A potential study of prognostic-based maintenance for primary flight control electro-mechanical actuators

Abstract

The operating costs of civilian aircraft are crucial to air carriers. These costs currently offset more than 95% of their revenues, and maintenance represents around 10-20% of these operating costs. Thus, minimizing unscheduled maintenance is an important cost saving opportunity. Currently, primary flight actuators are based on electro-hydraulic technologies, and they are maintained by scheduled operational tests in accordance with the Maintenance Steering Group-3 (MSG-3) process. This paper discusses the potential of utilizing Prognostic-Based Maintenance (PrM) to minimize unscheduled maintenance of primary flight control actuators. Two perspectives will be considered: the MSG-3 based maintenance program and electro-mechanical actuation (EMA) - EMA is a promising technology for actuation in future aircraft. PrM and some of MSG-3 maintenance tasks have similar features that may be used to implement new PrM applications. Further, the EMA perspective involves a case study of a PrM system dedicated to monitoring the rolling contact fatigue of an EMA ball bearing. The PrM potential for aircraft systems has been investigated in numerous studies on the system level; however, practical utilization necessitates more focus on the component level related to specific failure modes.