SE101 Aircraft Design – Advanced Circuit Protection
SE101 Aircraft Design – Advanced Circuit Protection
Status: COMPLETED
Background
This safety enhancement provides for the development and installation of advanced circuit protection and arc fault breaker technology in commercial airplanes - new type designs, current production, and retrofit.
Related Implementation Plan
Related Outputs
The airframe manufacturers associated with the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) have develop and implement advanced circuit design and arc fault location systems on new type designs as the systems become technologically and economically feasible. As these systems mature and are made available for retrofit, these aircraft manufacturers will outfit current production aircraft as needed.
Following the completion of this SE, CAST approved the following actions:
- Monitor Arc Fault Circuit Breaker (AFCB) implementation on military airplanes as a means of determining false trip rates;
- Monitor the occurrences of arcing events for any increase in rate or event severity;
- Encourage consideration of AFCBs in new installations of galleys, in-seat power, in-flight entertainment, and cargo bay lighting;
- Support continued industry development of distance-to-fault (DTF) detection algorithms; and
- Support continued development of AFCBs with level A software qualification within the industry to increase applicability.
