Multistress characterization of insulation aging mechanisms in aerospace electric actuators

The concept behind the More Electric Aircraft (MEA) is the progressive electrification of on-board actuators and services. It is a way to reduce or eliminate the dependence on hydraulic, mechanical and the bleed air/pneumatic systems and pursue efficiency, reliability and maintainability. This paper presents a review of the main stress factors affecting the lifespan of insulation materials in aerospace applications. A special test bed is also proposed, to assess insulation lifespan modelling under various stress conditions, especially investigating the interaction between ageing factors. The test bed will allow to characterize insulation degradation under variable ambient and power supply parameters for simple models such as twisted pairs, up to coil form and complete machine operated at rated load. The proposed approach is based on the design of experiments (DOE). The results of the work that will be carried out will allow to identify the most influential factors affecting insulation lifetime and the interactions between them.