Indra Systems had been investigating problems with undercarriage wiring on Spanish Air Force Eurofighter aircraft and contacted Copernicus Technology to find out how Intermittent Fault Detection testing would benefit the investigation.  

Copernicus Technology set up a simple rig on our Mobile Vibration System, pictured on the left, and mounted the wiring harnesses in a representative orientation before carrying out IFD testing of the harnesses using a  VIFD™, whilst applying vibration stimulus at the same time.  The VIFD testing immediately detected a variety of fault types - including intermittents, shorts and high resistances. 

The wiring faults were found straight away, especially when simulated shocks were applied by the Mobile Vibration System and this can be clearly seen in the video below.  Note that all of the problems found using the VIFD had previously been undetected by conventional testing means.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW_2YrAMhsA

The Indra Project Manager responsible for this project continues to be very happy with the VIFD testing, saying:

"It was a nightmare to isolate these NFFs because these issues were detected by the Landing Gear Computer in landing phase of flight, which we could not re-create on the ground during investigation. Using the VIFD and the vibration system it is possible to detect faulty cables and root cause of fault".

Indra continue to carry out testing of this nature on wiring from the Eurofighter's undercarriage system and also on other EWIS components and wiring, using their VIFD equipment.

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