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STARCS has a tradition of crating our own facilities, rigs and measurement hardware to really get the answers the customer is looking for. Our design and manufacture services range from very problem specific solutions to complete wind tunnel design.
Rig Design
STARCS is an active partner in many advanced research project and handles many commercial project dealing with the very most challenging problems. To get the correct answers out of the testing this often calls for specially designed equipment. The applications range from model support devices to advanced probe traversing systems.
Examples of Applications
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Sting arms
- Model support, tail or top mounted
- Aircraft store positioning
- Probe holders
- Wind tunnel flow quality measurements
- Pressure or flow field measurement during wind tunnel testing
Track Record
Wind Tunnel Design
STARCS has designed a number of wind tunnels both for our own purposes and for customers. We have a well established network of experienced undertakers in construction and equipment to help the customer go from our design proposal to a turn-key ready facility.
Capabilities
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Air line design.
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Calculation of dimensions from performance specification.
- Recommendations on relevant testing-, instrumentation- and measurement equipment.
Balance Design
Through many years of first class strain gauge balance design we have gained a world wide reputation for providing state-of-the-art wind tunnel balances. Sizes and purpose vary greatly with maximum force, ranging from only a few Newtons to several thousands. Everything from one component to six component internal or external balances has been designed.
Forces can be measured accurately for both very large test objects and small models for store testing like missiles. To support both the development of our balances and customers with balances from other manufacturers we also keep a number of dedicated balance calibration rigs.
Examples of Applications
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Wind tunnel model force measurement by internal or external balance.
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Store load measurement.
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Measurement of load on separate parts of a model or real life objects like antennas on masts or wings on F1 cars.
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Measurement of wheel loads on a road vehicle model.
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Surveillance of critical load on test rigs and other equipment.
Track Record
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Volvo Car Corporation
- Kawasaki Heavy Industries
- KTH, Royal Institute of Technology
- Chalmers Technical University
- Rollab wind tunnel design
- Toyota F1
Model Design
For scale model testing, the quality and versatility of the model is obviously equally important as the test rig or the measurement equipment. A model is most often specially design to fit a pre-assigned test rig and to answer the particular questions that are the reason for doing the test. The model should not only have a sufficiently exact shape but most often also room for instrumentation and possibly also movable and exchangeable parts.
STARCS has a wide and well established network of experienced sub-contractors in model manufacturing. There are many methods for model manufacturing. For low speed testing the choice of method is very much dependent on what should be modeled, the model scale and how the test is going to be conducted. Models are often manufactured using NC milled styrofoam moulds with subsequent carbon- or glassfibre lamination. For models or parts of model with high level of detail, rapid prototyping is often a preferred method. Wood is also used, particularly for larger structural parts. For supersonic speeds the models are commonly made from an assembly of NC milled steel parts. Complex mechanisms built into the model to allow for quick configuration changes, continuous changes during test or even dynamic testing can also be offered.
Capabilities
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NC milling of plastic foams and metal.
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Carbone- and glassfibre lamination.
- Rapid prototyping; SLA, SLS etc.
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All kinds of small or large scale wood work.
- Model mechanisms.
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The STARCS MSA has an exceptional precision and yet stiffness. Here showing of in early try-out testing.
STARCS MSA during stiffness testing.
One of STARCS biggest external balances.
One of STARCS smallest balances.
FEM analysis of a wind tunnel balance.
The XB-03 race boat in STARCS LT1.
CAD rendering of the wind tunnel model of the XB-03 race boat.
The model is designed to house the instrumentation (in gray).
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