Jan. 21, 2001-- Reported by Science Specialist Ed Yeates
Electrical wiring failures likely caused two major airline crashes in the last two years.
Now, a tiny device designed by students in Utah may prevent that problem in the future.
A short-circuit in an electrical connector literally exploded, knocking out critical fuel sensors in a plane.
Wiring problems like this occur more often than we think. According to the experts...
Ed Yeates, Science Specialist: "TEN TO TWENTY MILES OF WIRE RUN THROUGH SOME OF THE LARGER AIRCRAFT, AND AT ANY GIVEN TIME, ONE TO THREE BREAKS COULD OCCUR EVERY THOUSAND FEET IN SOME OF THE OLDER PLANES."
The military has sent bundles of burned-out aircraft wires to Utah State University.
Electrical engineer Cynthia Furse and her students have developed a sensor which might prevent failures like those
which probably brought down TWA Flight 800 and Swissair 111. More than 450 people died in those two crashes.
The USU prototype is now ready to be miniaturized. Small units like this could be placed at
strategic locations inside an aircraft's electrical wiring.
In the cockpit, the sensors could simply give a pilot a go or no go signal - or a more detailed readout of all the plane's electrical system.
On the ground, the same readout could quickly guide the mechanic to a location - even among those wires hidden out of sight.
Cynthia Furse/USU Engineering Research: "AND IT WOULD HAVE A SPECIFIC MARK ON IT, LIKE A RED POINT SAYING THIS IS WHERE THE PROBLEM IS AND THIS IS WHAT THE PROBLEM IS."
Even frayed insulation would show up.
The red line here identifies this wire with broken insulation, long before a short circuit occurs.
Eventually sensors could become part of what are called "smart" planes where a central processor
on board takes the information, decides what to do, and then does it automatically.
"THE AIRPLANE ITSELF WOULD INTELLIGENTLY SAY, 'ONE OF MY WIRES IS GOING BAD,' AND SWITCH THE CIRCUIT SO IT IS NO LONGER USING THAT WIRE AND PREVENT THE PROBLEMS BEFORE THEY OCCUR."
The military plans to test the USU sensors in what is called an ironbird test plane later this year.
The USU research team is also looking at wiring used in NASA spacecraft.
