ENGINE COOLING SYSTEM - HELICAL METAL HOSE

[Peter B]

Good morning, everyone,

I’m new to the forum and would appreciate some help identifying the part number of a corrugated metal hose.

To give you some context: I’m a hydromechanical systems designer at a small company, and I’m currently working on a modification project for an aircraft equipped with a Rotax 914 engine. However, due to a change in the loft, the available space in the engine bay has become very limited.

Initially, we planned to use MIL-DTL-6000C hoses for the water cooling system and MIL-DTL-13444G Type 3 hoses for oil cooling. However, the space constraints do not allow for their minimum bend radius (even though MIL-13444 has a smaller bend radius than MIL-DTL-6000C).

While searching for a solution, I found the attached image. As you can see in the yellow circle, both the water and oil cooling connections are made using a corrugated metal hose.
 

Has anyone here used this type of solution?

Could you share the part number or supplier of these hoses?

If anyone has experience with them, could you let me know whether these hoses have any bead-type connections at the ends?

Thank you in advance for your help.
 

Edited May 22 by Peter B

[IBob]

Hi PeterB, ICP who manufacture the Savannah have been supplying the metal hose with their kits since 2014, perhaps earlier.

So far as I know there have been no problems with it, and I would think we would have heard if there was.
As you can see in the pic, it is terminated with short lengths of 'rubber' hose. It certainly allows for a very compact installation.

[skippydiesel]

There is no doubt that the "corrugated" fuel/oil/coolant lines work.

 

I am still uneasy about the number of joins required,  the effect that the corrugations must have on flow and the potential for fatigue cracking.😈

[IBob]

There are online models for calculating the flow.
Yes, the joints seem a bit clumsy, but they are a very simple, economical and reliable way to do the join. And the 'rubber' end may serve to buffer vibration.
It's not too hard to support or secure it all to avoid major vibration.

[Peter B]

14 hours ago, IBob said:

Hi PeterB, ICP who manufacture the Savannah have been supplying the metal hose with their kits since 2014, perhaps earlier.

So far as I know there have been no problems with it, and I would think we would have heard if there was.
As you can see in the pic, it is terminated with short lengths of 'rubber' hose. It certainly allows for a very compact installation.

Thank you very much for informing me of the aircraft model that uses these hoses. I was able to find several images of the installation. I went to the ICP website and checked the kits. I don't think they would be useful to me because the project I'm working on has production requirements, and the kits come with more items than necessary. I contacted ICP to check a possible partnership to supply only the hoses, but I don't think that will be possible.

I found metal hoses from Titeflex US Hose (AFBX Medium Pressure Annular Hose) on the market. Is this a good alternative?
I'm looking for other suppliers for this type of hose, do you know any companies?