Hydraulic Power Pack Examples: Aircraft Hangar Doors
It’s not only fascinating, but really surprising what the possibilities of hydraulic power packs are. One of these uses is for the aircraft hangar door.
Amazing applications of hydraulic power packs
When hydraulics were originally being used in Egypt in 6000 BC, nobody had any idea what amazing inventions were still yet to be developed. Who knew that even an aircraft would be developed, let alone that hydraulic power could be made compact enough to power the opening and closing of a storage garage for so said aircraft.
Although hangar doors have traditionally been either manually rolled or produced in the shape of the bi-fold, the new style door is intelligent and it’s got even the aerospace engineers all excited. It can open doors as wide as 100 feet. The hydraulic power system is attached above the door, onto the body of the hangar. The door can then open upwards and outwards, retaining all but 6 inches of headroom.
Hydraulic power is already used in aerospace
Aviation engineers are already very familiar with the capability of hydraulic power. They will have seen and maintained hydraulics on landing gear and wing flaps on aircraft. Using them on the hangar is something that is a no-brainer. There is no doubt that this trend will go further afield to other door applications such as farm doors and warehouse doors.
One of the most appealing benefits of an aircraft hangar door that opens in this style is the fact that it doesn’t take up much headroom. Headroom is very important when manoeuvring expensive aircraft in and out of hangars. With just 6 to 8 inches of space taken by the equipment and the opening angle, hydraulic powered hangar doors become a clear favourite.
There are just three elements of any door that is powered by hydraulics. The door itself, the pump and the hydraulic cylinders. Simple, effective and very easy to maintain, in particular if the door is made of steel too.
Who knows how hydraulic power packs will be utilised next. Watch this space.