The lightweight, multipurpose single-engine helicopter AS 350 B3+ was developed in the 1970s by French manufacturer Aerospatiale and still enjoys great popularity today. It is used worldwide for a wide variety of missions and particularly comes into its own during challenging tasks in high mountains. On April 29th, 2010, for example, Daniel Aufdenblatten (a pilot for Air Zermatt) and Richard Lehner (a mountain rescuer for Alpin Center Zermatt) successfully rescued three alpinists from an altitude of 7,000 m in the Annapurna region of Nepal. This was the highest ever mountain rescue using a helicopter.

An impressive documentary from National Geographic 

In episode #4 of the National Geographic “Made In A Day” series, Airbus Helicopter provides insight into how the H-125 is manufactured at their production and completion facility in Columbus, Mississippi, USA.

Laselec, a Komax company, is very pleased and proud to be featured at the 2:10 mark with its Laselec Ulys Modena laser wire marker, equipped with multispool dereeler, automatic feeding system and stacker unit.

Wire harnesses are defined in the video as the “nervous system” of the aircraft, with an emphasis on the importance of wire and cable laser marking in their processes.

Laselec developed the world’s first solid state laser wire marker for Airbus Helicopter in Marignane, France in 1989. Aerospatiale’s Helicopter Division (now Airbus Helicopters) was looking for a non-aggressive wire marking solution for a customer that had offshore activities. In those days, cables were identified by hot stamping, which damages the insulation and therefore increases the risk of electrical failure in a saline environment. Laselec’s founding team developed the first laser wire marker within 7 months, in partnership with BM Industrie, an Electro-Optic systems manufacturer.

Partnerships and collaborations have grown since then, with wire processing equipment present in most of the worldwide locations.

Imagine:

200 to 600 kilometers of wires are laid in a single civilian aircraft, connecting elements that are crucial to safe flight operations. In a helicopter, up to 20 kilometers of wires are used, while there are 2 to 5 kilometers of wire in a car. 

The best alternative to conventional inkjet marking

Identification numbers allow the wires to be clearly identified and traced. Specifically, the wire ID is used to identify individual wires throughout the product life cycle, from manufacturing to product testing and long-term product maintenance. If operational failures or other warranty claims occur, the unique code allows a specific assembly to be traced back to the original manufacturer, along with its test record.

UV laser marking provides a safe (non-aggressive), permanent and high-contrast identification mark on all cables guaranteed “UV-markable” by cable manufacturers, such as single or multi-wire jacketed twisted cables with PTFE (Teflon®), FEP (Teflon®), ETFE (Tefzel®) or XL-ETFE (Tefzel®) coatings. Unlike inkjet printing, laser marking leaves an unalterable mark, preventing any cable identification problems.

The ULYS Modena range enables you to optimize your production, thanks to the many exclusive features offered by Laselec. The productivity gain made possible by the ULYS Modena is not only a result of high marking speed, but also of production optimization for both hardware and software.

For more information, visit the Laselec website

Airbus in the USA