Method for Estimation of Electrical Wiring Interconnection Systems in Preliminary Aircraft Design

The aim of this paper is to present an original methodology for Electrical Wiring Interconnection System (EWIS) mass estimation at an early stage of aircraft design. More than 100 km of EWIS are installed on a modern civil aircraft with a mass of several tons. The aircraft manufacturers are increasing the primary generation voltage to reduce the system mass. The proposed algorithms are sensitive to the prominent EWIS design parameters such as voltage level, cable material, system architecture (distributed or centralized) and electrification degree of aircraft on-board systems. The equations assess the impact of these parameters on the EWIS mass, which is a useful feature during trade-off analysis in aircraft conceptual and preliminary design. The methodology and the necessary data to define the algorithms are reported together with a case study to validate the equations presented.