These encompass seals for aircraft and oil platforms; flexible fuel tanks and coatings; the composites that make up smart ice protection systems and sub-assemblies; and helicopter interior panels and accessories.
All product development is backed by strong manufacturing engineering expertise, the latest design tools, systems design and development and programme management experience.
www.meggittpolymers.com
Flexible fuel tanks
Meggitt Polymers & Composites fuel tanks are unique. Some can take a bullet, so military pilots and crew can get back to base safely without loss of fuel or risk of fire.
Some remain intact after high impact helicopter crashes on rough terrain, so if pilots and crew survive the crash, they won’t burn to death from a fuel fire.
Others simply contain the fuel — we make the longest lasting fuel tanks in the world.
Nitrile crashworthy and ballistically-resistant
Almost zero
Before our crashworthy fuel tanks, over 42% of survivable helicopter crashes in the US resulted in deaths from fuel fires
Today, Meggitt’s crashworthy, self-seal fuel tanks, which meet the ultra-rigorous standards of flexibility, strength, impact and cut-and-tear resistance of US MIL-T-27422B, have stopped fuel spillage and reduced fire-related death and injury in such crashes to almost zero — that’s one recorded death from a post-crash impact fire since the early 1970s
Flying home safely on a shot tank
If wounded by a high impact explosive 23 mm bullet, Meggitt’s ballistically-resistant fuel bladders will self-seal in less than two minutes. The wound is encased in a rubber gel, which suppresses the ignition source and stops fuel leakage almost immediately.
Who we work with
We’re on the main and auxiliary systems of virtually all US military helicopters and have a growing European presence.
Polyurethane lightweight, long-life
Fuel bladders with at least a 30-year lifespan
30 years ago, we launched our long-life, lightweight bladder fuel cells based on polyurethane technology. Maintenance-free, with inner liners that won’t dry out and become fatally brittle when empty for extended periods, these fuel tanks are flexible and withstand the stresses and strains of take-off and landing.
Today, the first installations of these tanks are going strong, as are the 200,000 we’ve supplied to a wide range of military and civil aircraft since. We remain the only manufacturer to have perfected this technology, setting a standard of longevity in the late 1970s that has not been approached — never mind beaten.
Who we work with
Virtually every US business jet, fighter, bomber, tanker and transport you’d care to name.
Ice protection
All the options in an era of change
Meggitt Polymers & Composites has been keeping critical aerodynamic surfaces and engine air inlets ice free without limiting flight range and safety for over 50 years and is uniquely experienced in the primary technologies — bleed air and next generation electro-thermal systems.
Complete solutions
Our engineering teams, many of whom have aircraft constructor experience, know how to design, integrate, manufacture and qualify products and systems in ways that minimise programme risk. We offer complete solutions from ice modelling and analysis; controllers and control system algorithms; electrical power management design; integrated heated structures and materials; to qualification, icing tunnel test, flight trial and certification support and sub-systems integration.
Next generation electro-thermal
We are trialling our latest innovation — electro-thermal ice protection with advanced smart control — with a leading manufacturer of fuel-efficient, more electric fixed wing aircraft.
Meggitt’s energy-conscious, electro-thermal ice protection uses up to 50% less power than traditional bleed air systems and delivers 100% more control. Using clever control logic, our systems react to flight conditions, providing the right amount of power, in the right place, at the right time.
Complex, composite structures
We offer a wide range of electro-thermal structural solutions. Our composite parts, embedded with resistive heater elements and electronic control and protection equipment, range from simple monolithic components to complex hybrid sandwich structures using resin systems that can operate at over 200ºC.
Because our approach to structural excellence is based on optimising load, weight and cost without compromising performance and reliability, we have been selected to work with a major airframer to integrate our pioneering electro-thermal ice protection system into an advanced heated structure and are positioned strongly to provide low risk ice protection solutions for composite wings.
Who we work with
Meggitt’s systems, whether bleed air or advanced electro-thermal solutions, protect engine inlets, canards and tail and rotor blades on a wide range of business jets, helicopters and turbo-prop aircraft. Their makers include Bell/Boeing, Agusta Westland, Embraer, Eurocopter, Fokker, Hawker Beechcraft, Rolls-Royce, Piaggio, Sikorsky and others.
Aircraft interiors
Meggitt’s composites capability includes the production of non-heated composites for the helicopter cabin interiors of all Sikorsky helicopters.
These include acoustic panels and blankets that suppress noise and vibration, ducts for environmental control systems and supports and covers that protect everything from a simple seat to electronics, hydraulic lines and control rods. A typical ship set of between 75and 100 products includes a wide range of accessories from storage bags to cabin and cargo straps. All products are easy to fit and for maintenance purposes easy to remove. All are designed to maximise space and minimise weight.
Sealing solutions
We design and develop a complete range of sealing solutions for aerospace, marine and energy applications.
Aircraft
Our products deliver elastomeric solutions to the problem of sealing aerodynamic surfaces, aero-engines and nacelles and the transportation of air and fluid.
We help transform aircraft into a continuous flow of materials, sealing essential spaces created by essential equipment such as landing gear, wings, engines, nacelles, windows and doors. Our products are flexible enough to perform, yet rigid enough to maintain structural integrity.
And we separate essential spaces. Our products stop fire spreading between engine zones, ensure bleed air does not bleed and hydraulics do not leak, minimising component contamination and optimising the performance of the aircraft systems they serve.
Working together
Our engineers work closely at concept stage with their customer counterparts to understand each others’ constraints and opportunities. Early involvement means we can optimise the structure of any part, joining one to another, minimally yet safely, saving weight and cost.
Manufacturing and material science
Design is critical to solutions that deliver savings but this is underpinned by the deployment of cost-effective generic tools where possible, Lean manufacturing and chemistry.
Up to 20% lighter
Our latest compound is enabling us to reduce silicone density by up to 20%, saving around 100 kilograms on a typical commercial aircraft’s usage of a half tonne of elastomer throughout its structure.
Leak-proof sealant
EFC100, the award-winning leak-proof variant of the polyurethane-based material we use to create our lightweight, yet long-lasting flexible fuel tanks, can be sprayed or painted inside wet wing and other airframe cavities used to store fuel. Eliminating unscheduled downtime and maintenance costs associated with conventional coatings, the product has a tensile strength of around 4,000 pounds per square inch, dwarfing that of conventional polysulphide coatings, which rarely exceed a tenth. It is 30 per cent lighter and, minus the plasticisers that dry and crack in ordinary coatings, EFC100 withstands the stresses and strains of take-offs and landings over the lifetime of an aircraft.
Who we work with
- Meggitt’s aerodynamic seals are used by all commercial aircraft manufacturers including Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, Bombardier and Agusta Westland and their suppliers such as GKN, GE Aerostructures, SONACA and Aircelle.
- Our high temperature, fire-resistant seals are specified by the world’s major engine manufacturers — GE, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce — and their nacelle contractors.
- EFC 100 is on the DC-9, BAe Jetstream 41, USAF KC-10 (bearclaw), KC-135 and E-8C JSTARS, Sikorsky S-76 and UH-60, US Navy and US Marines C-130 and the US Navy C-9, E-6 and P-3.
Locations
Headquarters
Meggitt Polymers & Composites
Ashby Road
Shepshed
Loughborough
LE12 9EQ
Leicestershire
United Kingdom
Manufacturing facilities
Loughborough, UK
Ashby Road
Shepshed
Loughborough
LE12 9EQ
Leicestershire
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 1509 500000
Rockmart, Georgia, USA
669 Goodyear Street
Rockmart
GA 30153
USA
Tel: +1 770 684 7855
Coventry, UK
Holbrook Lane
West Midlands
Coventry
CV6 4AA
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 2476 666655
Fax: +44 (0) 2476 668793
Oregon, USA
2010 Lafayette Avenue
PO Box 887
McMinnville
Oregon 97128
USA
Tel: +1 503 472 0045
Fax: +1 503 434 6454
Meggitt Polymers & Composites has access to a range of Meggitt shared facilities including the group’s manufacturing facility in Xiamen, China
230 South 5, Gao Qi Road
Xiamen
Fujian
361006
People’s Republic of China
Tel: +86 592 573 3666, +86 592 573 3666
Fax: +86 592 573 3555
Contacts
North America
Flexible fuel cells, helicopter interiors and ice protection
Terry Lindsey
VP Marketing
Tel: +1 770 684 7855
terry.lindsey@meggitt.com
Sealing solutions
Al Calabria
VP Sales & Marketing
Tel: +1 503 472 0045
al.calabria@meggitt.com
ROW
Flexible fuel cells, helicopter interiors and sealing solutions
Jim Johnstone
Sales & Marketing Director
Tel: +44 1509 500000
jim.johnstone@meggitt.com
