Parker to supply XWB systems

Airbus has selected Cleveland’s Parker Aerospace to supply the fuel and hydraulic systems for its new A350 extra-wide body (XWB) aircraft through a contract worth more than $1bn (£529m) over the life of the programme.

Parker will provide the entire fuel system equipment package, including the inerting system, fuel measurement and management system, fluid mechanical equipment, and engine feed and transfer fuel pumps.

The fuel tank inerting system uses air separation modules with patented fibres. The air separation modules generate nitrogen-enriched air by removing the oxygen molecules from its air source and distributing the nitrogen to all the aircraft’s fuel tanks, thereby reducing the flammability of fuel vapours in the fuel tank and increasing the aircraft’s safety.

The fuel measurement system gauges the fuel quantity in the tanks located in an aircraft’s wings and fuselage, as well as the fuel management system, which monitors the distribution of fuel while commanding pumps and valves in the fuel system to provide fuel transfer and refuel.