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Friday, July 19, 2013

Temperature Rising With The Humidity

Boeing has long preached that higher humidity with plastic construction will make for a pleasant journey with 6,000 feet of air pressure in the cabin. Could this very same higher humidity with condensation in the Honeywell locator beacon contribute to a causal shorting in the beacon device with its electronics? An interesting concept because this opens up multiple questions relating to condensation issues in a higher humidity environment on pressurized cabins. I cannot speculate on the scenario for the recent fire on the Ethiopian  787.  It is though a question needing answering to all its customers. Are all electronics and electrical systems protected with higher humidity found in cities like London or Seattle? I am sure Boeing has addressed this many times, but what if a supplier like Honeywell overlooked what could happen if droplets of water form inside the Locator casement and leads to an electrical shorting and subsequent fire. A possibility that should be answered in the lab test for this device. The greater question is how many systems are vulnerable, whether its a third party components or pieces in an electronic environment stitched together with multiple or various manufactured parts from third parties?  I am sure Boeing has an answer for that with its due diligence in its engineering of the 787. However, it would be important for Boeing to do a piece by piece evaluation of each of its electrically driven systems and find if condensation or higher humidity can find its way in to short out that functionality.

You know condensation in London, is a multi billion dollar industry for garment makers. Eight hours at Heathrow is like two hours in my swimming pool playing with my non battery driven rubber ducks. Heat and humidity makes for strange bedfellows. Apply heat followed by an eight hour rest in humid London makes one sing, "Rain drops keep falling on my head", A very conceivable condition that will not occur down in the Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia..



Notations on relative Humidity.


Hot air holds more water than cool air. 100% relative humidity at 90 degrees drips off your face just sitting or sleeping. If that same saturated air cools down in a high humidity environment like London, Poof,  it turns into a rain shower drowning the electronics as it releases water, because air cannot hold as much water at a lower temperature, hence shorting out stuff and causing a fire. Engineers have known this for years and have balanced this occurrence for the lower humidity aircraft when making devices. Did Honeywell build its device to accommodate Boeing's higher 787 humidity threshold aircraft?

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