Through its research, articles, videos, and continuous involvement in the aerospace community, Lectromec has been contributing to the knowledge base for aircraft wiring systems for three decades. To continue to further this goal, we have started to take a look at the most popular articles from the past year to see what readers find of value. This article includes the top ten entries from 2015. It is a mix of articles, videos, and one podcast.
10. Trends in Aircraft Wiring and Risk Assessment [PODCAST]
We introduced podcasts in 2015 and our first one broke into the top ten. This interview was with the President of InterConnect Wiring, John Ashour. He gives a frank overview of what kind of aircraft is a good candidate for rewiring projects. If you don’t have fifteen minutes to listen to the podcast, you can skim the transcript.
Date: April 28, 2015
Category: Podcast (15 minutes)
Moderator: John Gilroy
9. Electrical Tests for Aircraft Wires and Cables
Lectromec can perform over one hundred kinds of tests in its ISO 17025:2005 Certified Laboratory. The sheer number can make it difficult to decide which tests are necessary for your particular situation. This is an article that describes two broad categories of tests: “time to smoke” and “fuse time.” It concludes with reminding you that testing is performed to ensure both the reliability of components for long service life and the capability to maintain integrity during fault conditions.
Date: January 26, 2015
Category: Article
Author: Michael Traskos, EWIS DER
Humidity resistance is of particular importance for electrical systems. Lectromec has the capabilities to perform this testing.
8. What are Common Tests for Aircraft Wire? Humidity Edition [VIDEO]
Many readers know about our tests, but have never seen what a humidity chamber actually looks like. This is one of the popular “Two Minute Tuesday” videos and it examines how a humidity chamber is used for wire testing. This video gives you an idea of the size of a humidity chamber, its range of capabilities, and how components can be tested to verify and predict in-service performance.
Date: September 19, 2015
Category: Video (2 minutes)
Speaker: Michael Traskos, EWIS DER
7. Completed Aircraft Wire Harness Testing
One can pull a wire from an aircraft and perform many tests. However, rather than looking at individual components, it is often necessary to review the completed aircraft wire harness. This article gives you five starting points: fit, electrical considerations, mechanical aspects, durability, and environmental tests.
Date: October 30, 2015
Category: Article
Author: Michael Traskos, EWIS DER
Use wire that has been property maintained. Don’t use wire that has already been mechanical, thermally, or chemically stressed. Source: MIL-HDBK-522
6. Aircraft Wire Inspection? Time Tested Guidelines
Determining an aircraft’s airworthiness is not just inspecting the engines and avionics, it also includes examining the electrical system. In this article, we look at areas that need to be inspected such as the supply system, the insulation, harnesses, cables, and cable clamps.
Date: March 18, 2015
Category: Article
Author: Carina Cannon, Lectromec Engineer
5. Taking a look at Aircraft Wire Testing and Evaluation [VIDEO]
Over the years Lectromec has produced a group of videos that cover many aspects of wire testing. This is an overview of eight topics that range from combat vulnerabilities to a depiction of arc testing.
Date: July 15, 2015
Category: Video
Editor: John Gilroy
4. Minimum Bend Radius as Applied to Aircraft Wire System Degradation
Some articles have a life span that is remarkable. Although this article on minimum bend radius was written two years ago, it keeps getting readers. Article number four on the list is a discussion of the minimum bend radius and how it applies to wire system degradation. Simple topic, yet popular.
Date: July 26, 2013
Category: Article
Author: Michael Traskos, EWIS DER
3. Aircraft EWIS Failure Trends
Lectromec is fortunate to have an FAA DER for Electrical Systems on staff. This specialization along with continuous involvement in the aircraft electrical system community through attendance and presentations at nearly all related conferences around the world, have given Mike Traskos the ability to understand the trends for aircraft electrical systems. The third most popular article is Mike’s overview of the trends in EWIS failure over the years. Much like a “quick course,” it provides you with a flow chart for working with aircraft electrical systems.
Date: April 1, 2015
Category: Article
Author: Michael Traskos, EWIS DER
Proper EWIS design can ease the process of maintenance
2. Lessons learned from NASA: Electrical Wiring Interconnection Systems (EWIS)
You can’t go wrong when you write about NASA. Our second most popular article talks about lessons learned from NASA when it comes to Electrical Wire Interconnect Systems (EWIS). It outlines splicing, talks about wiring harnesses, and much more. Each section has a link to the NASA documents. Required reading for all future astronauts!
Date: January 9, 2015
Category: Article
Author: Omid Orfany, Lectromec Engineer
1. Introduction to Aircraft Electrical Power Distribution Systems
Date: April 17, 2015 Category: Article Author: Omid Orfany, Lectromec Engineer Please let us know what you would like to see covered in 2016.