HUCHEZ winches are gaining altitude! HUCHEZ
Used for test flights and installed in the rear of the aircraft, the winch measures the reference pressure (taken from "0") outside the aircraft by means of a tube it drags 60 m to 120 m behind its tail. This tube reports the outside pressure to a pressure sensor (on the winch) by means of a pneumatic rotating collector.
HUCHEZ Ingénierie met all the technological and legal requirements for this specific job, in particular the aircraft-related constraints: weight and size of the winch (passage between seats), impact and crash resistance, etc.
The technological requirements were considerable, as it was necessary to combine the collection of different data: stress on the rope, unwound length and pressure value. Furthermore, the implementation of a mechanical principle (crosswinding) was developed to allow precision and permanent monitoring of rope winding quality.
It took one year to design and build the first winch of this kind. It was a resounding success, since after congratulating HUCHEZ on the technological performance of the winch, AIRBUS requested to purchase another three winches. These three winches were shipped from the HUCHEZ workshops in November and are now operating on the aircraft.
Technical description of the winch:
- Structure: aluminium
- Weight: 165 kg
- Haulage capacity: 150 kg
- Speed: 30 m / min
- Power supply: 115 V (300 Hz to 800 Hz)
- Rope capacity: 140 m with Ø 9.50 mm
- Pressure measurement accuracy: 1 Pa
The winch has the following functions:
- Variable speed drive
- Crosswinding screw
- Pneumatic rotating collector
- Force measurement
- Rope anti-stretch system
- Position measurement (amount of rope released)
- Automatic positioning (height to be reached)
- Normal and maintenance mode (for setting up and adjusting the winch)
- Control via the panel or a computer in the flight deck
- Communication with the AIRBUS integrated data systems
- Hardware and software limit switches
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11 January 2012
