Marc Budinger

Estimation models for the preliminary design of electromechanical actuators

This article presents estimation models for the model-based preliminary design of electromechanical actuators. Models are developed to generate all the parameters required by a multi-objective design, from a limited number of input parameters. This is achieved using scaling laws in order to take advantage of their capability to reflect the physical constraints driving the actuator’s component sizing. The proposed approach is illustrated with the major components that are involved in aerospace electromechanical actuator design. The established scaling laws provide the designer with parameters needed for integration into the airframe, power sizing, thermal balance, dynamics, and reliability. The resulting estimation models are validated with industrial data.

Optimal preliminary design of electromechanical actuators

This paper presents a methodology for the optimal preliminary design of electro-mechanical actuators. The main design drivers, design parameters and degrees of freedom that can be used for preliminary design and optimization of electro mechanical actuator are described. The different types of models used for model-based design (estimation, simulation, evaluation and meta-model), and their associations are presented. The process preferred for its effectiveness in terms of flexibility, and computational time is then described and illustrated with the example of a spoiler electromechanical actuator. The proposed approach, based on meta-models obtained using the surfaces response methods and scaling laws models, is used to explore the influence of anchorage points and transmission ratio on the different design constraints and the overall mass of the actuator.

Load allocation problem for optimal design of aircraft electrical power system

More and more electric systems are embedded in today aircraft. As a result, the complexity of electrical power system design is increasing and the need of generic and efficient design methods is today required. Among numerous design tasks, the allocation of electric systems on the busbars of the electrical power system is considered as an important one since it has a direct impact on the aircraft mass. But due to the high number of possible allocations and regarding the large diversity of potential sizing cases for the equipments, finding the optimal allocation of electric loads is a hard task. In this paper, the problem is formalized mathematically. Then, four stochastic optimization methods are assessed on complex load allocation problems. Based on this assessment, a genetic algorithm using niching method is considered as the most appropriate algorithm for solving this aircraft design problem

Sizing optimization of piezoelectric smart structures with meta-modeling techniques for dynamic applications

This article shows an efficient method with a high industrial applicability to design piezoelectric smart structures for dynamic applications. This method allows sizing structures with requirements of dynamic displacements. The first step of this method consists in extracting dynamic reduced models from Finite Element simulations which will enable us to obtain a model for any structure, whatever its complexity, as opposed to analytical modeling methods. These models are computed for a set of design parameters. Then a meta-model, which is a simplified descriptive model of other models, is computed as a surface response model that expresses the design objectives and constraints as a function of the design variables. The combination of the results stemming from the meta-model allows working out the optimal values of the design parameters. The main advantage of the proposed method is to enable the quick design exploration of structures. As an example, the method is applied to a flexible structure whose dynamic displacements need to be controlled in bending and twisting. The theoretical results are validated in the end by experiments.

Hybrid Regional Aircraft: A Comparative Review of New Potentials Enabled by Electric Power

This article assesses the benefits of hybridization within the regional aircraft scale using a conventional twin-turbo propeller aircraft as reference. For a fair comparison, this reference aircraft was designed assuming a 2035 technology level. The propulsion system of the reference aircraft is analyzed along the mission and the phases of flight with low efficiencies are highlighted. Then the potential benefits of new power management through the use of secondary power generation systems but also through the variation of the size of prime movers are presented and discussed. In particular, the effect of the gas turbine size on its efficiency is studied. Finally, the article focuses on aerodynamic improvements enabled by new propeller or fan integrations and the associated concepts such as differential thrust, blown wing and boundary layer ingestion. For each topic, simplified analyses provide estimated potential of energy saving. These results can be used as indicators for selecting the most promising hybrid architecture concepts for a regional aircraft.

Simulation Based Design of Electromechanical Actuators With Modelica

This article deals with a methodology for the computer-aided design of electromechanical actuators. In the frame of the preliminary design, it focuses on the selection and sizing of various components used in the actuator architectures. The addressed design criteria are the mass and reliability for given effort and speed profiles. The developed library of components for the simulation takes advantage of the non-causal and object oriented characteristics of the Modelica language. Thus, the library models can carry out an inverse simulation of the energy flows going from the mechanical load to the power source. Additionally, the number of parameters to be entered by the user has been minimized by the use of scaling laws, which return all the parameters that are necessary for the simulation. At the end of the article, the proposed approach is illustrated with the sizing and comparison of actuator architectures for an aircraft landing gear steering system.© 2009 ASME

Ultrasonic Ice Protection Systems: Analytical and Numerical Models for Architecture Tradeoff

Protection systems against ice conventionally use thermal, pneumatic or electro-thermal solutions. However, they are characterized by high energy consumption. This article focuses on low-consumption electromechanical deicing solutions based on piezoelectric transducers. After a review of the state of the art to identify the main features of electromechanical de-icing devices, piezoelectric transducer-based architectures are studied. Analytical models validated by numerical simulations allow trend studies to be performed which highlight the resonance modes and the ultrasonic frequency ranges that lead to low-consumption, compact ultrasonic deicing devices. Finally, de-icing systems widely studied with bonded ceramics and de-icing systems less usual with Langevin pre-stressed piezoelectric transducers are compared and a Langevin piezoelectric transducer-based device leading to an interesting compromise is tested.

Knowledge-based system for aircraft electrical power system reconfiguration

Aircraft electrical power system (EPS), in charge of supplying power to aircraft electric systems, needs a reconfiguration capability in order to overcome cases of EPS component failures. During the design phase, EPS reconfiguration elicitation is a complex task due to the high number of failure combinations and to the aeronautical operational constraints, which are to be taken into account. Therefore a knowledge-based system is developed in order to help designers for such a task. It is based on the implementation of two different types of rules: mandatory and know-how rules. EPS connectivity is managed by graph-theory algorithms. The knowledge-based system is capable of producing several reconfiguration solutions. The knowledge-based system functioning is illustrated in detail on a simplified EPS. Results on an actual and modern EPS are also presented.

Computer-aided definition of sizing procedures and optimization problems of mechatronic systems

This article is dedicated to the generation of sizing procedures used during the preliminary optimal design of physical parts of mechatronic systems. The knowledge necessary to such design is composed of two layers: mechatronic system layer and component layer. Such knowledge can be represented by algebraic equations directly or by the use of meta-modeling techniques. Constraint networks and graphs theory are used here to represent and order the constraints and the links between those algebraic models in order to obtain a well-posed optimization problem. The selected or developed algorithms are finally illustrated with typical problems of component selection.

Modelling approaches for the simulation-based preliminary design and optimization of electromechanical and hydraulic actuation systems

This communication proposes to combine non causal modeling, metamodeling and scaling laws in order to take advantage of the inverse simulation capabilities of recent system level simulation software with the main target to assess technological alternatives quantitatively from a limited set of required data. The scaling laws are illustrated here for major hydraulic components (hydraulic cylinders and pumps) and are validated with manufacturers’ data. The proposed methodology is illustrated with the preliminary sizing of an electro-hydrostatic actuator driving an aircraft primary flight control surface (aileron). The design exploration for geometrical integration and mass is realized using to surface response models.