Iridium System Retrofit

It took us a long time, but we finally released the service bulletin to allow the Iridium system (Perspective Global Connect) to be installed in existing Perspective equipped Cirrus airplanes. This has been a long requested feature, especially for our European customers as it provides datalink weather.

SB2X-34-27 was a surprisingly complex service bulletin. The process we use to create these service bulletins starts with what we call a kit drawing which is created by Engineering.  The Engineers create this drawing that outlines the steps needed to perform the work, all the parts required, and any special parts that are unique to a retrofit vs. what is done in production.

Because there are a few different airplane avionics equipment configurations, it meant the creation of a pretty detailed 28 page kit drawing that defined the various steps and parts required for these different configurations. It took one of our engineers over two months to research and create this kit drawing.

Once that kit drawing is checked and approved within the engineering department, the technical publications department takes that kit drawing information and creates the service bulletin instructions. Because of the detail required and the multiple possible configurations, this resulted in a 37 page service bulletin. I believe this is the largest service bulletin we have ever done.

Because of the size, it took many weeks to get the instructions written, all the schematics and illustrations created for the first draft. Then it went through a couple of checking cycles to ensure accuracy to the kit drawing.

Before the service bulletin can be released to the field, we like to proof the installation to ensure that all the instructions are correct, and that the manpower requirements are accurate. Because of the multiple configurations, we had to do multiple proofs.

With the proofs completed, we update the service bulletin and/or the kit drawing one last time to ensure accuracy and release the service bulletin internally. We don't release it externally until we have parts available to support orders. Depending on the number and type of parts, this could be right away, or in this case, a few weeks lead time to ensure all the parts were available.

So what appears on the surface to be a relatively easy process of installing another box in the airplane, is actually a very lengthy and detailed process all done to ensure high quality documents, parts, and instructions go to the field.

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MAX Scholarship

Iron Range Engineering (IRE) is a program within Minnesota State University Mankato (MNSU).  Therefore, students at IRE are also students at Mankato and qualify for all privileges and benefits MNSU students are eligible for.  This includes a wide variety of scholarships.  One in particular is the MAX (Mentored Academic Experience) Scholarship. 

This scholarship is funded by the National Science Foundation.  Any students who are in biology, chemistry, computer science, information technology, engineering, physics, or mathematics majors can apply.

The benefits of becoming a MAX scholar are

• ·      $5000 for up to three years
• ·      Students are still eligible for other financial aid programs
• ·      Networking
• ·      Job preparation, resume work shops, and a resume builder
• ·      Promotes professional development and individual growth
• ·      Access to faculty and students in interdisciplinary fields

There are a variety of things expected of the students:

• ·      Attend weekly seminars
• ·      Maintain a 3.0 GPA (need a 2.5 GPA to apply)
• ·      Must be a full time student

A large part of the MAX scholarship is diversity.  To receive the scholarship students must write a one page paper stating how they will add to the diversity of the group.  Special consideration is given to nontraditional students and transfer students. 

To learn more about this scholarship or for information on how to apply visit

http://cset.mnsu.edu/max/criteria.html

By: Kali O'Brien and Katherine Marking

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A beautiful thing

The end of the semester is approaching and with it a number of deadlines. Time is at a premium for us but this is where Iron Range Engineering students shine. Throughout the semester, we push each other to stay on top of the numerous activities that are assigned to us. The amount of work doesn't change as the deadlines materialize at the beginning of December however the midnight oil is burned and a true engineer is born. One that can handle challenges and deliver quality work even when time is short. This ability to overcome obstacles and seemingly climb mountains translates well to the professional world, where deadlines and supervisors loom. The benefits of seeing and experiencing this lessens the learning curve for a graduating student leaving IRE. Therefore, creating a better engineer more quickly than other more traditional schooling. This time of the year and these challenges are creating an opportunity for us to shine and to become better engineers.

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Pressure Sensor Service Bulletin

At long last I am able to announce a service bulletin to significantly improve the reliability of the oil and manifold pressure sensors. This is the last of the "Top 5" reliability items I have been discussing for the last couple of years. I last blogged about this specific topic back in April, and what we discovered during those experiments led directly to the final solution we put into the field. The reason for the long delay is that there was a significant lead time on some of the parts that get installed and/or replaced in the service bulletin and we had to wait until we had sufficient stock.

SB2X-77-04 spells out the replacement of the oil and manifold pressure sensors, the additon of the strain relief parts, and the removal of the baffle connector.

It is important that the pressure sensors get replaced at the time of the service bulletin as the connection has likely already been damaged to some extent, and our testing has showed that not replacing it reduces the effectiveness of the repair.


I am excited to finally being able to offer this solution to the field, and being able to close out the last of the Top 5 issues.

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Upward Bound Event

Recently Iron Range Engineering hosted an upward bound event with some local high school students. At this event we started by asking the students what interested them about engineering. Of the 25 students, only 4 of them had any interest in engineering and 2 more didn't know enough to make a decision; so we had our work cut out for us. The day started out with an introduction to what engineering is and the different types of engineering to show the students that engineering is all around them. After the students got a background of engineering we explained what we do at Iron Range Engineering and how the program is unique compared to other schools. The students toured the facility and were fascinated by some of the different experiments that had been built and also the different projects that each team was working on. To get the students introduced to the different forces a bridge undergoes a quick explanation of Newton's laws, stress, and strain were demonstrated. To make the bridges, a tutorial of AutoCad inventor software was explained so they could start designing their bridges. Although they had a few difficulties, the students were beginning to be creative and have fun. After lunch the students got to test their bridges to see how much weight they could hold. This was very impressive; one group was even able to hold a full 5 gallon bucket of sand with 13 more pounds of hand weights on top. At the end of the day the students showed more interest; about half now were interested in engineering. Events like these are a great exposure to engineering concepts and a great motivation for IRE students to see that their efforts are affecting lives of these students.

Carissa Butterfield and Mike Carlson

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SWIEIT Speakers’ Visit – Ascham Girls High School, 25 October

The SWIEIT Speakers team of Parinaz Bilimoria (BBus/BScIT) and Santi Botross (BEngDipEngPrac- civil/environmental) visited Ascham Girls High School in Edgecliff to speak to the Year 11 cohort about Engineering and IT at UTS. These two female speakers from Engineering and IT shared stories about their curiosity for these fields from a young age, as well as their ongoing interests throughout their university studies.

Parinaz gave an insight into her life as an IT student at UTS, sharing with the girls her exciting personal experiences of studying and working in the field of information technology, including a stint at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and Tourism Australia. Santi demonstrated to the students how everyone has been a part of the engineering and IT world by doing a kinaesthetic activity with the students to give students a broader perspective about these fields.

The Year 11 students at Ascham Girls High finished up the session with many intriguing questions for the speakers and some good laughs. The SWIEIT Speakers team would like to extend a big thank you to Ascham Girls High School for hosting a visit. We hope to see you again in 2013.

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Baffle Gusset

We had some complaints with the #3 cylinder running hot during LOP cruise on SR22T airplanes. This resulted in the owners having to fly at a lower power setting than desired. We did some investigation and found that the airflow was deflecting the baffle in flight which resulted in a loss of cooling air to that cylinder. So we designed a gusset to support the baffle and keep it from deflecting. Service Bulletin SB2X-71-23 installs this gusset and modifies the baffle to accept it.

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