Electrical Raft PCB Layout With Map for Faster Engine Maintenance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional electrical harnesses in gas turbine engines are bulky, heavy, and difficult to manipulate, leading to complex assembly and maintenance procedures, susceptibility to mechanical damage, and increased maintenance times due to their complexity and weight.
Innovation Solution
The use of electrical rafts with embedded components and a visible raft map that indicates the position of these components, allowing for easier identification and tracking, which can replace conventional harnesses, reducing assembly and maintenance times and weight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional wiring harnesses are used with individual wires and cables held together by sleeving and braiding, then electrical connections can be established, but the harness becomes bulky, heavy, and difficult to manipulate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple individual wires and cables into a single integrated printed circuit board (PCB). The PCB integrates numerous electrical conductors that are fixed in position within the board, replacing the conventional harness structure of multiple separate wires held together by sleeving and braiding. This merging reduces the overall bulk and weight while maintaining all necessary electrical connections, making the system easier to manipulate and install.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical harness structure (wires, sleeving, braiding, connectors) with an electrical solution based on a printed circuit board. The PCB provides fixed, predetermined electrical connections through its conductive traces and mounted components, eliminating the need for mechanical assembly of individual wires and connectors. This substitution reduces complexity and improves ease of operation.
2Reliability
If conventional wiring harnesses with multiple individual wires and connectors are used, then electrical components can be connected, but assembly and maintenance become complicated and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple individual wires, connectors, and electrical components into a single integrated printed circuit board assembly. The PCB contains all necessary conductors and mounted electrical components in fixed positions, eliminating the need to assemble numerous separate wire connections. This integration dramatically reduces assembly time and complexity while maintaining full electrical system functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs preliminary action by pre-assembling and pre-testing the entire electrical system on the printed circuit board before installation. The PCB is manufactured with all conductors, connectors, and electrical components already in their final positions and connections already made. This pre-assembly eliminates time-consuming field assembly operations and reduces the potential for assembly errors.
3Strength
If protective sleeves and braiding are added to reinforce conductors in conventional harnesses, then mechanical damage resistance improves, but weight increases and ease of manipulation decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical protection system (protective sleeves and braiding) with the structural integrity of a rigid printed circuit board. The PCB provides inherent mechanical protection to its conductors through its rigid structure, eliminating the need for additional protective coverings. This substitution maintains mechanical damage resistance while significantly reducing weight and improving ease of manipulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite materials in the form of a rigid printed circuit board that combines multiple layers of conductive and insulating materials. This composite structure provides both mechanical strength and electrical functionality in a single integrated component, replacing the need for separate protective elements and reducing overall weight.
4Reliability
If conventional wiring harnesses with numerous components are used, then electrical connections can be established, but the harness occupies significant space within the gas turbine engine
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges all electrical conductors, connectors, and components into a single compact printed circuit board. This integration consolidates the volume required for the electrical system, reducing the space occupied within the gas turbine engine while maintaining all necessary electrical connection capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a three-dimensional bundle of wires and connectors to a two-dimensional printed circuit board layout. This dimensional change allows for more efficient packing of electrical connections and reduces the overall volume required for the electrical system, enabling better space utilization within the engine.
Data Source
AI summary
An electrical raft 200 is provided that has electrical conductors 252 embedded in a rigid material 220. The electrical raft 200 may have other embedded components, such as embedded fluid pipes 210. The electrical raft 200 is provided with a raft map 400 that indicates the location and/or path of components embedded in the electrical raft 200. The raft map 400 can be used to identify the positions of the embedded components, and may also be provided with active elements, such as LEDs, which may be used to indicate an operating state of the systems/components embedded in the electrical raft 200. The raft map 400 may be useful in assembly, repair and fault diagnosis, for example.