The FRESH (From Electrical Cabling Plans to Simulation Help) project, funded under the EC measure aimed at funding SMES in the aeronautics industry, may have been completed in 2007 but project partners are still aiming to make further discoveries on electro-magnetics and thermal effects in aircraft.

They hope to do this through the exploitation of technologies delivered under the FRESH programme, which allow the simulation of electrical harnesses as a whole. Used in many kinds of vehicles and machinery, an electrical harness is a string of cables and or wires bound together by a number of means, including clamps, sleeves and tapes. Thus secured, wires and cables are more effectively protected against vibrations, abrasions and moisture, reducing risks of both shorts and electrical fires. Where the industrialisation of an aircraft electrical harness has hitherto required time-consuming manual methods of alteration, the system developed by the FRESH team allows a much more efficient design and customisation process, which could ultimately result in reduced design cost for manufacturers and improvements to in-flight safety.

You can read more stories like this one in the November Issue of European RTD Insight.