Pilots confronting smoke and burning odor (SBO), a frequent reason for aircraft diversions, gain a decision-making advantage if electric cooling fans can be ruled out as the source, a U.S. manufacturer of cooling fan monitors has concluded. The advantage derives from vibration-sensing technology introduced about eight years ago to automatically detect symptoms of incipient fan failure and shut down the fan to prevent an SBO event in the first place, says Joseph Barclay, president and CEO of IWS Predictive Technologies.
Measuring temperature — the long-established method of protecting fans from a variety of hazardous conditions — has not proved effective in detecting the worn, rough, inadequately lubricated or “dry” fan impeller bearings responsible for a high proportion of all SBO events reported by airlines, Barclay said. His company basically adds a new type of predictive sensor that supplements conventional means of protecting the fans with thermal sensor–relay switches e…
