Design and Simulation of Electro-hydrostatic Actuator with a Built-in Power Regulator

Abstract

The electro-hydrostatic actuator (EHA) is a kind of power-by-wire (PBW) actuator that converts the electrical power into localized hydraulic power for flight control. By removing the central hydraulic power supply together with hydraulic pipes, an EHA's reliability and efficiency are greatly improved but its frequency width and stiffness decreased. To overcome the drawback, this article proposes a novel structure of EHA associated with a power regulator. Composed of a high-pressure accumulator and a proportional valve, it can store and harness the hydraulic power flexibly according to the changing control requirements. The concept of transferred volume is put forward to estimate the capability of the power regulator. The actuator output position can be kept fixed with a hydraulic lock. The compounded control is specially developed to ensure the actuator system to operate in a correct manner. The simulation results indicate that the new-brand actuator results in efficient expanding of the system frequency width with an optimal power supply. © 2009 Chinese Journal of Aeronautics.