New aircraft carriers lighting uses composites 15 April 2013

BVT Surface Fleet Solutions, which is building two of the world's largest aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy, has specified Spelsberg's polycarbonate Abox junction boxes, instead of traditional metal.

The two carriers will each require 40,000 tonnes of steel and will weigh approximately 65,000 tonnes. Their power stations will generate 110MW and more than 1.5 million metres of cable will be used across each carrier.

Once at sea, the ship's engineers will have limited access to spares, so it's important that all components are capable of surviving the harsh maritime environment – meaning tough and protected against salt water ingress.

"Because this is a military spec project, it might be expected that only metal junction boxes would be considered for the application," comments Chris Lloyd, general manager for Spelsberg UK.

"However, when we first spoke to the ship builders it quickly became clear that a tough, polycarbonate solution would be more suitable. Not only are metal enclosures more likely to corrode, they are also prone to denting during collisions. And with heavy military equipment passing through narrow corridors, collisions are almost guaranteed."

Another consideration is weight saving, he says. While it might seem odd to worry about the weight of a junction box on a 65,000 tonne aircraft carrier, the ship builders are very aware that combined weight savings over all onboard components result in real performance improvements.

Spelsberg UK is the largest supplier of non-metallic enclosures ex stock in the UK and offers customisation and assembly on most equipment. It was able to recommend its polycarbonate, IP65 Abox enclosure and, by supplying them assembled (including terminals) was able to help the ship builder reduce on-site installation time.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to be completed in 2016, while HMS Prince of Wales should be ready in 2018.

Brian Tinham

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