Early days
Albert Thomas Juniper founded the company in 1943, supplying his own specially designed lubricants for the axles and gearboxes of amphibious landing craft used in World War Two. The JUNIPER lubricator was developed to dispense this lubricant, enabling low or high pressure applications and was used on many major items of machinery and vehicles across many different industries.
Interest became increasingly focussed on aircraft gearboxes and hydraulic systems where a number of difficulties had become apparent due to impurities in the lubricants being introduced during top-ups and replenishment.
The JUNIPER fluid replenishment rig was born. This equipment was designed to prevent any foreign matter entering the aircraft control systems through the oil, with improvements to increase flow rates, capacity and filtration following quickly. By this time, the UK MOD was the companys major customer.
Involvement in developing the fluid replenishment rig in the late 1950s for the Lightning – the RAF’s first Mach 2 Interceptor – and other jet aircraft, revealed another application for Juniper’s products.
Low flying above the sea caused the turbine blades to become crusted with salt and other deposits with the result that engines had to be periodically stripped down for cleaning – a costly and time consuming operation. It was apparent that a better solution was needed and a method of washing the engine whilst running was found to be a simple solution for removing the majority of these deposits. Consequently, the JUNIPER compressor washing rig was developed – reducing the cleaning time from around nine hours to three minutes.
When Steve Marshall acquired the company in 1979, the company’s main business was supporting the MOD with spares for the equipment it had supplied them over the years, and even though there were JUNIPER fluid replenishment and compressor washing rigs in regular use around the world, Steve could see the possibilities for development and expansion. He quickly invested in more modern premises and state-of-the-art manufacturing machinery. The rigs were updated for servicing modern aircraft and adapted for industrial gas turbine engines, with the product range and operational effectiveness increasing through the 1980s.
Continued Development
Juniper’s commercial engine wash system originated from the military wash rigs Juniper designed in the 1980s. The rigs were first trialed commercially in the early 1990s at Gatwick Airport with Virgin Atlantic using shepherd’s hook type washing probes directing the washing solution into the booster from positions behind the fan.
These trials achieved marginal improvements in EGT and SFC. However, as jet fuel in those days was not expensive in relative terms, the washing of engines could not at that time be financially justified.
We were advised to direct our system at the high cycle operators using Boeing 737s fitted with the CFM56-3 engine, as these were suffering from loss of EGT margin requiring engines to be taken off-wing for repair. BMI at East Midlands Airport assisted Juniper in developing the washing probes for this engine and carried out many trials.
These trials used RMC Compressor Washing Fluid followed by water rinsing. The system proved effective and kept engines on the wing longer, although an occasional side effect resulted in smoke in the cabin on the first take-off after the wash. No matter how carefully the post wash test was carried out this situation could not be resolved satisfactorily so the system was mainly used by MRO’s, as the first flight after the wash carried no passengers thus eliminating the danger of a costly return to field.
In a bid to resolve this problem, Juniper fitted heaters in their wash rigs which enabled hot water washes to be carried out. This eliminated the need for washing detergents, which it had now been established, was the cause of the smoke. This new procedure using hot water only was tested by Air Canada on the CFM56-5C engine fitted to their Airbus A340s and proved very successful. The post-wash cabin smoke was completely eliminated and good returns of EGT and corresponding SFC gains were achieved.
Airtours, the package holiday group in Manchester, were very keen on this method of water washing and with their help we were able to develop washing probes for the CFM56 group of engines, V2500, RB211-535E4, TRENT 772 and many of the CF6 family of engines.
Pioneering
As fuel prices steadily increased, the advantages of our system were becoming more apparent and gaining acceptance around UK, Europe, Australia and finally in the USA where it was used successfully on the GE90 engine.
Juniper gained valuable experience during the commissioning of these rigs worldwide and this in turn led to various improvements to the original design, such as the introduction of a more manoeuvrable and stable 3 wheel design, charging of the onboard nitrogen cylinders using a Schrader valve as fitted to aircraft Oleo legs and the fitting of heaters that could connect directly to Aircraft Ground Power. All of these improvements were helping to make the Juniper rigs more adaptable and user friendly.
Coupled with our growing list of engine wash probes, Juniper’s 2×25 gallon rig was beginning to look like an increasingly versatile and cost effective solution – one rig, partnered with the right wash probes, could be used for all engine types. Using the lessons learned in developing the 2×25 gallon rig, we added a larger 2×50 gallon version for operators of wide body aircraft who often needed to wash more than one engine during the same session. This larger rig works in exactly the same way and has all the same user friendly features.
New Directions
After the turn of the century, contaminated water from engine washes increasingly became an environmental issue; the waste contains heavy metals which could seep into the local water table and contaminate local drinking water.
Juniper addressed this problem by using our patented Kyoto Containment Mat which is rolled out under the engine to collect the waste. The system has been neatly packaged and made portable and convenient by means of a purpose made trailer.
The trailer is fitted with a powered roller to dispense and retrieve the Mat, together with a high power vacuum cleaner to collect up all the waste water into an 85 gallon tank fitted along the base of the trailer. Collected waste water could then be taken away and disposed of safely and/or put through our hanger based Filtration System which cleans up the water to either re-use in the wash rig or dispose of down the local drain.
When airlines finally got the message that water washing not only keeps engines on the wing longer, reduces overall costs and saves large amounts of fuel, competition to the Juniper system began to emerge.
However, none of our competitors has the experience we have, and our major threat now comes from an all singing, all dancing unit that not only washes the engines but collects and re-cycles the waste water as well. On the downside, this system comes at an extremely high price that only rich airlines can afford; is relatively inflexible (washes have to be booked well in advance) and produces no better results than the Juniper system.
For the cost of just six engine washes using this service you could buy a Juniper rig and tooling outright, giving you the flexibility to wash your engines when and where you want and not in accordance with a pre-booked time slot, which if you missed it would cost you dearly.
The Juniper system is versatile, modular and affordable and if the waste water has to be collected and filtered, we can supply the separate units to accomplish this.
Juniper can now proudly say that our extensive range of commercial and military wash rigs, together with a tooling list for over 45 engine types, are capable of washing every aircraft engine on the market today. When you add this to the fact that we are able to adapt and modify any of our rigs to a customer’s requirements, and we can also give operators the assurance that spare parts will be available for many years to come, then the Juniper system begins to look like a very cost effective option.
