Ultrasonic inspection of aircraft wiring

SAFEWIRE: Long range ultrasonic inspection of aircraft wiring

Background

There are kilometres of wiring in modern aircrafts (~600km in an Airbus 380), carrying a range of services from power, vital avionics and communication systems through to in-flight entertainment. They are extremely difficult to inspect during routine maintenance because they are bundled into complex harnesses and pass behind structural components/bulkheads As the wiring ages, the wires and their insulation are subject to a variety of degradation. Failure of either can have disastrous consequences, in particular the loss of vital controls or communications or fire caused by arcing. A study of international aviation incidents from 1972 to 2000 found 400 to be wiring related.

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Objectives

Scientific objective

Gain increased scientific understanding of the transmission of ultrasound in a bundle of multi-core cables.

Technical objectives, to develop:

• Transducer array and clamping system capable of generating ultrasound in a bundle of cables.

• Handheld pulser/receiver flaw detector capable of exciting the transducer array and of transmitting ultrasound along the cable bundle.

• Software capable of controlling the pulser/receiver and of displaying the output so that the longitudinal position of any flaw can be determined.

Integration objective

A complete pre-production prototype system comprising the above components, with the above capabilities and within cost limits.

Validation objective

Prepare a safety case for submission to the European Aviation Safety Agency, which will form the basis for certification of the SAFEWIRE technology as a recognised method of wiring inspection

Benefits

• Ultrasonic transducer arrays capable of injecting ultrasound into a bundle of multi-strand cables.
• Ultrasonic pulser/receiver with sufficient power to excite these transducers and to transmit ultrasound through the attenuative insulation of cables harnesses.
• Inspection range of 10m. Whilst some harnesses are longer than this, this range will enable harnesses to be inspected where they pass behind structural components so are inaccessible for inspection by other means.
• User graphical interface and defect detection software for the control of the pulser/receiver, setting up experimental/inspection parameters, and reliably detecting defects and/or features at high resolution and interpret the signal in terms of flaw size and nature.

Project Partners

• CERETH
• ATARD
• Pi LTD
• Marshall
• Hortec
• ASSIST
• PolKom Badania
• Brunel University London

Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project

Professor Tat-Hean Gan - Professional Qualifications CEng. IntPE (UK), Eur Ing BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronics Engg (Uni of Nottingham) MSc in Advanced Mechanical Engineering (University of Warwick) MBA in International Business (University of Birmingham) PhD in Engineering (University of Warwick) Languages English, Malaysian, Mandarin, Cantonese Professional Bodies Fellow of the British Institute of NDT Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology Tat-Hean Gan has 10 years of experience in Non-Destructive Testing (NDT), Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and Condition Monitoring of rotating machineries in various industries namely nuclear, renewable energy (eg Wind, Wave ad Tidal), Oil and Gas, Petrochemical, Construction and Infrastructure, Aerospace and Automotive. He is the Director of BIC, leading activities varying from Research and development to commercialisation in the areas of novel technique development, sensor applications, signal and image processing, numerical modelling and electronics hardware. His experience is also in Collaborative funding (EC FP7 and UK TSB), project management and technology commercialisation.

Related Research Group(s)

Brunel Innovation Centre - A world-class research and technology centre that sits between the knowledge base and industry.

Project last modified 18/03/2021