Hi, how do you estimate the risk of "arcing" for failures in the electrical system ? Would a AC BUS 1 or 2 failure or DC ESS BUS failure be a reason to handle those cases as time critical ?
If not, what means of further system monitoring / veryfication have one got ?
Maybe I just missed the relevant passages in the manuals.
Thank you for sharing your views and experiences !
Uplinker
19th Feb 2016, 07:38
As designed; the bus bars etc will not be prone to 'arcing' if by that you mean short circuits or arcs forming between elements or earth. They generally seem very reliable - I personally have had one serious intermittent connection (in a main generator) in 11 years of flying Airbus.
However, electrical elements can become detached or broken, and then you may well get shorts or arcs or open circuits - in the same way that a hydraulic service might suffer a broken pipe or loose coupling, causing it to lose its fluid.
The electrical failures you mention have no time limits per se, (i.e. no 'LAND ASAP), but they do affect fuel consumption and in some cases, fuel pumps, reducing the fuel you have available. They are complex failures, and a lot of services are lost, so it is only possible to give a general answer.