Seeded Failure Testing and Analysis of an Electro-Mechanical Actuator

An accelerated wear test program for an electromechanical actuator (EMA) was funded and conducted by Parker Aerospace and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company. Testing was performed at Dynamic Controls, Inc. The objective of the program was to identify failure pre-cursors that exhibited repeatable trends, and could be used to construct a remaining useful life algorithm with an identifiable confidence level. Selected mechanical components of the actuator were seeded with an abrasive contaminant to achieve accelerated wear. The desired goal was to achieve component wearout in approximately 24 hours, providing acceptable test times with pre-cursor signatures representative of normal wearout. The test facility and approach is described, along with failure criteria and test results. Although the scope of this effort was relatively limited, it revealed some potentially useful wear indicators, along with many areas of difficulty for which further effort is recommended.