DO-254 process for aircraft component certification

July 18, 2014 Emma Schwoerer

RTCA/DO-254, Design Assurance Guidance for Airborne Electronic Hardware is a commonly used document that provides instructions and process for airborne electronic hardware development and aircraft component certification. Formally recognized by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2005, the DO-254 serves as a standard for ensuring the highest level of safety in the design of electronic […] Read more

Lessons learned from NASA: Wire identification, harness clamping, and more

July 10, 2014 Michael Traskos

Learning from the mistakes of the past is critical for ensuring reliability of systems created today. These lessons may be contained in industry standards documents with little or no explanation as to why the requirements were created (such as AS50881). This lack of historical knowledge and the loss of the answer to ‘why’ can leave […] Read more

Heat shrink tubing application and aircraft EWIS components

June 30, 2014 Michael Traskos

Heat shrink tubing can be found in nearly every location on aircraft and can interact with aircraft EWIS components. These materials protect wire repairs, provide additional abrasion protection, and prevent the ingress of fluids (and in a pinch, may be used as a secondary harness support when other options are not viable). Although this product […] Read more

Life prediction of aircraft EWIS components

May 29, 2014 Michael Traskos

Aircraft vehicle reliability rests on well-designed components maintaining full functionality through the entire life cycle, or at the very least, maintaining full functionality until a predictable life limit is reached so that sustainment activities can be performed. Selection of wires and EWIS components is no different. The selection process starts with the functional requirements (electrical […] Read more

Considerations for Electrical Bonding

May 15, 2014 Michael Traskos

Electrical bonding is the practice of connecting equipment cases or structure to ground to prevent electric shock. This provides a return path for any stray voltage that the case may be exposed to via component failure (e.g. wire shorted against case). The reason why proper electrical bonding techniques are so important is that it protects […] Read more

EWIS: A 13-minute summary of MIL-HDBK-525

April 30, 2014 Michael Traskos

This Lectromec presentation provides a brief summary of MIL-HDBK-525, “Electrical Wiring Interconnect System (EWIS) Integrity Program.” It provides a starting point for those involved in Mechanical Equipment and Subsystems Integrity Program (MECSIP) or those new to the EWIS service life extension efforts. This thirteen-minute presentation is a good description of Electrical Wire Interconnect Systems (EWIS) […] Read more

Aircraft circuit protection: A review of 5 technologies

April 29, 2014 Michael Traskos

Two weeks ago we posted a blog on the selection process for circuit protection/wire pairs. Today, we produce a grid to help you understand common aircraft circuit protection types that can be found on aircraft. The five device types talked about here are the thermal circuit protection, fuse, magnetic circuit protection, Arc Fault Circuit Breaker […] Read more

270VDC arcing in aircraft wiring

April 15, 2014 Michael Traskos

In a recent presentation to the SAE at the biannual meeting, Lectromec presented a summary of the work that was performed by several companies and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last summer. These tests were performed at the FAA’s Technical Center in Atlantic City on 270VDC in aircraft wiring. There were four test objectives: Perform […] Read more

7-step process for aircraft wire size and circuit protection selection

April 14, 2014 Michael Traskos

Sometimes the design guidance that is a couple of decades old is still valid. The following flowchart is from the NASA Technical Memorandum 102179 – 1991. The chart provides a flow for the design considerations for circuit protection, starting with determining the current need and ending with the implementation of the system. The 7 steps […] Read more

What you missed from the SAE meeting regarding aircraft wire testing

April 10, 2014 Michael Traskos

If you had other business commitments and couldn’t make the recent SAE 8A/D meeting this week that included topics related to aircraft wire testing, we have put together a quick summary from the committee meetings. RoHS Compliance The Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) has been something the aerospace industry has been struggling to comply with […] Read more

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