Report 52-6-06 Electric Flap Actuator - Prior Art

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PRECISION MAGNETIC BEARING SYSTEMS, INC.

25 Walker Way, Suite 2A, Albany, NY 12205 Tel: 518-218-0477 Fax: 518-218-0866
E-Mail: rao@premag.com Web: www.premag.com

ELECTRIC FLAP ACTUATOR CONFIGURATIONS

BY DANTAM RAO PRECISION MAGNETIC BEARING SYSTEMS INC., ALBANY, NY.

REPORT NO. 52-6-06

STARTED 8-1-06 ENDED 9-3-06 rev date Description

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ABSTRACT The goal of this paper is to document the prior art of flap actuators. The scope includes linear force actuators and torque actuators. It describes various configurations of the force or torque actuators. It assesses their advantages and limitations and ranks them. A brief summary of failure modes of both force and torque actuators and lessons learned is included. Major specifications of a torque actuator planned by the Navy are summarized. Next paper will deal with description and advantages of PreMag's geared actuator configuration. Lockheed believes that current LEFAS actuator is satisfactory. However, government believes (from recent tests) that the long high speed shaft used in LEFAS is its Achille's heel and is flawed. It wants to develop Rotary Gear Transmission that uses only motors and gear train to eliminates the high speed shaft as well as servovalue and hydraulic drive unit.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4 2 EMA .................................................................................................................................................7 3 EHAS ................................................................................................................................................8 4 LEFAS ..............................................................................................................................................8 5 RGA TORQUE ACTUATOR......................................................................................................11 5.1 BACKGROUND.............................................................................................................................11 5.2 RGA TORQUE ACTUATOR...........................................................................................................12 5.3 LOW CHANCE FOR PH II..............................................................................................................12 6 RANKING ACTUATORS ...........................................................................................................12 6.1 EMA........................................................................................................................................13 6.2 LEFAS........................................................................................................................................13 6.3 RANKING THE ACTUATORS............................................................................................................13 7 CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14

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1 INTRODUCTION
All military aircraft have several control surfaces which are rotated to stabilize it when flying. Ones on the wing are called flaps, while those on the tail are called rudders. Fig. 1 shows F-18A aircraft and its flaps. The flap are the hinged parts of the wing used to increase lift at reduced airspeeds . The specific flap that is attached to the leading edge of the wing is called the leading edge flap; the aircraft has two leading edge flaps, one on each wing. (that attached to the trailing edge is called the trailing edge flap , but this is not the focus of this report). In all military aircraft flaps rotate during extreme manevours continuously and rapidly to adjust lift loads. That is why they are called maneuvering flaps, meaning they are always moving always. (In commercial aircraft they are mostly stationary, and move only during landing and takeoff). The performance of all military aircraft relies heavily on the ability of these actuators to rotate the flaps rapidly and precisely under the command of the pilot.
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Figure 1. F-18A Aircraft Leading Edge Flap Actuators. Actuator is device that applies linear force or rotary torque to the flap to rotate it over a limited angle against wind load, and provide the needed lift. The force is applied to a lever, while the
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Quest for Performance,The Evolution of Modern Aircraft, http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-468/ch10-5.htm/ Sometimes the part on the leading edge is called a slat, while the part on the trailing edge is called a flap, see http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K12/airplane/flap.html 3 Flap Actuator Maket is shared by Lucas [30%], Liebherr [25%], Curtis-Wright [25%], Moog [20%] and Dowty [10%], see

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torque is applied to a hinge. They are called force actuator or torque actuator respectively. They are located within the belly of the wing section. Moog appears to be the monopoly and sole-source supplier for all flap actuators in all military aircraft and most commercial aircraft. Another firm in Israel and Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, Trivendrum are reportedly developing Electro Hydraulic Actuators. Fast airplanes require small, thin wings to achieve eye-popping speeds far beyond Mach 2. The thickness of the wing however is limited by the diameter of the actuator (smaller the actuator, thinner is the wing, higher is the aircraft speed). About 20 years back the flap actuators used to be 20 cm (7.87 in) in diameter - hence wings used to be thicker than 20 cm, so aircraft used to have limited speed. Recent developments enabled actuator diameter to be reduced to 15 cm (5.8 in), enabling thinner wings and hence faster aircraft such as JSF. The goal of this project to reduce the actuator diameter further down to 10 cm (4 in), thereby. achieving higher speeds. Fig. 2 shows the leading edge flap drive systems in F/A-18; it is actuated by servo hydraulic actuators. Current wing flaps have hydraulic fluid temperatures limits of 250 degrees and air within the wing can be as hot at 100 C.They are however, very heavy, bulky, complicated, difficult to maintain and leak-prone . Once a hydraulic line leaks, it could lead to loss of expensive plane. As a result, multiple hydraulic circuits are used to maintain high degree of reliability, increasing the weight further.
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Over past 20years Air Force built few experimental aircraft that used electric power to actuate the flaps. It essentailly uses electric power instead of hydraulic power to rotate the flight control surfaces. The schemes asre are called Power By Wire schemes. Most of them incorporate electric motors to generate linear force. Power by Wire concept was originated in Air Force Research Lab, Dayton OH in
early 1990's.

It is widely recognized that PBW actuation is the next major breakthrough in aircraft control. Just as the fly-by-wire flight control system eliminated the need for mechanical interfaces, power-bywire actuators can eliminate hydraulic systems. Control power comes directly from the aircraft electrical system instead of via hydraulics. This can reduce the weight of aircraft, size of actuator, and maintenance cost . It can improve safety, efficiency, reliability and maintainability. Removing hydraulic systems would greatly reduce the amount of support equipment and personnel required to maintain and operate.
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Government studies indicate that this new approach could deliver up to a 5% reduction in procurement costs, 3% in lower life-cycle costs, and a 6% decrease in gross takeoff weight. The emergency and secondary power system is much simpler and cleaner if you go with the electric approach, enabling a much smaller and simpler airplane. This can reduce aircraft weight by as much as 700 lb because weight is taken out of the hydraulic system, out of the secondary power system, out of the thermal management system . Because it is not generating as much heat, it also
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M.I.T., Aircraft Systems Engineering, http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Aeronautics-and-Astronautics/16-885JFall-2004/1ABA501E-4F31-4EEEAEEB-123274492635/0/flight_controls_1.pdf 5 Ford, T., Actuation systems development, J. Aircraft Engg and Aerosp.Tech. Aug 1998, Vol. 70, No. 4, pp. 265 - 270 6 Navy Electrical Power and the Future: http://www.nap.edu/html/tech_21st/t8.htm 7 "Power by Wire", Avionics Magazine, May 1, 2001.

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simplifies maintenance on the aircraft. Going to an electrical distribution and electrical actuation system simplifies the power and thermal management systems, leading to significant savings. PBW actuators are more efficient than their hydraulic counterparts8. A hydraulic system in F-16 may generate ~ 3000 watts of heat at all times, regardless of whether flaps are lifted or not. In contrast, in the PBW approach, actuators consume power only when flaps are activated, and even then they generate ~ 500 watts of heat. With the PWB if you are not actuating, you do not generate heat, and you dont have to dissipate it. As a result, we dont have to provide a secondary and emergency sources for cooling. This saves weight of thermal management system making the aircraft smaller, lighter and cheaper. At present, three types of actuators EMA, EHAS, LEFAS - are used to drive the flaps and other control surfaces in military aircraft. All of them use 3-phase PM motors. An experimental F-18A used EMA to drive flaps it uses two motors that drive a single ball screw through a differential gear; it eliminates oil pump and leak-prone oil lines. Some F-35s use EHAS to drive rudders it uses a motor to drive an oil pump that drives hydraulic pistons; it eliminates leak-prone oil lines. The F18A Lefas, uses an electric motor to pump a hydraulic motor which spins a geared transmission; . In F-35 Lefas , a motor drives a shaft with transmission, eliminating oil pumps, hydraulic motor and oil lines. Recently PreMag proposed to Lockheed to embed motor and transmission into one single unit; this eliminates failure prone shaft in addition to oil pumps and oil lines.
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A force actuator can use an electric motor in two ways. In one called Electro Hydro Static Actuator (EHA), the motor drives an oil pump and oil pressure drives a hydraulic cylinder. In another called Electro Mechanical Actuator (EMA), the motor drives a gear train which then drives a ball screw that reciprocates. They are shown in Fig. 1.

Jensen et al., Flight test experience with an electromechanical actuator on the F-18 systems research aircraft, 19th Digital Avionics Systems Conf., Oct. 7-13, 2000, Philadelphia, PA 9 Jenssen, S.C., et al., Fight test experience with an electromechanical actuator on the F-18 systems research aircraft, 10 Phillips, E. H., Big step for F-35A, Aviation Week & Space Technology , Jan. 9, 2006, p. 44-45. 11 Curtiss-Wright, http://www.cwcontrols.com/pdf/pressrelease20061219.pdf 12 PreMag, Geared Motor Actuator configuration for Leading Edge Flap of JSF aircraft, report no. 0001AC-1, Mar. 2007.

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Figure 2. Prior Art Force Actuator Concepts.

2 EMA
EMA consists of 2 small motors, a gear train and a ball screw ram. The motor drives the gear train which drives a ball screw as shown in Fig. 1b and 2. NASA has flown it in a military aircraft with this EMA. It claims that, compared to an EHA, the EMA is lighter, smaller, and less complex because of the absence of an internal hydraulic system. EMA's motor is made by MPC Products, Skokie, IL, inverter is made by Dynamics Controls Inc., Dayton, OH and the Controller is made by British Aerospace in Johnson City, NY. The motor appears to Figure 3. EMA Force Actuator built for Air Force

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overheat, and it appears that effort to transfer the heat from motor to aircraft skin failed . It appears that EMA technology was not chosen for the JSF by Lockheed or the Government. The reason for its disfavor inspite of extensive test experience is not known.
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3 EHAS
In EHAs the motor drives an oil pump. EHAS uses high speed reversible variable pressure (3000 psi) pumps pump self-contained hydraulic fluid to a piston. This drives the ram in the same fashion as a standard hydraulic actuator (Figure 1(a)). The motors need high bandwidth or fast response time. For example JSF uses force actuators called EHAS (ElectroHydrostatic Actuation System) to deflect tail rudders and trailing edge flaps. Lockheed integrated the 6 EHAS actuators built by Moog and Perkins Hannifin, CA with motors, control electronics Figure 4. EHAS Actuator on Test Bed and software made by Hamilton Sundstrand. Fig. 3 shows the EHAS on a test bed. The EHAS weigh 770 lb to 865 lb per Trimboli, Director of JSF Vehicle Systems, Lockeed Aeronautics, Dallas .
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4 LEFAS
The Leading Edge Flap Actuation System (LEFAS) rotates the leading edge flap. The hardware is broken into a mechanical part and electrical part. Fig. 2 shows the mechanical part. It consists of a drive unit, a long shaft and two gear reducers, a torque limiter and a power off brake (stop module). The drive unit spins a 20 ft long slender shaft (called torque tube) at a high speed of 3000 rpm to power two gear reducers (called inboard transmission and outboard transmission, or Rotary Gear Actuators, RGAs) The transmissions convert low torque high speed shaft motion into high torque low speed flap motion.

In F-18A, the LEFAS used a hydraulic motor to power the torque tube. This consisted of an electric pump motor that drive servovalves which drive a rotary Hydraulic Drive Unit In F-35 or JSF, they replaced the hydraulic motor with a big electric motor, thereby eliminating high pressure hydraulic lines. The drive is powered by a power source and controller. The power source consists of a triple redundant 270 Vdc electrical system with 2 generators, a battery. The controller consists of a power conversion system and a control system. They eliminate the ball screw, and use only motor and gearbox. The EHAS and LEFAS eliminate hydraulic lines running throughout the plane. They do not eliminate hydraulic oil completely however. It does reduce weight, complexity and risk of battle damage. These actuators weigh more than flight control systems used in legacy fighters such as the F-15 per an article in Aerospace Weekly.
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Oscillating heat pipe for actuator cooling, http://www.pr.afrl.af.mil/mar/1999/oct1999.pdf#search=%22EMA%22 Ramsey, J. W., Power by Wire, Avionics, May 2001, http://www.avionicsmagazine.com 15 Phillips, E. H., Big step for F-35A, Aviation Week & Space Technology , Jan. 9, 2006, p. 44-45.

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LEFAS however is heavy and failure-prone. In JSF , the flap is 20 ft long. LEFAS that drives this long flap contains a single variable speed hydraulic drive unit (HDU) and 2 gear transmissions, all produced by Moog, Curtiss-Wright and Parker. The HDU drives a long high speed shaft (3000 rpm, 20 ft).
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Figure 5. LEFAS relies on a 20ft long and slender torque tube. Figure 5 shows the general layout of the LEFAS. It consists of HDU with torque bar, inboard transmission, torque limiter and stop module, pillow bloc, universal joint, output transmission and control unit. Hydraulic Drive Unit HDU, driven by a servovalve spins a 20 ft long torque tube at high speed. This goes through two sets of gear trains called inboard and outboard transmissions. This shaft drives 3 transmissions, called RGA. Each RGA is 1.5 ft long and is made of 4 or more slices. Each slice houses independent planetary gear train set. Each planetary gear slice reduces speed from 3000 rpm to 5 rpm and has its hinges rotate the flap at slow speed. The diameter of the 3 RGAS steps down from 5.8, 4.2, 2.5 as one travels from root to tip. The inboard transmission has 5 "nodes" that attach to the wing; inner node are made of 2 tabs, while outer most hinge has only one tab, 7 total. It also has 4 " hinges"; each hinge is made of 2 tabs, each tab has 2 eyes. The hinges rotate the flap. The outboard transmission has 8 "nodes" made of 14 tabs to attach to wing, and 7 "hinges" made of 14 tabs to rotate the flap. The connection in the middle is a universal joint allowing the wing to fold. Each of the hinge attaches to each wing rib and flap part of the rib. Each of the transmissions converts high speed low torque from torque tube to low speed high torque that moves the leading edge flap. Figure 5 shows the Lefas system for FA18 air craft. From this, one can see that the entire LEFAS
In JSF (F-35) Curtiss-Wright supplies Leading Edge Flap Rotary Geared Actuators and Torque Tubes. These are Developed in partnership with Moog Inc.,(the LEFAS Integrator), these mechanisms position the leading edge flaps during take-off, landing and during flight to provide additional lift for maneuverability and reduced take-off and landing speeds. See http://www.cwcontrols.com/pdf/pressrelease20061219.pdf
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is system has at least 20 parts, is surprisingly very complex and expensive.

Figure 6. LEFAS flight actuator system for FA18 (From Moog)

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5 RGA TORQUE ACTUATOR

5.1 BACKGROUND

Figure 7 Goal is to replace the HDU, transmission and brake with a Geared Motor Actuator. Figure 8 depicts the parts that are to be replaced in Phase I. These include the drive unit (whether hydraulic or electric), inboard transmission with 4 slices, the torque tube and stop module. This transmission consists of 4 gear reducers or slices. Each slice has a stationary tab pair (that fixes its house to the wing) and a moving tab pair (that attach it to the hinge on the leading edge flap). Current Lefas slices rely on compound differential planetary gear set; they employ a torque limiter and brakes to prevent the system from self-damage; these fail-safe features ensure that the flap will not spin uncontrolled should a component fail or rupture. In LEFAS the shaft is 20 ft long and can spin up to 3000 rpm at full no load rate. It is like a long propeller shaft that connects all transmissions. The rotor dyanmics of the flimsy shaft is complex and could yield several resonant failure modes. A full wing may have as many as 5 transmissions on each wing. The diameter of each transmission set gets smaller as one moves from wing root to wing tip because the wing gets thinner.

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5.2 RGA TORQUE ACTUATOR Rotary Gear Actuator (RGA) essentially uses electric motor and gear train to drive the flap. It will have no high speed shaft, no servovalve, no hydraulic motor or ball screw. The intent is to replace all parts shown in Figure 5. This eliminates the troublesome high speed shaft and Servovalve and Hydraulic Drive Unit as well as inboard transmission. In its place will be one RGA. RGA will consist of 4 slices. Each slice is made of an electric motor and gear train, and drives one hinge joint of the flap. The motors and gear trains are housed in one unit while the controller is housed in a separate unit. In Phase I, only one slice, i.e., geared motor that drives one hinge joint of the transmission will be considered. Notionally, one motor per hinge or one motor for all four-hinges are possible configurations. The intent is to allow redundant operation if one of the motors fails. The motor design should be scalable down to the smaller outboard rotary transmission also. More details of the inboard rotary transmission is shown in Figure 4. 5.3 LOW CHANCE FOR PH II In Phase II, we propose to perform detailed design of the complete actuator system and fabricate a prototype. Phase II detailed design will address what to do with the heat produced. In this phase we will design the cooling system to minimize the hot spot temperatures. We will work with the government and prime contractor to develop thermal management strategies that will transfer the heat into identified heat sink (viz., surrounding cabin air or wing structure or to outside ambient air). We will use multiple paths, extended surfaces and high thermal conductivity materials to siphon the heat in this process. It will also address detail control design and integration. It will also address detail failure modes and redundancy operations. In phase II we will test the performance of components in the laboratory, and will ship the tested prototype to the JSF aircraft builder (Lockheed Aeronautics) for testing in his Vehicle Systems Integration Facility. Navy will however rely on the advice of Lockheed to go into Ph II. To get Ph II money, we have to pass through 4 hoops. First, Lockheed has to verify and concur that PreMag's torque actuator configuration is lighter than current LEFAS design (or it has other performance advantages). Second, Lockheed thinks that the current electrohydraulic LEFAS "works", and sees no reason to change from it, so it has no incentive to support the fundamental premise that Lefas design is faulty. Third, Lockheed does not believe that there is a motor so small that it will fit in the space and generate the huge torque. Fourth, Lockheeds current plans for LRIP from 2008 will be completely disrupted if it were to admit that lefas is defective and embark on plan for redesign. In short, Lockheed and Moog has all the incentives to actively oppose any funding of further research, and they will lose heavily if it supports this research direction. Governments has good intent is to support development, but without Lockheeds blessing it cannot move into Ph II. As such chances for funding Phase II appear to be low.

6 RANKING ACTUATORS

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6.1 EMA NASA has extensively tested the EMA and determined that it equals the performance of traditional hydraulic actuators it replaces. However it found that it overheats when the aircraft deploys flaps over extended period of time (as long as 7 minutes) and the motor applies torque against steady load all time to keep the flap in position. During this time small correction loads are applied by motor (as commanded by the FCC) which increases the overheating.

6.2 LEFAS With an eye on F-35A first flight, Lockheed is conducting a risk reduction program for EHAS hardware and software in its Vehicle Systems Integration Facility. A full set of actuators are undergoing tests since Oct. 2005. In addition, the facility will be expanded to test EHAShas components on F-35B, which is scheduled for first flight in 2007. The part suppliers Moog and Parker are testing them in their labs. The JSF and F/A-18, flap actuators have significant physics concerns. Currently the torque tube is designed to spin upto 3000 rpm, and spans over 20 ft. In a recent F/A-18 lab test a simulated external air load was put on the wing and the torque tube was setup to fail. The torque tube when it failed sped from 0 rpm to 8000 rpm in 30 milliseconds. Navy calls that a kinetic runaway meaning that the problem of stopping and braking the flap becomes very difficult. The high speed shaft contains so much energy that is difficult to absorb when it fails. As a result, Navy believes that a configuration that employs a long high speed shaft poses serious reliability issues. If this shaft were to fail during an air-combat, the pilot will lose the ability to move the flap, which will mean loss of control of aircraft, and loss of plane and pilot. As a result Navy wants to get away from this high speed torque tube configuration. A second problem is how to you test the braking system to show that it works, when you need it. Finally, the LEF is not pulled at 8,000 flight hours, it is run until it fails and stops. In our gear motor JSF application each RGA must have a braking system. Fortunately, the innovative gear motors are not high speed and should have simpler braking solutions.

6.3 RANKING THE ACTUATORS The actuators can be ranked by reduction in weight of aircraft, increased aircraft speed potential, power reduction, size reduction, torque density, life cycle cost reduction, elimination of complex hydraulics, savings in maintenance costs etc. The majority of aircraft currently use hydraulic actuators, which are deemed to be leak prone and inefficient, but offer high torque density. Replacing them by power by wire actuators will elimiate the leakage potential. Within the PWB actuators, the EMA actuator does not use any high pressure oil, hence is less leak prone. EHA contains high pressure oil, and is deemed to be leak-prone. The torqueactuator in LEFAS uses hydraulic motors and a long high speed shaft which appears to be a major weakness and unreliable. LEFAS appears to offer the smallest diameter and hence potentially increase

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the aircraft speed. The planned RGA, which uses only electric motor and gear train, appear to eliminate hydraulic drive and servo valve and hence could potentially save significant weight and space.

7 CONCLUSION
In this paper we have reviewed various configurations of the Power By Wire actuators used to rotate the control surfaces of military aircraft. We have identified 4 configurations Electrostatic Hydraulic Actuator (EHA), Electro Mechanical Actuator (EMA) Leading Edge Flap Actuator (LEFAS) Rotary Gear Actuator (RGA).

EHA and EMA are force actuators. LEFAS and RGA are torque actuators. EHA uses oil pump motor and linear hydraulics. EMA uses geared motor driving a ball screw. LEFAS used oil pump motor and rotary hydraulic drive, a long high speed shaft and gear trains and is the most complex. RGA uses electric motors and gear train and has fewest parts. Development of RGA forms the subject matter of the Ph I study effort. We presented specifications of RGA for a notional aircraft. Lockheed believes that current LEFAS actuator works satisfactorily. However, government believes (from recent tests) that the long high speed shaft used in LEFAS is its major weakness. It wants to develop RGA which will eliminate it.

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