electrical testing
THE DIGITIZATION OF AVIATION
How a lull in aerospace orders in the UK can help to create a path for Industry 4.0
// JASON EVANS
The market for new aircraft from the
UK is currently in a lull, fueled in part
by the uncertainty of Brexit. UK
Aerospace and Defense trade body, the
ADS Group, reported a year-on-year 79%
reduction on orders for August. Conversely,
turnover is on the up, with ADS reporting
the latest annual turnover for the UK
aerospace industry at £35.9 billion
(US$44.2 billion), a 45% growth since 2010.
The inference is that spend is currently
focused on MRO rather than
manufacturing, a logical strategy in these
times of global financial uncertainty. But
the future is looking bright – Airbus’
Global Market Forecast predicts the world’s
civil aircraft fleet will double to 48,000
commissioned aircraft by 2038. That’s
1,300 new aircraft coming into circulation
per year for the next 19 years.
Orders are coming, and changes are
imminent. The UK aerospace sector
therefore needs to embrace the digital
technology which will drive Industry 4.0,
transforming manufacturing sites and
MRO’s across the nation. When the tenders
are issued, the big winners will be those
who can build the future.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
The bigger picture is that digital
technologies are set to transform the
manufacturing industry by reducing
production bottlenecks, improving
productivity, and by providing
comprehensive and accurate data which in
turn is used to drive further improvements
to the process. For this bigger picture to
come into focus, all elements in the
production cycle must embrace the
potential of Industry 4.0.
MK Test Systems is driving the changes for
electrical testing. The key digital
developments driving the next generation
of high voltage automatic electrical testing
systems are automation, Big Data and the
concept of the Internet of Things (IoT).
REAL-TIME SCANNING
MK Test System’s Real Time Scanning
(RTS) system combines IoT connectivity
with the power of real-time data. Devices
are fitted onto the ends of wire harnesses
early in the manufacturing process.
As these harnesses are fitted into the
aircraft, Main Control Modules (MCM)
“see” the devices and measure the
168 SHOWCASE 2020 \\ AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM
1 // The Real Time
Scanning module in
operation
2 // The MK Test Systems
factory floor
3 // Wire harness testing of
an aircraft engine
1
resistance of each connection made. The
result is compared to the netlist (in real
time) and the test system reports either a
pass or fail for each one. The fact that
aircraft often have unique configurations
(customization) is not an issue – this does
not impact the testing as the test is created
from its unique data set.
The MCM scans up to 5000
measurements per second to provide the
real-time scanning capability. Multiple
MCM modules can work together, scanning
many thousands of connections every
second. The beauty of the RTS system is
that integrating testing with installation
redistributes the testing procedure to an
earlier stage in the process, thus
eliminating bottlenecks and reducing costs.
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