FIRST STEP TOWARDS A ROBUST VIBRATION-BASED CONDITION MONITORING ALGORITHM FOR ELECTRO-MECHANICAL FLIGHT CONTROL ACTUATORS

Abstract

An approach in more electric aircraft to achieve a higher cost benefit, resulting from the reduction of weight and maintenance effort, is the total electrification of the primary flight control system by the application of electro-mechanical actuators (EMAs). As these aircraft systems are designed as fail-operational, failures of a single system have to be unlikely. However, EMA have a significant risk to jam that can be mostly traced back to failures of mechanical components. Regular inspections and scheduled maintenance are generally well-established practices to prevent failures. However, unpredictable failures results in unscheduled maintenace activities that causes high costs. Therefore, the future perspective focusses on on-condition maintenance. The main contribution of this paper is to present an algorithm that detects bearing faults early, by using a vibration-based condition monitoring method. It shows a diagnosis automation concept, the principle of its implementation and the validation result. It proposes an application for flight control EMAs aiming to replace regular inspection activities and to improve maintenance planning.