Hamilton Sundstrand has formally inaugurated its Airplane Power System Integration Facility (APSIF) at Rockford, Illinois, which is being used as a key part of the Boeing 787 test and development programme.
The APSIF, which was officially "powered-on" on 14 July, will verify the performance of several major systems for the more-electric aircraft, many of them provided by Hamilton Sundstrand. The company is providing the 787's environmental control system, electric power generation and start system, remote power distribution system, auxiliary power unit (APU), primary power distribution system, high-voltage DC equipment racks, emergency power system, nitrogen generation system and electric pump subsystem.
After starting-up, the APSIF was used to demonstrate the APU and main engine start sequence, before switching over to produce the 1.45MW of power that will be used to drive the aircraft's systems. The events were monitored by engineers at other Boeing and Hamilton Sundstrand sites which are connected to the APSIF via high-speed datalinks.
■ Hamilton Sundstrand's recently acquired Kidde Aerospace & Defense company has been selected by Boeing to supply smoke detectors for the 787 crew rest compartment and lavatories. Kidde, which was earlier awarded contracts to provide fire-suppression and protection systems for the 787's cargo compartments and electronics bays, is to base the system on a variant of its Model 3000 detector device.
■ Honeywell confirms that its enhanced ground proximity warning system, comprising a database containing 108,000 obstacles higher than 200ft (60m), has been selected for the 787 integrated surveillance system.
Source: Flight International
