Cabin power specialist Astronics is putting an empahsis on sustainability, including in its recently disclosed new company logo.
Astronics revealed a new logo couple of weeks ago, featuring a leaf alongside the slogan “greener skies, brighter future,” which the company says better reflects ongoing progress towards more sustainable solutions.
“Sustainability is in everything we do,” highlights Dennis Markert, director of business development at Astronics.
One example of this is the EmPower Ultralite G2 personal electronic device power system, something which is being regularly updated to incorporate upgraded technology.
He says the previous generation’s power supply unit – which is about twice the size and offering 87% efficiency –has since been upgraded to 94% efficiency, offering a dramatic rise in power-to-volume density with an output of 800W.
Although engineers were tasked with removing approximately 20-25% of weight, the resulting reduction was more like 40%. Additionally, the increase in efficiency creates 50 less thermal energy, therefore requiring less cooling.
Astronics is now making further modifications to the system, although cautions that further incremental improvements may take as much energy as the previous 7% took. “You can’t change the laws of physics,” jokes Markert, who adds that the next iteration would nevertheless be “even more innovative”.
Across the global market, Astronics sees increased demand for 110 volt socket and USB C combinations within the business class cabin, with the former still very popular in Asia. “Consumers expect what they see on the ground and in the air,” says Markett, adding that the uptake rate on the EmPower Ultralite G2 system remains “phenomenal”.
