Test Set-up for Electromechanical Actuation Systems for Aircraft Flight Control

An Electromechanical Actuation System (EMAS) are an important component for an all electric Aircraft. EMAS would be lighter and require less system maintenance and operational costs than hydraulic actuators, typically used in aircraft systems. Also, hydraulic actuation systems require a constant power load to maintain hydraulic pressure, whereas EMAS only use power when actuation is needed. The technical challenges facing EMAS for aircraft primary flight control includes jam tolerance, thermal management, wide temperature range, high peak electric power draw, regenerative power, installation volume limit for thin wings, etc. This paper focuses on a laboratory test setup to simulate EMAS flight control environment to test and evaluate three important performance parameters of EMAS; thermal management, transient peak power draw, and regenerative power.