Wing Tip Cable Sleeve With Webbing for Arc-Safe Harness Routing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge of providing a cable harness for folding wing tips in aircraft, which must endure harsh environmental conditions, movement, and tensional loads, while ensuring segregation of high voltage wiring and preventing abrasion and arcing, is exacerbated by limited space and the need for redundancy.
Innovation Solution
A protective sleeve made of fluorosilicone polymer is used to house two cable harnesses, with a webbing region to maintain separation and a resilient design to accommodate movement, ensuring electrical insulation and arc protection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If cable harnesses are routed through the folding wing tip joint, then power and data can be transmitted to the wing tip device, but the cable harnesses are exposed to harsh environmental conditions, movement, and tensional loads that can cause abrasion and failure
Solution Approach 1:
A protective sleeve made of fluorosilicone polymer is introduced as an intermediary between the cable harnesses and the harsh environment. The sleeve has a smooth inner surface that reduces friction and abrasion on the cables, while the outer surface provides environmental protection. The sleeve accommodates movement through its resilient material properties and includes features like eyelets for cable management.
Solution Approach 2:
The protective sleeve is constructed from flexible fluorosilicone polymer material that can deform and flex to accommodate the movement of the folding wing tip joint. The material properties allow the sleeve to stretch and compress while maintaining protection for the cable harnesses inside, adapting to the dynamic geometry changes during flight and ground configurations.
2Reliability
If high voltage wiring is segregated from adjacent structure to prevent arcing, then safety is improved, but the required separation distance increases the space needed in the confined wing tip area
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple functions are merged into the single protective sleeve structure. It provides abrasion protection, environmental shielding, cable management, and electrical insulation for high voltage wiring simultaneously. The webbing region integrates separation functionality for multiple cable harnesses within the same protective enclosure, maximizing space utilization in the confined wing tip volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The protective sleeve utilizes fluorosilicone polymer material that combines multiple properties: mechanical flexibility for movement accommodation, electrical insulation for arc protection, and chemical resistance for environmental protection. This composite material approach allows a single component to satisfy multiple conflicting requirements that would otherwise require separate systems.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the wing tip device is moved to ground configuration to reduce span for gate entry, then airport compatibility is improved, but the cable harnesses experience repeated movement and changes in tensional loads
Solution Approach 1:
The protective sleeve is designed to be dynamic rather than rigid, allowing it to adapt its shape and internal volume as the wing tip device moves between flight and ground configurations. The flexible material accommodates changing tensional loads on the cable harnesses during movement while maintaining continuous protection. The sleeve's resilience allows it to absorb and dissipate the mechanical stresses generated by repeated folding operations.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The sleeve effectively prevents abrasion and arcing, allows high voltage wiring closer to other cables, and maintains a compact arrangement, enhancing reliability and safety in the confined wing tip volume.
Implementation Method 1
The protective sleeve is made of fluorosilicone polymer... ensuring electrical insulation and arc protection
Implementation Method 2
A protective sleeve made of fluorosilicone polymer is used to house two cable harnesses, with a webbing region to maintain separation and a resilient design to accommodate movement
Data Source
AI summary
An aircraft wing having a fixed wing and a moveably mounted wing tip device is disclosed. A first cable harness and a second cable harness which are received in a protective sleeve extend between the fixed wing and the wing tip device. The protective sleeve is in a secured configuration in which at least two opposing parts of the protective sleeve are secured together between the first cable harness and the second cable harness to provide the sleeve with a first channel in which the first cable harness is received a second channel in which the second cable harness is received, and a webbing region extending between the first channel and the second channel such that the first and second cable harnesses are held apart by the webbing region.