MGL to the rescue ?
the power bus of aircraft is 28VDC
If you are prepared to wait a little while, MGL is currently preparing a very low cost electronic circuit breaker system (comparable in cost to mechanical circuit breakers).
The module is very compact and provides up to 8 circuit breakers using the latest in automotive electronic high side power switching technology for maximum possible robustness and high current flows.
Each breaker can supply up to 15A but breakers can be combined as needed for higher currents (up to 4 breakers can give you 60A sustained with 120A short term load depending on how you setup the trip speed).
Up to 4 modules can be daisy-chained if more breakers are required (which means a total of 32 breakers).
In order to provide maximum flexibility, you can choose indication and switches yourself. You need a simple low current, single pole toggle switch per breaker (or combination) (could be push-pull or toggle as you prefer). You then need one bi-color LED (red/green) per circuit breaker either built into the switch or seperate, again as you prefer. The LED shows either "Breaker off", "Breaker tripped" or "Breaker on".
Owing to the flexibility allowed here, it becomes possible to fit comprehensive circuit breaking interfaces using very little panel real-estate. Wiring is also eased considerably as it is no longer required to route high current conductors to the panel, just a few thin low current conductors are needed now.
While this system can be connected to our EFIS systems, it can also operate fully stand-alone and in this case uses one of our Velocity singles (3.1/8") or Inifinity singles (2.1/4") as interface to provide setup (current trip limits etc) and status monitoring (display of breaker states and current flowing through each breaker).
Please note that this is not a replacement or intended as a replacement for a VPX system. The VPX system has a completely different set of functions and circuit breaking is only part of it. The MGL system is intended to provide a low cost solution to electronic circuit breaking only and provides DO160 compliance for 28V systems.
Rainier
CEO MGL Avionics
