Well, 150KIAS isn’t slow by all means. And I think it will just ice up at some point. But perhaps last long enough to get below the ice? With an installation near the echaust one could utilize some of the dissipating energy though to keep it ice-free.
We discussed this item also at another topic, these are good!, Far better than the vacuum drive alternators which don’t do anything. They are good quality as well. At first I wasn’t so sure about this, as the electronics are quite exposed, no problems seen with these.
People have used the Basic Aircraft units for years as the primary electrical generators on aircraft without engine driven units.
BAE. Hmm, their predecessor was called BAC, and didn’t they design such a device for the Concorde?
A little late to be called spin-off, but better late than never 
Would one really want to invest money into this and add complexity and maintenance issues? What is the real added safety over a properly functioning battery that will ensure you get down safely?
It is a plan B. We cannot have too many of those, but proper installation is critical. Whether it is worth the cost/hassle/weight penalty is for each individual to decide.
We cannot have too many of those…
I don’t know. This thing introduces extra cabling, relay, circuit breaker, release mechanism, who know what else. All these are prone to fail in a device that is not regularly used.
As already written, plan B is a good battery which is already on board. This would be plan C. I can think of easier and less expensive ones like a handheld radio for example.
The location on the aircraft is critical, the Airbus A320 has a RAT to supply blue system hydraulic power and essential electrical power but because of the airflow disruption to the RAT when the landing gear is deployed it also has an essential shed bus……that presumably supplies only the most essential essental electrics !
The Concorde had a HY RAT to supply hydraulic power, it was deployed by an explosive charge ( some guy in the stores system had to hold a firearms cerificate to keep these explosive squibs ! ). To test the unit on the aircraft a hydraulic motor was bolted to the back of the RAT and the unit spun over, the noise even when ear defenders were worn can only be discribed as incredible.
the noise even when ear defenders were worn can only be discribed as incredible.
Didn’t that go for any sound Concorde made? Mind you, the most beautiful roar ever!
As for the RAT. I think once again this comes down to your kind of ops. If you often fly over remote areas and/or water, than this is probably a good plan C to have, as the battery won’t last long enough and the range of your handheld (you do keep it charged, do you?) isn’t great enough. In central Europe, perhaps not so much.
I think this all comes down to what you need to protect against, a simple electrical alternator failure can usualy be contained by finding some VMC and using the battery power carefully.
This RAT would be a great help in taking the heat out of that situation and sustain the essental electrics.
The major snag is when one gets a bus bar failure, the only likely action is to de-power the bus before a fire starts, the handheld radio with a long life battery pack an independent attitude source are going to be your only option short of having the RAT connected to an essental bus bar that is protected from the main bus bar.
As plan B I am intending to split the radio bus and have NAV/COM/GPS # 1 put onto a protected radio bus extension that can be powered directly from the battery. This is going to be billed as a Clearance Switch to get one GTN650 running without powering the rest of the aircraft to allow loading of flight plans and calling the tower for start up but it would also keep the GTN running in the event of a main bus bar failure.
Plan C is the battery powered attitude indicator, compass and handheld NAV/ILS/COM/GPS with an external antenna and if avalable just a little help from military radar with a PAR to keep the workload down.
This plan works for most of Europe but if I was flying in places like Alaska the RAT would be on my shopping list.
