BAE Sytems has developed the industry’s first transportable direct current injection (DCI) rig at their Warton site.

The rig is currently being used on the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft for high-intensity radiated fields testing. The advantage of this rig is that it can be transported to the aircraft, which is much more efficient than transporting an aircraft to the rig. The DCI rig uses concert staging equipment to suspend cables around the aircraft.

Electropak’s involvement with the project was to manufacture perforated aluminium cones, which are attached to the DCI Rig at the nose, wing and tail of the aircraft. Manufacturing the cones involved a  wide range of our engineering services. We were able to water cut the aluminium plate on our Omax water cutter. The adjustable tilt nozzle on our machine meant we could cut a 45° chamfer and reduce machining times. The parts were assembled and welded buy our coded welders before being nickel plated to improve electrical conductivity.

View the rig in more detail in Aerospace Testing International’s online magazine. Simply click on the image below to see the full article:

bae systems dci rig

Image courtesy of Aerospace Testing International