Electromechanical rotary flight-control actuation offering

The Electromechanical actuators is an electromechanical rotary flight-control actuation offering from Honeywell Aerospace with a dual-use market. Honeywell electromechanical actuators for flight controls are electromechanical actuation products from Honeywell Aerospace in which an actuator controller and an electric motor turn commands from the flight control computer into mechanical movement at a control surface or mechanism. They are offered as part of Honeywell's motion controls range, which also covers marine, missile and space actuation, and they replace the hydraulic actuation found on conventional aircraft.

The purpose of this class of actuator is to position flight control surfaces without hydraulic pumps, reservoirs or fluid distribution lines. Removing these items frees space and weight for other systems, which matters for electric and hybrid aircraft and for configurations with thin wings and little room for actuation hardware. Honeywell addresses the markets of advanced air mobility, air transport and regional aircraft, business and general aviation, and defense, and describes particular experience with the size, weight and power constraints of advanced air mobility platforms and all-electric or hybrid aircraft.

The maker describes the architecture rather than listing a single set of ratings. The actuators have a fail-passive architecture, sophisticated motor control, dissimilarity and redundancy, and Honeywell states that the design aims at smaller, lighter and more reliable units with higher power density than typical aerospace-grade actuators. Position sensors report the actual output position, so that if a command of 15 degrees results in a different movement, the flight control computer can detect the difference and correct it. Temperature sensors can reveal excessive heat in the electronic controller, and predictive health monitoring can estimate the remaining useful life of an actuator to plan repair, overhaul or replacement.

Integration is treated at aircraft level. The command chain runs from the side stick through the flight control computer to the actuator controller and the electric motor, and then to the surface. Available electrical power, installation space, flight control integration and certification requirements determine where electromechanical actuation is suitable, so the actuator, control laws and flight control computer are specified together. Honeywell offers the actuation together with its fly-by-wire systems as an integrated surface control package.

On certification, Honeywell states that the designs support the most stringent aircraft certification requirements, and the electrical interface follows from the aircraft electrical architecture chosen by the OEM.

Typical applications are primary and secondary flight control surface actuation on eVTOL and other advanced air mobility aircraft, general and business aviation aircraft, regional and larger transport aircraft, and defense and dual-use platforms.