Since 1970, we have been providing top quality overhauls and repairs to a wide variety of customers in the continental US as well as abroad. Our capability list contains approximately 11,000 part numbers covering the following aircraft and engines.
- Airbus - A300, A310, A318, A319, A320, A321, A330, A340
- Boeing - 707, 727, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777
- Douglas - DC-8, DC-9, DC-10, MD-10, MD-11, MD-80, MD-90, MD-95
- Engines - CF6-6, CF6-50, CF6-80, CFM656, JT3D, JT8D, JT9D, F100, V2500, PW2000, PW4000, RB-211
- Military - KC-10, KC-135
- Lockheed - L-1011
- Contact us with your specific requirements.
Turn Time
Turn time is the single most important factor to insuring customer satisfaction. Our goal is 21 days in-house. We offer accelerated service for AOG situations.
AOG Service
While 21 days is our normal goal, AOG service is available. This service can be as quick as one work shift and seldom longer than 24 hrs. AOG 24 hour hot line: 505-891-6666
We offer same day service for AOG situations, 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week.
Contact us at 505-891-6666
Exchange Pool
Our sister company AeroParts Exchange of New Mexico maintains a stock of over 1600 overhauled units which are available for out right sale or exchange based on customer needs. You will find our inventory listed at www.apenm.com
Office hours: 8am – 4:30pm MST.
505-891-6635
AOG: Call 505-891-6666
Ozone Converter Theory and Practice
The USA Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) has established the requirement that the ozone concentration in cabin air must meet accepted air quality standards as those enforced by the USA National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the USA Occupational Safety and Health Administration for the work place environment. The requirement establishes a 3 hour time weighted average not to exceed 0.10ppm and a peak ozone limit of 0.25ppm. Over the years the ozone converter has become an increasingly important component when considering issues of cabin air quality.
In the late 1980s, AeroParts Manufacturing & Repair, Inc., worked with American Airlines to develop an alternative to the ozone converter manufacturer (OEM) expensive "re-core" method of repair. After an extensive research and development program, we seceded in obtaining FAA Specialized Service authorization for our Ozone Converter Overhaul Program. The following paragraphs are an insight into the theory and practice of catalytic converter operation.
The ozone converter is a pressure vessel containing a very efficient catalyst to decompose the toxic 03 (ozone) molecule into harmless O2 (oxygen). The catalyst in most ozone converters now in service is palladium or palladium in combination with a metal oxide. However these catalytic materials will not work unless they are in a very finely divided form. Furthermore, in order for the catalyst to be efficient at low temperature and high air flow rates, it must be dispersed in a highly porous, large surface area support structure. The effective surface area of a new ozone converter is several hundred square meters. Since, by definition, the catalyst should not be altered or consumed while decomposing ozone, one would think that an ozone converter should last indefinitely. However, in actual practice, the catalyst does become less efficient. The effects of erosion and the accumulation of contaminants necessitate the servicing of the catalyst every 10,000 to 20,000 hours.
Most of the contaminants responsible for degradation of ozone converter performance are atmospheric pollutants and aviation fluids (mainly engine oil and hydraulic fluid). These substances coat and clog the highly porous structure of the catalytic surface. This, along with erosion of the catalyst, acts to reduce the effective surface area of the catalyst to the point that ozone decomposition efficiency becomes unacceptably low. The minimum acceptable efficiency for an ozone converter depends on the aircraft it is installed on. For example, the converters on a Boeing 767-300 must be at least 60% efficient to meet the minimum ozone standards.
In order to restore the lost performance to useful levels, a testing and overhaul process has been developed. Testing involves accurately measuring the concentration of ozone entering and exiting a converter which is being operated at the test conditions specified by the OEM or conditions that reflect normal operation. The efficiency of a converter is the ratio of the amount of ozone decomposed to the amount introduced into the converter expressed as a percentage. For example, a converter observed to produce a constant .45 ppmv (parts per million by volume) of ozone at the outlet while a constant 1.50 ppmv of ozone is maintained at the inlet is measured to be 70% efficient. A proper first cleaning of the catalyst will usually restore most of the original performance of the converter. But subsequent cleanings restore less and less of the original performance until the catalyst is no longer useful. At this point re-coring is usually the only option. This is especially true of the newer light weight converters.
For the best performance and service life, our company has developed a process whereby cleaning is followed by the addition of a fresh new layer of catalyst to renew the old worn catalytic surfaces. The service life of properly maintained ozone catalyst should equal the life of the aircraft. AeroParts has successfully overhauled converters that have been scrapped by another vendor that only cleans converters. Another major advantage of the AeroParts process is the ability to overhaul the catalyst without removing the cores from the converter case. This is considered to be a very important element of the process for cost control and turn around time considerations.
We believe the AeroParts reconditioning process is the only process that can make this claim. The OEM offers "re-core" which also offers OEM new part efficiency, but at four times the cost. This is the principle benefit of our process: new part efficiency at very low cost.
FAA Approved Repair Station: L4PR181J
EASA Approved Repair Station: EASA.145.4054
