Marotta Controls Builds Out State-of-the-Art Test Facilities

 Marotta Controls, a rapidly growing aerospace and defense supplier based in New Jersey, today announced the expansion of its acceptance and qualification testing capabilities. The project includes upgrading existing equipment as well as adding new, state-of-the-art equipment to support greater volume and more complex testing procedures. Once completed, the company will house one of the U.S.’ most sophisticated testing facilities for a wide range of aerospace, defense, and marine systems across 125,000 square feet.

Marotta primarily operates in the defense market—a sector that prioritizes more stringent performance qualification standards than those found in commercial or industrial markets. Many of the company’s custom control solutions include unique technological designs that exceed most standard testing houses’ capabilities.

Related, third-party testing can become costly and impact program schedules due to shipping lead times, storage fees, advanced engineering support, and remote troubleshooting. For these reasons, Marotta prioritizes in-house testing services investment.

“Several internal and external factors drove the expansion. For example, we choose to keep up with increasingly more sophisticated customer designs,” said Larry Rayhon, Senior Director, Production Engineering, Marotta. “Interestingly, we’re also experiencing rapid growth in complementary application areas. Our business was anchored in flow control products: solenoid valves, pressure regulators, manifolds, etc. In recent years, we introduced control actuation systems and power electronics, which require more precise, complex and often automated testing processes. This facility upgrade enables us to support that growth, too.”

State-of-the-Art Test & Measurement Services
AS9100 certified, Marotta builds and calibrates much of its own test equipment for its product catalog: electromechanical actuation systems, pneumatic systems, flow control products, motor controllers, and power supplies. The company’s services range from common environmental stress and proof testing to specialized high flow and noise testing paired with clean rooms. Expansion highlights follow.

Pneumatic Testing
Assembly bench capacity will increase by one-third—totaling 40 benches. Eleven benches will simulate 15,000 psi of pressure with the remaining 33 simulating 6,000 psi. All will offer a flow rate of 150 scfm. Grouped testing can be conducted to achieve gas throughput up to 25,000 psi.

High Flow Testing
Gaseous nitrogen (GN2) high flow capability increased from one piping system at 6,000 psi to two at 7,500 psi with flow rates up to 35,000 scfm when paralleling both systems. Liquid nitrogen storage also increased, while compressor capacity doubled to advance pneumatic flow testing.

Acoustic Testing
Poised to be the most advanced on the East Coast, a 1,600 ft2 acoustic testing facility was constructed for airborne and structure-borne noise testing. The lab includes dual acoustic chambers with high pressure and low pressure testing capabilities at less than 40 decibels for frequencies ranging from 8 to 16,000 Hz. Testing will occur in short durations through a blowdown to atmosphere method—with max pressure and flow ranging from 650 PSIG (up to 28,000 SCFM) to 6,300 PSIG (up to 270,000 SCFM).

Vibration Testing
Air-cooled electrodynamic shaker systems will increase to three—each capable of 4,000 pounds of force (lbf). These systems offer velocities up to 70 inches per second (ips) for payloads up to 1,000 pounds and are used for environmental screening of electromechanical actuation and advanced power systems.

Altitude Testing
Fifteen thermal chambers will simulate extreme conditions (-100°F to 300°F) at 120,000 feet. Additionally, a deep space vacuum chamber for satellite system testing will simulate environments at 1.0 x 10-7 Torr of pressure in temperatures ranging from -100°F to 300°.