Maintenance

Putting designs on power supplies Today’s avionics and ground-vehicle electronics designers voice common concerns about power supplies, including the need to reduce weight, improve both efficiency and reliability, and hot-swap ability and load sharing. Read full story

Battelle developing robot to maintain the inside of aircraft fuel tanks Several years ago, U.S. Air Force maintenance technicians at Tinker Air Force Base discovered that an additive designed to remove water from traditional JP8 jet fuel was unexpectedly causing paint to peel off the inside of B-52 fuel tanks. The main concern was that the paint chips could clog the fuel filter and cause an engine flameout. Read full story

Tail docking system safely cuts costs Elaborate rollout ceremonies are expected for new airplanes, but in the world of engineering and manufacturing, a stylish event built up around an engineering support structure is a rarity. This pattern was broken when engineering firm Semmco staged a ceremony to introduce its tail docking system at London’s Heathrow Airport in the maintenance hangar of U.K. operator bmi. Read full story

Process changes unchain depots Multitasking is often considered a good business practice, but some Air Force repair depots in France and the U.S. found that focusing on tasks in what's called a critical chain shortened their turnaround times. Changing business processes brought big benefits, including 30-40% reductions in repair times. Read full story