Aerospace engine test cells represent some of the industry's costliest infrastructure, making test-cell time and setup efficiency critical concerns. A shift toward pylon-mounted data acquisition, rather than instrumentation wired to a separate control room, now allows engine preparation and functional checks to happen in parallel, before the engine occupies the test cell itself, cutting downtime.
Ipetronik has responded to rising channel counts and accuracy demands with the M-THERMO96, a 96-channel thermocouple scanner reportedly used in some of the largest aerospace test facilities. It achieves under 0.3 K accuracy despite rapidly shifting ambient conditions, using a cold junction compensation resistor at each screw terminal, and remains accurate through 20g shocks during blade-off testing. Calibration across a range of -40°C to +85°C generates a three-dimensional calibration field, with individual correction curves stored on-device to counter thermocouple wire variability. Fuel flow verification is handled by the companion M-FLOW unit, which outputs data directly in engineering units.
Data integration uses standard iDDS, IENA or ModBus interfaces, with DAQ modules publishing measurements over Ethernet and PTP (IEEE 1588) maintaining synchronization across distributed channels. For production and overhaul testing, smaller 16- to 32-channel modules such as M-THERMO3, M-SENS3 and M-RTD2 cover thermocouple, RTD and voltage measurements. On flying test beds, the M-THERMO2u tolerates +125°C ambient and enables shorter, lower-noise sensor cabling through its decentralized architecture. Ipetronik indicates the same design principles are being extended to high-voltage and battery temperature monitoring for hybrid and electric propulsion systems.
Source: Aerospace Testing International — read the original article