With the aim of creating a window shade system that is more reliable than current offerings, JBRND’s new product has a belt drive system that eliminates the need for strings.
The SyncDrive electric shade system has withstood more than a million test cycles so far without failure. The system can be adjusted to customer requirements without removal from the aircraft, thanks to a USB port on the controller. This year the company has also added a RS485 controller to eliminate power, bonding and grounding issues that can occur when controlling shades locally in carbon-fiber composite airframes.
“We didn’t just spontaneously decide we were going to get into the windows market,” said Ed Harris, vice president of sales at JBRND. “The technology for aircraft window shade systems has been either completely stagnant and maintenance heavy, or problematically space-age and cost-prohibitive. We wanted to provide a high-quality, extremely low-maintenance middle ground. This is exactly the kind of innovation everyone has been hoping for, and you can put it in any aircraft. As a result, window orders at JBRND are coming in really fast.”
JBRND opened its windows department two years ago, and has delivered windows for two B787s, a B777, a BBJ1, a M17 helicopter, 10 Beechjet 400s and an A318. “Currently, we’re working on a Chinese ARJ 21, two Boeing 787s and a Boeing 777-300,” said Harris. “We have just tested and pre-fitted our Challenger 650 window in a testbed aircraft. If orders keep up like this, we’re going to need another building, and maybe another campus altogether.”
September 28, 2017
