Work Package 1:This WP was led by University of Manchester and focused on the development of experimental capability suitable for the evaluation of arc tracking hazards in future high voltage aerospace systems. Early findings of the work package summarised the arc tracking test techniques in aerospace environment presented in literature including the details of the nature of electric arcs. A test circuit was designed to test with fault currents of Ipeak ≤ 5 kA with a variable frequency of 500-2000 Hz. The testing work showed that faults in which the arc travels through a larger electrode gap impose a more severe impact on the system safety due to the high energy dissipation. As the arc energy increases, the safety boundaries specified by incident energy calculations need to be increased to implement adequate protection methods for adjacent components. Tests at atmospheric pressure showed that a higher arc power is produced when compared with tests carried out at 0.2 and 0.6 bar. However, it is not clear that the combination of higher power/pressure is necessarily the worst-case scenario in respect to the ability of the arc causing damage.
Work Package 2: This WP was led by University of Strathclyde and was focused on the development of reusable accredited models of an aerospace electrical power system, configured to capture the interactions between arc track events and power system technologies. Work done within this package has informed the dedicated arc models being developed in WP1 by providing anticipated fault durations and power system fault levels before becoming the platform for these arc models to be integrated into. Using extensive modelling and simulation, the team investigated the systems-level impact of the arc tracking faults within future aircraft higher voltage electric power systems and provided recommendations for the improved detection and safe management of these.
Work Package 3: This WP was led by TE and focused on the test of cable materials and cables to evaluate the level of damage that fault currents in the next generation of high voltage aerospace systems could cause. The work sought to characterise the cable samples that will be used for experimental test. Data about the cable construction wee provided to WP2 and small-scale tests of the materials being used in the next generation of cables provided information on parameters such as CTI, permittivity, breakdown voltage.
Work Package 4 (Dissemination and exploitation): As a result of the project, TE is pleased to announce that it has now scaling up a range of cables, both screened and unscreened that provided PDIV values >2kV at 40K ft. The project has also advanced the state of the art in respect of the understanding of arc currents in the next generation of aircraft electrical systems. An open online presentation was organised, titled “Introduction to ARCTRACK” and was attended by over 50 delegates from all over the world. A second workshop was held in March 2021, which was attended by over 15 participants. This workshop presented the results of the entire project (as the timing coincided with the end of delivery of the project timeline). Further dissemination has taken place via SAE and European standards bodies through membership of the committees and through publication at conferences / in journals.
