Roles of Power Distribution System Tests in Final Assembly of a Military Derivative Airplane

Document Number: 2009-01-3121

Date Published: November 2009

Author(s):
Kongkun Hemmaplardh - Boeing Co.
Kenneth M. Milburn - Boeing Co.
Kevin K. Chang - Boeing Co.
Ludwig S. Donaty - Aviation Consulting Services
Timothy W. Matthews - Boeing Co.

Abstract:
The Boeing Company has a series of contracts for military derivatives of the commercial airliners airframe. This paper discusses one of the derivatives. In order to be compliant with the US government regulations for this type of work and protect intellectual property rights of the designs of our suppliers, we refer to this airplane by a generic name, the multi-mission airplane (MX). Even though there are many similarities between the commercial and military versions, there are also significant differences that have required manufacturing process changes to meet this airplane Programs requirement.

To achieve these Program requirements, the military derivative airplanes are planned to be produced utilizing a streamlined manufacturing process, not only to improve cost and schedule performance, but to lay the foundation for successful first pass completion of system functional tests after factory rollout.

This first pass completion goal will be realized by validating the interconnection of each wire during final assembly, and testing of basic systems functionalities. Achieving this goal is imperative as there is a dramatic increase in the number and complexity of wire bundles installed to support new systems equipment.

Pin-to-pin connectivity wire validation is accomplished by conducting a series of factory functional tests (FFT) designed to verify the accuracy of each airplane power wire bundle-equipment interface and by testing basic system functionalities. These MX FFT procedures are variants of the commercial airliners FFT but are similarly effective and efficient.

The first two MX test airplanes have completed the production line FFT process. Issues encountered during testing have been analyzed and resulted in "lessons learned" that are being applied to the installation and test process of subsequent MX airplanes.

The lessons learned related to FFT of MX power distribution system are discussed in generic terms as required to remain within non-proprietary confines and where not prohibited by US export laws and regulations, including those of International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the US Export Administration Regulations (EAR).

This paper discusses: 1) the expanded coverage of the basic auto-mated power-on generation system test, 2) the role of an expanded manual wire continuity test, 3) salient features of the power distribution tests, and 4) keys to potentially make the power distribution FFT smooth and successful at first attempt.

Item 4 consists of lessons learned and is a key focus of this paper. The discussion is intended to benefit electrical power engineering groups. Lessons learned are therefore viewed from the vantage point of an electrical power engineering team.

File Size: 127K
Product Status: In Stock

See other papers presented at SAE 2009 AeroTech Congress & Exhibition, November 2009, Seattle, WA, USA, Session: Power Systems - Power Management & Distribution

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