A case study addressing EWIS sustainment needs
This white paper is a case study on recent work performed by Lectromec for the U.S. military to achieve Electrical Wire Interconnection Systems (EWIS) sustainment of an aircraft fleet. This review of thousands of man-hours provides clear data-based EWIS sustainment recommendations affecting hundreds of aircraft.
The purpose of the white paper is to help system engineers and fleet managers who are searching for solutions to address their fleet sustainment needs. For the managers who are interested in reading it, we have kept the science and math to a minimum.
As you read the white paper, it is important to keep in mind the current condition of your fleet, how it is maintained, and how you plan to maintain or improve its reliability. Making good, data-backed engineering decisions through the sustainment process is the best way to ensure a reliable and safely operating wiring system.
The following areas are covered in the paper:
- The Beginning of Fleet Assessment: A discussion as to when in an overall Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) effort, the EWIS assessment should begin to be considered.
- The EWIS SLEP Process: A brief overview of what can be covered by an EWIS SLEP and the expected work outputs. The overall process was close to the MIL-HDBK-525 implementation (now a required component of the MIL-STD-1798 Mechanical Subsystems Sustainment), but required some modifications to best match the needs and expectations of the fleet maintainers.
- Outputs from the Fleet Assessment: What is the output from a EWIS assessment? This section covers the primary areas that are of interest to fleet maintainers: what needs to be replaced and what can be handled with directed maintenance. We discuss both, the replacement prediction and how it is now possible to direct scheduled maintenance actions with predictions based on progressive impact.
- Matching the Results: Understanding the process of aircraft wire degradation has value, only if it can be shown to match actual results. The white paper briefly discusses how well the predicted outcome came to matching the actual results.
- Impact: Knowing the EWIS condition is not an end for system sustainment. There must be actionable information from the results. We discuss some of the actions taken to maintain the fleet and how the need to augment existing procedures was executed.