Aero Accessories, which manufactures Tempest brand dry air pumps, pneumatic components and fuel pumps, now makes a line of oil filters.
The new product, dubbed the Tempest Original Aviation Spin-on Oil Filter, is an improved version of a design used by Champion for 30 years, before that firm made significant changes, explaining the use of the word “original,” said John Herman, Aero Accessories vice president, adding “It’s the only aviation oil filter made by an aviation company.”
Herman and the company’s president, Stan Fletcher, concluded that the basic Champion design was a good one, but felt that it could be improved. They liked Champion’s original leaf spring which, they say, gives the filter medium more lateral stability than the coil spring currently in use by Champion. They increased the thickness of the can and base plate, and introduced a stronger welding technology for securing the install nut, raising the Tempest filter’s burst pressure to 700 psi from 500.
In addition, they found a magnetic material that could withstand the high temperatures in an oil filter, so they use it under the leaf spring, where it magnetizes both the spring and part of the can, attracting steel particles too small for the filter medium to catch. This, they say, increases the efficiency of the paper filter and makes oil analysis easier.
