Safran Electrical & Power developing an innovative troubleshooting concept for electrical wiring systems

Troubleshooting is currently a time-consuming process...

When an airline encounters a failure in its electrical interconnection systems, it is often poorly or inadequately equipped to quickly determine the location of the defect in the aircraft structure. This forces the aircraft to remain grounded until the defect is found and repaired. "The technician knows which cable is malfunctioning. But the cables are often very long and run throughout the aircraft," explains Jean-Roch Cossa, Product Line and Technical Brand Manager at EWIS Services. "As a result, the technician must perform an iterative inspection and gradually isolate the part of the aircraft and its wiring system where the defect is located. Next, once the inspection area has been narrowed down, the technician will dismantle the aircraft's internal structure and perform a visual inspection," he continues. Throughout this process, the aircraft cannot be used and the airline is losing money.

But troubleshooting solutions do exist

There is at least one tool on the market that addresses this problem: "the one provided by our partner, WiN MS," notes Jean-Roch Cossa. The French start-up offers a system that use reflectometric technology to locate wiring defects with greater precision. "The tool will tell you precisely how far away the defect is from where the device is plugged in. Next, the technician will consult the technical publication, which maps out the aircraft's cable layout, in order to find the exact location of the defect in the structure. Post-processing must therefore be done manually, which takes a long time," explains Jean-Roch Cossa.

A new troubleshooting service by Safran Electrical & Power

In order to reduce manual processing times, Safran Electrical & Power is developing a new service offering. The idea is to combine the WiN MS reflectometry solution with a 3D model of the aircraft. "We've developed an algorithm that can translate the data provided by WiN MS into 3D space, onto the structure of the aircraft," explains Jean-Roch Cossa. Using a tablet, the technician will be able to scan different parts of the aircraft until a signal appears on the screen indicating the exact location of the defect. The operation will require fewer technical qualifications. All that will be needed is to dismantle the part of the structure where the cable is located and perform repairs. "We're currently formulating the technical and commercial particulars of our solution, which we hope to be able to offer to our customers very shortly," concludes Jean-Roch Cossa.

 

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