Overview
The FLIGHT-EMA project will design, develop, manufacture, tune and validate an innovative and smart Electro-Mechanical Flight Control system primary Actuator focused towards the study and validation of a future oil less Power by Wire aircraft. FLIGHT-EMA actuator will be based on a modular and efficient approach that will integrate easily exchangeable electric and mechanical components with sensors and control strategies that will allow automatic and autonomous safety control.
The FLIGHT-EMA Electro-Mechanical Actuator will include its dedicated Electronic Control Unit, a Built In Test equipment to detect potential failures and a disable device to guarantee compatibility with emergency actuation. Different configurations will be studied and evaluated to determine the optimum system architecture from a technical point of view. Volume, mass, electrical consumption, power to mass ratio, reliability, durability and safety are concepts that will drive the development.
The FLIGHT-EMA system will be tested and validated at several stages: Virtual validation at model level and finally actual experimental validations of the complete system through both on-ground and in-flight test campaigns. These sequential and complementary validations will assure thus a reliable, safe and efficient performance of the prototype and will provide data for a deep concept evaluation.
For this validation purpose, the FLIGHT-EMA project will also design, manufacture and tune a Test Rig for FLIGHT-EMA Electro-Mechanical Actuator validation. FLIGHT-EMA Test Rig will allow installation both in Copper Bird® and in the ATR (Avions de Transport Regional) passenger cabin. The test bench will also include its own control system, inertia load simulation of the Rudder flight control surface involved weight and counter-load actuator with its hydraulic and electric power supply systems.
Funding
Results
Executive Summary:
The FLIGHT-EMA project objectives were the design, development, manufacturing, tuning and validation of an innovative and smart Electro-Mechanical Flight Control system primary Actuator focused towards the study and validation of a future oil less Power by Wire aircraft. FLIGHT-EMA actuator has been based on a modular and efficient approach that has integrated easily exchangeable electric and mechanical components with sensors and control strategies that allow automatic and autonomous safety control. The FLIGHT-EMA Electro-Mechanical Actuator has included its dedicated Electronic Control Unit, a Built In Test equipment to detect potential failures and a disable device to guarantee compatibility with emergency actuation. Different configurations have been studied and evaluated to determine the optimum system architecture from a technical point of view. Volume, mass, electrical consumption, power to mass ratio, reliability, durability and safety are concepts that have driven the development.
The FLIGHT-EMA system has been tested and validated at several stages: Virtual validation at model level and finally actual experimental validations of the complete system through both on-ground and in-flight test campaigns. These sequential and complementary validations assured thus a reliable, safe and efficient performance of the prototype and have provided data for a deep concept evaluation. For this validation purpose, the FLIGHT-EMA project also included the design, manufacture and tune of two test rigs: the On-Ground Test Bench and In-Flight Test Bench. FLIGHT-EMA Test Rig has allowed installation both in Copper Bird® and in the ATR prototype aircraft (Avions de Transport Regional) passenger cabin. The On-Ground test bench also included its own control system and counter-load actuator with its hydraulic and electric power supply systems.