A good portion of our business revolves around the ground and flight testing activities in the development of new Aerospace systems. Whenever a customer is developing a new aircraft, missile, launch system or any other highly advanced system or subsystem, ground and flight testing are critical. Our clients spend hundreds of millions of dollars in the development of these new systems and Tri Models plays a critical role in this process. This process is common to all aircraft from business jets to commercial jets to fighters and bombers. The vast majority of our support is in the design and fabrication of wind tunnel test models. For most aircraft, these include Force & Moment, Cryogenic, Hi-Lift, Stability & Control, Loads, Buffet, Jet Effects, Forebody Inlet, Weapons Separation, Isolated Inlet models and others. As a natural progression in the development cycle, our customers continue to rely on Tri Models as they advance towards the flight test portions of their programs. Our continued support for this segment includes icing/deicing test models, transport jet water tank/CG flight systems, flight test engine nacelles & cowling and other ground and flight test hardware. Tri Models is the largest supplier of Icing/De-Icing models having designed and built over 65 Icing models since 2002. This includes both proof-of-concept and FAA certification test models. Our program experience includes Boeing’s 787, 747-8, P8-Poseidon and 737 aircraft, Embraer’s ERJ-190, ERJ-170 and C-390, the Mitsubishi MRJ and the Bombardier C-Series in the medium/large aircraft segment. Icing models for multiple business jets including various Cessna, Learjet, and Gulfstream have also been produced. Finally, we have designed and built multiple models for NASA researchers and the Icing Research Tunnel (IRT). Tri Models has built it’s reputation on supporting the global aerospace community in this field.
Tri Models has a long history of supporting the space and missiles industry dating back to the beginnings of the space shuttle program. We have even built valves that flew on the space shuttle system as part of the RS-68 Engines. As the space and launch systems programs have evolved, Tri Models has played an integral role. From the Space Shuttle to the Orion/Crew Exploration Vehicle and now with Private Industry contractors, such as Blue Origin, Tri Models has been there. We design and build both wind tunnel models and flight test hardware for the space industry. We are also a NASA Prime contractor on numerous programs for various NASA sites.
Missiles systems is an ever-changing industry. The evolution from dumb bomb to guided missile and now to deep strike platforms has presented a great opportunity for Tri Models to be an integral member of this community. Missile programs require challenging models and testing, and many are tested at full scale. As their flight regimes are rather expansive, the models require extensive testing and to reduce overall costs, many missile models require remotely driven tails, canards and even a “spinning” system to roll the model about the center axis. Newly emerging technologies, such as Hypersonics, require sub-system tests, such as inlet and engine alone, to support the maturation of the technology. Similar to the aircraft systems, our continued support includes missile sled tests, scramjet/hypersonic engines, flight articles and free-jet test rigs and even low-earth-orbit (LEO) separation vehicles.
As another part of our business, TRI MODELS provides prototype services in many areas including the energy, automotive and consumer product fields. In 2018 we delivered a special test cell for testing the burning of CO2 to convert it to usable energy as a new and transformative technology emerges. We have designed and built custom engines and test hardware for hypersonic and Pulse Detonation Engines (PDE). We even fabricated prototype parts for the Porsche Carrera GT Concept Vehicle in 2002 and for Swift Racing. As with our aerospace clients, the confidentiality of your data is protected in all areas of our facility. We have helped inventors create their working prototypes for future development such as the NOAH Second Breath, JD Products Ocean Wave Energy Generation platform and many others.
Whether you are an auto manufacturer looking for parts for your next concept car, an Entrepreneur looking to develop a kit car or even one-off custom parts, or an inventor trying to get to the next level, TRI MODELS can assist you, call us at (714) 896-0823.