Design and Preliminary Performance Assessment of a PHM System for Electromechanical Flight Control Actuators

Abstract

The evolution toward “more electric” aircraft has seen a decisive push in the last decade due to growing environmental concerns and the development of new market segments (flying taxis). Such a push has involved both the propulsion components and the aircraft systems, with the latter seeing a progressive trend in replacing traditional solutions based on hydraulic power with electrical or electromechanical devices. Flight Control Systems (FCSs) are one of the aircraft systems affected the most since the adoption of Electromechanical Actuators (EMAs) would provide several advantages over traditional electrohydraulic or mechanical solutions, but their application is still limited due to their sensitivity to certain single points of failure that can lead to mechanical jams. The development of an effective and reliable Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) system for EMAs could help in mitigating the risk of a sudden critical failure by properly recognizing and tracking the ongoing fault and anticipating its evolution, thus boosting the acceptance of EMAs as the primary flight-control actuators in commercial aircraft. The paper is focused on the results of the preliminary activities performed within the CleanSky 2/Astib research program, dedicated to the definition of the iron bird of a new regional-transport aircraft able to provide some prognostic capabilities and act as a technological demonstrator for new PHM strategies for EMAs employed in-flight control systems. The paper is organized as follows. At first, a proper introduction to the research program is provided, along with a brief description of the employed approach. Hence the simulation models adopted for the study are presented and used to build synthetic databases to inform the definition of the PHM algorithm. The prognostic framework is then presented, and a preliminary assessment of its expected performance is discussed.