S.S. White Flexible Rotary Shafts Activate Thrust Reverser Actuation System On Improved Reliability and Durability Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 TEN Turbofan Engines

S.S. White Technologies, the leading supplier of flexible rotary shafts for the aerospace industry is supplying the flexible shafts that transmit power to activate the Thrust Reverser Actuation Systems (TRAS) on the RR Trent 1000 TEN turbofan engines that are powering the latest version of the Boeing 787-10 “Dreamliner”.

S. S. White flexible rotary shafts deliver synchronized actuation power and play a key role in the successful and critical operation of the TRAS. When the aircraft has landed, the TRAS is activated and redirects the engine exhaust by exposing deflecting vanes along the sides of the engine nacelles. These deflectors force the jet exhaust by-pass air to exit forward working with the wheel braking system to help slow the ground speed of the aircraft.  

S.S. White provides a set of three flexible rotary shafts per engine that transfer power to synchronize the hydraulic actuators that open the thrust reverser units upon landing. These same flexible rotary shafts also help lock the TRAS system to prevent any inadvertent engagement during flight.

In addition, all aerospace flexible shaft products are designed to one of the industry’s highest performance criteria by utilizing a unique computer modeling software program developed by S.S. White called PERFLEXION. This program allows the design engineers to more fully model the behavioral characteristics of the wire bundles within the shaft core and arrive at an optimum product that provides maximum bending flexibility and torsion strength while allowing minimal torsion deflection with up to a 30 percent improvement above current industry standards.

S.S. White Technologies is a world leader in the design, engineering, manufacture and testing of a wide variety of flexible shaft products for the aerospace, medical, automotive and industrial markets around the globe. Almost all of the commercial and military aircraft platforms in the air today (except Russian) and more than one-half of US manufactured cars rely on S.S. White Technologies flexible shaft products. The company currently has manufacturing facilities in the United States, the United Kingdom and India.