Aircraft Maintenance Technology - 32

TECH SPOTL IGHT

Breakthrough Sealing Technology with the Smart Washer
JPB Système, a manufacturer of self-locking devices for
the aerospace and aeronautical industry, has received a
proof-of-concept for its Smart Washer, a disruptive sealing
technology designed to improve efficiencies within
maintenance, repair and operations by enabling
touchless and wireless measurement of bolt axial
load. The solution will improve safety by providing more accurate measurements while reducing
wear caused by the need to manually check each
fastener is tightened sufficiently.
Smart Washer performs the fundamental role of
a standard washer, but uses intelligent connectivity
to provide maintenance and service engineers with
a clear picture of axial loads. This has been achieved
by incorporating a proprietary strain gauge, as well
as a transmission system into the washer, which via
an accompanying app, combine to wirelessly relay
information on smart devices such as tablets and
smartphones.
The washer is expected to significantly increase
the efficiency of assembly and maintenance by reducing
the need to manually check the torque level of every single
traditional bolt. Instead, in just a few seconds engineers can

Analog - Pneumatic Bleed Pressure
Analog - APU Turbine Discharge Pressure
Analog - Anti-Icing Supply Pressure
Analog - Low-frequency Vibration
Analog - String POT - Position Measurement
Analog - Strain Gauge - Structural Loading
PT100 RTD - PACK Temperature
PT100 RTD - Pneumatic Bleed Temperature
PT100 RTD - Anti-Icing Supply Temperature
PT100 RTD - Tail Compartment Temperature
Discrete - GND/OPEN
Discrete - Weight on Wheels Signal (WOW)
Discrete - Tachometer Measurement and Counting

ARINC-429 - Engine Parameters
ARINC-429 - Air Data Parameters
ARINC-429 - Flight Parameters

ARINC-429 - ACARS System

might show that the suspect component is
reaching the end of its life but still passes
bench or shop testing.
Modern aircraft must monitor a huge
amount of parameters, as many as 24,000
parameters. Combine that with the

32

MARCH 2020	

be quickly alerted to those specific fasteners that are either
too tight or too loose and attend to them accordingly. The
accompanying mobile app will ensure overall management
by enabling the real-time monitoring and full
traceability of each Smart Washer unit.
"Smart is currently in Beta-testing at one
of our customer production plants, and once
the product is finalized, the next step will be
to design and
produce it in all the
appropriate bolt
sizes," explained
Beaumel. "This
will facilitate
its adoption
for various
applications in an
array of different
production
environments."
The Smart Washer is expected to be commercially
available in Q3 of 2020.

condition from which
exceedances and trends
that would other w ise
remain unidentified can be
algorithmically calculated.
Identifying these trends
BCU KAD/BCU/140 - ETH controller
enables maintenance and
8
operation practices to
U1 KAD/ADC/136 - (8ch) - flex analog
16
become proactive.
U2 KAD/ADC/113 - (16ch) - temperature
The purpose of the air24
U3 KAD/DSI/102 - (24ch) - flex discrete
craft's
sensors is to show
24
U4 KAD/ABM/103 - (24ch) - A429 in
that the onboard systems
U5 KAD/MAT/101 - (ARM9) - processing
are performing correctly
Parameter
and to keep them performU6 KAD/ARI/002 - (1ch) - A429 out
Conversion
& Processing
ing as designed. As a system
ages, and a failing component starts to degrade it,
there may not be sufficient
data to pinpoint which
component is causing the
aircraft's operational data and a single
problem and why.
flight can generate Terabytes of data. The
The opportunity for improving aircraft
problem is aircraft today are data rich and
maintenance and reducing costs is to colinformation poor. Collecting data is typilect the right type of data to determine
cally not difficult, but data itself is useless.
why some of the systems onboard an airThe challenge is to establish a "normal"
craft are unreliable. It's not enough for the

AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY
Aircraft Maintenance Technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Aircraft Maintenance Technology
