Automatic Flattening of Three-dimensional Wiring Harnesses for Manufacturing

There is a significant increase in volume and complexity of electrical wiring in today’s aircraft programs. This is illustrated by comparing the total wire length of the Airbus A380 (530 km [1]) with the Airbus A340 (300 km [2]) and the Boeing 747-400 (274 km [3]). The increase in volume is caused by the introduction of new electrical systems and the replacement of pneumatic and hydraulic systems by electric systems [4]. According to Sussman’s complexity classification [5], the aircraft wiring system is structurally complex. This is because of its many different components with their interrelationships and dependency on other aircraft systems. The level of wiring system complexity is expected to increase further, because of the stricter regulatory requirements on reliability and redundancy from one hand, and the growing customers demand on flexibility of the electrical system configuration from the other. The complexity of wiring system development led to a 1-year delay of the Airbus A380 [1, 2] program.