Electro-Mechanical Actuators for the More Electric Aircraft (Fault diagnosis and condition monitoring of aircraft electro-mechanical actuators)

This chapter presents a selection of fault diagnosis problems related to airborne Electro-Mechanical Actuators (EMAs). First, the chapter presents the motivations underlying the R&D efforts dedicated to fault diagnosis in the aerospace sector. Then, several real-world applications for flight EMAs are presented and discussed, with reference to both the research and industry sectors. Specifically, the attention is focused on: (i) the European FP7 HOLMES project, dealing with fault detection of secondary flight control actuators; (ii) the European H2020 REPRISE project, aimed at condition monitoring of primary flight control actuators; (iii) fault detection and fault prognosis of primary flight control actuators for unmanned aerial vehicles. Finally, solutions to the presented monitoring problems are provided by applying techniques that range from model-based to signal-based and knowledge-based fault diagnosis approaches.