In an effort to enhance shop safety, GE Aviation has deployed an advanced technology pit-lift system at its new 68,000 ft.2 on-wing support (OWS) facility near Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
Installed in four engine maintenance bays at the OWS facility earlier this year, the pit-lift system was supplied by TBD, a UK-based specialist in the design and manufacturing of ground handling, line and base maintenance equipment.
The system incorporates a scissor lift, which is installed below the shop floor and used to raise the engine while held in a vertical position. This works in conjunction with what TBD calls a “petal floor,” which is flush with the main shop floor, but attached just below it at the top of each pit. There are eight overlapping moveable petals, or sliders, arranged as an octagon around the pit.
“The petals work like the aperture of a camera lens, overlapping one another, while opening and closing, in order to provide a close fit around the engine,” says Jonathan Attfield, sales director of TBD, which is based in Bridgend, South Wales. “Not only is access to the engine improved since it can be raised to various heights, but safety is enhanced since the petals can be configured into an irregular shape to best fit the engine shape—minimizing the gaps between the floor and engine which an engineer could step into causing injury.”
The system is also equipped with proximity sensing technology that controls the position of each individual floor petal, stopping their movement prior to making contact with the engine. “This is becoming a critical feature in these systems, as preventing damage to the engine is the number one priority of MROs—after providing a safe workspace for technicians,” Attfield remarks.
The project commenced last year when GE contacted TBD to discuss plans for the new OWS facility. “At the time, a TBD engineer became aware of a project to improve the safety of four existing engine lifts at GE Aviation Durham, in North Carolina, where they had some accidents because the floor did not provide a close fit to the engine,” Attfield says. “TBD was the only company able to offer this unique floor system.”
Having supplied facilities in the UK and EU with a similar solution, says Attfield, TBD was able to offer a complete solution for the customer featuring all lifting equipment and the floor structures with a fully integrated control system.
TBD was selected to design, manufacture and install the four scissor lift/petal flooring systems, which were manufactured in the supplier’s Bridgend factory, then shipped to the US for installation, starting in late 2019. Attfield reports that a similar system is slated for installation at GE’s Durham location, but travel restrictions due to COVID-19 have put that project on hold.
TBD, says Attfield, has also supplied this equipment to GE Aviation Wales and XEOS, the GE-Lufthansa Technik joint venture in Poland where six lifts are installed. The company also has a letter of intent to supply the vertical lift and floor equipment to the next new GE facility in Singapore, with work commencing there in 2021.
