HBM UK, the data acquisition and measurement specialist, has been awarded a contract to supply the data acquisition and analysis system for the new Airbus A340-600 wing-testing facility.
HBM UK, the data acquisition and measurement specialist, has been awarded a contract to supply the data acquisition and analysis system for the new Airbus A340-600 wing-testing facility.
The contract was awarded by BAe Systems Airbus UK who design and manufacture all wings for the Airbus family of aircraft.
The contract involves the supply of MGCplus data acquisition modules and HBM's proprietary Computer Aided Test Management (CATMAN) software.
The installation will be capable of monitoring and recording data from more than 1,000 separate strain gauge channels located at critical structural points around full-scale aircraft wings.
The system will monitor the mechanical behaviour of the wing as it is subjected to various loading conditions by hydraulic rams.
The new facility is under construction at the BAe Systems Airbus UK site in Filton, Bristol and is due for completion in early 2001.
The A340-600 is scheduled to enter service in 2002.
Despite increased levels of computer simulation new aircraft designs must still be physically tested to destruction before going into production.
This creates a sizeable demand for signal conditioning and data acquisition equipment for aeronautical testing facilities.
"On a global level there are usually about 10 large equipment contracts each year in this sector.
We are hoping that this success will lead us onto larger Airbus contracts like the new, double-decker A3XX," says Mike Johnson, Sales and Marketing Manager at HBM UK.
HBM's equipment for this market provides signal conditioning, data acquisition and storage in one unit.
Data is stored on board while an Ethernet connection to a powerful CATMAN measurement data server PC provides RAID storage backup, on-line processing and data distribution to seven separate PCs used by the stress engineers.
