Integrated Electric Actuator Application to Flight Control Technology

This report summarizes the work accomplished during SBIR AF98-175, Integrated Electric Actuator Application to Flight Control Technology. ETREMA Products, Incorporated refers to this program as the VulkanTM IEA program or as the TEA. The development of an IEA is key to achieving lighter, simpler, more reliable, and more cost-effective vehicle control systems. Phase I focused on modeling to demonstrate the feasibility of the IEA to produce sufficient fluid flow at sufficient pressure to perform work. TERFENOL-D transducers drove a piston, an inlet poppet valve, and an outlet poppet valve. Predicted fluid output power peaked at 632 watts 0.85 hp. Active valve controllability is a significant challenge.