A Hand-Held, Non-Contact Wire Stripper

Mechanical wire stripping is completed on a daily basis throughout the military to support modifications or repairs to electrical equipment. In some cases, the ends of conductors need to be stripped, but the most challenging wire stripping occurs when a section of wire must be stripped that is within a wiring harness in a flight-line application. Unfortunately, there are several problems with the current mechanical wire stripping approach, including significant tooling needed to support the large number and types of conductors, the use of improper or unapproved tools, and poor control of the process. These problems are manifested in damaged conductors, incomplete insulation removal, and a considerable increase in man-hours for modifications. Creare’s innovation is a novel Non-Contact Stripper (NCS) that is comprised of a compact head, which completes the wire stripping, and a backpack, which contains the support equipment. Our NCS combines the benefits of non-contact wire stripping with the convenience of a hand-held device. During the Phase I project, we will demonstrate the feasibility of our approach by fabricating and testing a proof-of-concept NCS at Creare. During Phase II, we will design, fabricate, and test a full NCS prototype.