreement with Singapore Airlines subsidiary SIA Engineering covering the formation of an aerospace hydraulic equipment service center. The new Aerospace Component Engineering Services (ACE Services) will be located in a new 30,000-square-foot facility near Singapore’s Changi airport.

Another collaboration will see Parker working with Radstone Technology to develop rugged liquid-cooling solutions for high-power defense computers.