19 September 2012 (Day 14):

For today and tomorrow, we Ngee Ann Polytechnic students will go to the Civil Aviation University of China (CAUC) to learn more about Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) Services.

After attending a lecture which described in detail the components of an engine, we went over to see a gallery of engines just outside the classroom.

Most of the engines have had a portion of it cut open so that we could see the combustion chamber, compressor blades and turbine blades better. Some of these engines, like the piston engine, were HUGE! I wonder how it managed to fit in the aircraft and also how the aircraft managed to fly with this engine.

 

A Piston Engine
 

Classmates looking at a Turboshaft Engine (which is used on helicopters)

Ryan looking at a Turbofan Engine

After lunch, we were further sub-divided from our assigned groups into groups of 6. While some groups learnt how to replace a fuel filter or remove a fan blade from a Turbofan Engine, the rest of us learnt how to disassemble a Turbojet Engine. 

The Turbojet Engine that my group was to work on

 

Although we had a job card that detailed what we should do, we lacked certain important equipment such as PPE (Short for Personal Protection Equipment. It usually consists of safety shoes, gloves and so on) and wrenches of the right size. Once we acquired the wrenches, we were ready to begin.

Our task was simple- All we had to do was remove the parts of the engine bit by bit, starting with the nose cone of the engine. In order to remove the main components of the engine, we needed to remove the fasteners securing the components down to the engine structure. However, this was also the most boring part of the job. I think there were over 20 nuts and bolts to remove at any one time. In addition, some of the fasteners were tight and hard to remove. Most of us resorted to using 2 wrenches at a time in order to remove each bolt and nut assembly.
 

Using 2 wrenches to remove a bolt and nut assembly

 
 

Performing visual inspection on the removed nose cone

Removing the compressor and shaft from the engine

Although I have safety shoes back home in Singapore, I never had anything heavy dropped on them and I often wondered why we had to wear these heavy shoes (especially during my internship). But today, I appreciated their importance because I saw a number of loose compressor blades fall on my classmate’s pump-clad foot. I sincerely wish that they had provided us with the proper PPE or at least informed us of what PPE of our own to bring. It’s bad enough trying to disassemble turbojet engines without having to worry about our own personal safety.
 

Due to time constraints, we only had time to remove the nose cone, compressor and shaft. Once we replaced everything in their rightful positions, we make our way to the bus that would take us back to the Tianjin University hotel.

While I’ve had an interesting experience in disassembling the turbojet engine, I hope that in the future, more effort would be taken to inform the students and ensure their safety when doing MRO work. 

 

I hope that you, dear reader, will stay safe when you go to school/ work/ anywhere tomorrow!

  

Best regards,

Marianne