Looks like a portside ventral wing root fairing.

Could that 'sensor' holds any stored information or secrets internally? Perhaps, how it came to be hanging in there, of importance...

The simple fact that 'skin' parts and possibly further appendages are still floating about in the great ocean could however, be of some considerable importance.

Re: Will Fraser (3721)
I doubt that an IMU would be fitted to a wing fairing. Could it be part of an Ariane booster?

During the search wreckage moved northwards. Georgetown is approx 1600 NM NW of Last Rept Psn.

regards,
HN39

Has anyone calculated the likely ocean drift of the piece? Is that distance possible?

It's not part of the wing

Looks like they found a SX43030

Sensorex

A fairing is not part of the wing, that is correct. It also could be a cousin, the fairing under the Horizontal Stabilizer. From its shape and the contour of the "leading edge" negative, it too could have been oriented as above.
If near the HS, it could be associated with the "trimmable" Horizontal Stabilizer piece found as described by BEA. The "cutout" (negative) in the Aluminum is hard to judge, but I do believe it was near an airfoil.

Booster??
 

Will FraserYou're not even close

Could anyone please explain the signifigance of finding this IMU.
How it can help in the investigation?????

ttcse:

So far you've written that "it's not part of the wing" and "you're not even close". So, pray tell, what do YOU think it is?

HazelNuts39

I would locate an IMU where the motion is least susceptible to "trim".
The wing, when it moves, as it is located nearer the cg, is more likely to be an actual rather than a trimmable, movement. Less susceptible to transient, higher value accelerations as well. Just guessing.

The piece might fit around the VS also. That would make it part of the Fuselage.

rgbrock1It's not part of a flight surface nor a fairing. It's part of the fuselage. I 'think' it's part of the forward fuselage.

That's my call from simply looking at the photo. If you read some of the text there are further 'clues' that supports my observation.

IRUs location on the A330 ?
 

If the big debris is a part of the fuselage, where are the IRUs located exactly ? An avionic bay below the cockpit ?
Jeff

Quick or not, regarding QF72, there was nothing to be done as long as the protections were in control ...

IMU vs IRU
 

First post after finding this thread about 150 or so pages ago, so be gentle.

From everything I've read here and other sources, the IR part of the ADIRUs only rely on gyros -- and do not include accelerometers -- whereas IMUs use both. Also from what I've read, it appears that for the ADIRU the gyros are contained within the IR part of the box in the avionics bay, not externally (and there really is no reason for them to be).

So, as this has not yet been confirmed as part of AF 447 I have to go with HazelNuts' suggestion and for now assume it might be a part of an Ariane (there just happened to be a launch that included two boosters on July 1st).

jimbeetle:

So, as this has not yet been confirmed as part of AF 447 I have to go with HazelNuts' suggestion and for now assume it might be a part of an Ariane (there just happened to be a launch that included two boosters on July 1st).


The only thing I would question about this is: how many Ariane launches
have occured in the area? And why, until now, have no other discarded parts of this vessel ever wound up on a beach in Guyana?

Ariane 5 booster ?
 

HazelNuts & ThermalSniffer may be right, these model of IMU could be a part of the Ariane 5 boosters upper stage: Centrales inertielles - Sensorex - Capteur de déplacement, enregistreur de choc, électronique, micro électronique, conditionneur de signal, sécurité intrinsèque, inclinomètre, accéléromètre, gyromètre
Jeff
Correction: it seems that there are no IMU in the Ariane boosters, only in the equipment bay of the main stage that goes to orbit with the payload.

Keeping an open mind, of course, but authorities who have seen the debris call it 447. White outside, etc. The lamination of foam and two layers of Al is almost assuredly AB, and since the IMU was attached to the panel, well, there is a problem.

Accelerometers are found on AB, else there would be no aerodynamic load protections?

Seems a no brainer to me. Who ever knows, if the A320 has an IMU, where is it installed. Surely this would not be a difficult question to put to bed.