Garrett Fulton wrote:
On Sunday, November 22, 2015 at 4:06:56 PM UTC-5, Tom Gardner wrote:
On 11/21/2015 9:23 PM, Garrett Fulton wrote:
Do you know what they use to swing those wings? It's a thermal
wax that expands and contracts with temperature. The forces
are HUGE!
Tom, do you have a website where this is described? I'm having a
hard time believing it. I'm a retired airline mech. and never
worked on any swing wing aircraft. Just all the big Boeings,
Airbus, Lockheed etc. I did a google search and came up with
nothing.


I heard it from a cousin working for Loral aerospace as a design
engineer, now retired, he worked on many cool projects, a lot of
which will never see daylight. Wax motors are more common than we
think. I couldn't easily find any direct references, but I'll ask
next time I talk to him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_motor

I believe we're talking about wax pellet temperature sensors. Those
are common on older airliners. Just my .02, but I don't believe you
could get any useful work from a wax motor actuator.


GM used a wax actuator on the front axle interlock for the 4X4 P/Us for
many years. They worked but were S L O W in cold weather.

--
Steve W.