Environmental Control Valve System (ECVS)

Carleton won a competition in 1979 to supply the ECVS hardware for the NiteHawk pod on F/A-18 fighters. We have produced more than 700 systems and continue to supply them to the U.S. Navy for spares and to foreign military users of the F/A-18.

The NiteHawk ECVS consists of a set of mechanical and electrical components that control the flow of cooling air supplied to the electronics package inside the forward looking infrared imaging (FLIR) pod. The system consists of a butterfly-type flow-control valve, a microprocessor-based control device for the valve, and an interface tube connecting the valve to the aircraft. Cooling air from the aircraft is supplied to and controlled by the valve via signals from the microprocessor controller. The microprocessor takes input from sensors located in the valve, tube, and FLIR pod and determines whether to open or close the valve. The valve can also draw cooling air from outside the pod through a ram-air door mounted to the outside surface of the pod.

Features of the system include:

• Servo-amplifier controlled gearmotor to drive the vane and ram-air door
• Solenoid and differential gears to couple the gearmotor to the vane
• Microprocessor control board encased in EMI-shielded enclosure
• Valve housing provides EMI protection for the vane drive electro-mechanical devices
• Operates from -65° F to 160° F

Products:

Waveguide Pressurization System for LANTIRN navigation pod
Landing Gear Blowdown System for V-22 Osprey
Environmental Control System for F/A-18 FLIR pod