Aircraft Translating Backplane for Wire Separation
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Solution Overview
Problem
In heavily congested areas like airplanes, achieving physical wire separation is challenging due to confined structures and equipment packaging near wiring interfaces, leading to spatial restrictions that often result in the elimination of potential equipment locations, which is undesirable for new aircraft designs where volume, weight, and cost are critical concerns.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a multi-dimensional backplane with connectors that includes electrical conductors, optical waveguides, pneumatic lines, and hydraulic lines, which translates wiring interfaces from spatially confined areas to less congested regions, allowing for easier wire integration and separation by routing through or around frame bays and following aircraft contours.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If wire integration panels and complex wiring bundles are used to spatially integrate wiring, then wiring integration is achieved, but volume, weight, and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical wiring bundles and wire integration panels with a backplane system that uses rigid circuit board technology. The backplane provides structured wiring integration through predefined electrical pathways, eliminating the need for complex mechanical wire management while reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical state and organization of wiring from flexible bundles to rigid circuit board traces. By transforming wires into fixed conductive pathways on a backplane, the system achieves better spatial organization, reduced complexity, and improved reliability while maintaining wiring integration functionality.
2Reliability
If wire separation requirements are strictly enforced in congested areas, then electromagnetic interference is reduced, but available equipment locations are eliminated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves the wire separation conflict by transitioning from two-dimensional wire routing on flat panels to three-dimensional backplane structures that extend vertically and horizontally across multiple equipment bays. This dimensional change allows wiring to be organized in space without compromising electromagnetic separation or limiting equipment placement options.
Solution Approach 2:
The backplane acts as an intermediary structure between equipment and external wiring systems. By providing a dedicated intermediary platform for signal transmission, the patent eliminates the need for separate wire bundles running through congested areas, thereby maintaining electromagnetic interference protection while preserving equipment location flexibility.
3Ease of manufacture
If traditional wiring methods are used in confined spaces, then installation is straightforward, but minimum wire separation cannot be achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the wiring system into modular segments where each backplane serves a specific equipment bay or group of bays. This segmentation allows for standardized installation procedures while maintaining precise wire separation control within each module, combining installation simplicity with manufacturing precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The backplane wiring pathways are pre-configured and pre-tested before final equipment installation. This preliminary action ensures that wire separation requirements are built into the structure itself, eliminating the need for complex现场 adjustments while maintaining precise separation standards.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for wiring an aircraft is described. The method includes installing a plurality of equipment (330) in a plurality of volumes, the volumes being defined by one or more of structural members and walls (360) of the aircraft, installing a backplane (320) that extends across at least a portion of the plurality of volumes, the backplane (320) including a plurality of connectors (380), connecting the plurality of equipment (330) to a first plurality of the connectors (380) on the backplane (320), and connecting shipside wiring to a second plurality of connectors (380) on the backplane (320).