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

The “Big 3” aircraft wire system degradation assessment options

April 9, 2014 Michael Traskos

If you have concerns about aircraft wire system degradation and need to assess the condition of an aircraft’s wire system, there are several options. For those looking for opens and shorts type faults, HiPot and/or Time Domain Relectometer (TDR) equipment are great options. To determine the impact of wire problems with the fleet, maintenance logs […] Read more

Aerospace electrical systems news

April 4, 2014 Michael Traskos

The AEROSPACE Electrical Systems Expo took place on April 1 – 3, 2014 in Long Beach California and drew the usual suspects. There was a good representation from all parts of the aerospace electrical systems field and the supporting vendors. Overall, the year-to-year technology innovations appear to be more of an evolutionary improvement rather revolutionary […] Read more

7 considerations for aircraft wire separation

March 30, 2014 Michael Traskos

The development of a safe, reliable, and easy to maintain Electrical Wire Interconnection System (EWIS) is a challenging task. The considerations range from selecting each EWIS component, to matching the load and Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) requirements of the connected devices, to ensuring your design can maintain performance across multiple zone environments. EWIS design takes a […] Read more

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