Numerical methods for the electromagnetic modelling of actuators for primary and secondary flight controls

Prognostics and health management of electromechanical actuators (EMA) must rely on affordable and representative simulation models to be effective in predicting evolution of failures, so to identify them before they occur through the assessment of monitored parameters, leading to on-spot maintenance operations. This paper presents a multi domain model of al EMA, putting special attention on the fidelity of the numerical modelling of the inverter and of the related electromagnetic aspects. Such model permits to simulate the behavior and the types of failure of the electro actuator in a realistic and precise way. The choice of the multi domain simulation is necessary to improve from the simplifying hypotheses that are typically considered in numerical models that are mostly used for prognostic analyses of electro mechanical actuators.