This content is not included in
your SAE MOBILUS subscription, or you are not logged in.
Fundamentals in Wire Selection and Sizing for Aerospace Applications
- Aerospace Standard
- AIR6540A
- Revised
Downloadable datasets available
Annotation ability available
Sector:
Issuing Committee:
Language:
English
Scope
The scope of this report is to capture fundamental principles of selecting a wire size for an aerospace application using the method prescribed in the AS50881 standard and additional calculations, not found in AS50881, to ensure the wire selection will adequately perform in the specific physical and environment conditions.
This report covers wire selection and sizing as part of the electrical wire interconnection systems (EWIS) used in aerospace vehicles. Aerospace vehicles include manned and unmanned airplanes, helicopters, lighter-than-air vehicles, missiles, and external pods. This document does not apply to wiring inside of airborne electronic equipment but shall apply to wiring externally attached to such equipment.
Wire selection must consider physical and environmental factors to size wires such that they have sufficient mechanical strength, do not exceed allowable voltage drop levels, are protected by materials or circuit protection devices, and meet circuit current carrying requirements. For electrical power feeders and distribution, or EWIS applications, other information and environmental and installation limitations are also needed to adequately evaluate and select the correct wire size for a specific application and meet design requirements.
The report presents only fundamental principles and guidelines and cannot adequately cover all aspects and complexities associated with wire selection and sizing. Some of the calculations in this report have been simplified to demonstrate the process for validating a wire size selection for a design application. More precise calculations should be investigated and evaluated to ensure proper assessment of each individual calculation in this report.
Rationale
The revisions of this document incorporate the reference of Table 3 in AS50881 Wiring Aerospace Vehicle Rev G standard. The first paragraph in 3.1.1 was deleted to not conflict with the minimum wire sizing statement in AS50881 Rev G paragraph 3.8.8.
Recommended Content
| Aerospace Standard | Managing Higher Voltages in Aerospace Electrical Systems |
| Technical Paper | Rules for Automating Failure Modes and Effects Analysis of Electrical Connectors and Wiring |
Topic
Data Sets - Support Documents
| Title | Description | Download |
|---|---|---|
| Unnamed Dataset 1 | ||
| Unnamed Dataset 2 | ||
| Table 1 | Current carrying capacity comparison in amperes | |
| Table 2 | Calculated data comparison with listed wire ratings from AS50881 Table 1 | |
| Table 3 | Extracted data from Table 1 in AS50881 (blue triangle in ) | |
| Table 4 | Expanded wire data table | |
| Unnamed Dataset 7 | ||
| Unnamed Dataset 8 |
Issuing Committee
The scope of the AE-7 Aerospace Electrical Power and Equipment Committee is dedicated to developing standards and specifications relative to the generation and control, storage, conversion, distribution, load management and utilization of electric power for aerospace vehicles. The Committee also provides a forum for gathering and disseminating electrical power and technical equipment information between users and suppliers.
Reference
| Number | Title |
|---|
* Redlines comparisons are available for those standards
listed in the Revision History that contain a radio button. A
redline comparison of the current version against a revision is
accomplished by selecting the radio button next to the standard and
then selecting 'compare'. At this time, Redline versions only exist
for some AMS standards. SAE will continue to add redline versioning
with ongoing updates to SAE MOBILUS.