A Survey of eVTOL Aircraft and AAM Operation Hazards

Thompson, Ellis L.; Taye, Abenezer G.; Guo, Wei; Wei, Peng; Quinones, Marcos; Ahmed, Ibrahim; Biswas, Gautam; Quattrociocchi, Jesse; Carr, Steven; Topcu, Ufuk; Jones, James C. Peyton; Brittain, Marc

doi:10.2514/6.2022-3539

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 15 publications

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“…For taking advantage of these benefits, eVTOL aircraft, which are a subset of AEA, extensively utilize EMAs not only for flight controls but also for Lift-Thrust Units (LTUs), tilting mechanisms, and landing gears. Consequently, any kind of malfunction of the EMAs could become a safety-critical issue for this type of aircraft, and it ranks as one of the most prevalent degradation scenarios [8,9]. As state-of-the-art actuation technology, the greatest challenges in the development of EMA stem from the need for advanced fault-tolerant designs, redundancy management of intricate electronics, and efficient evaluation methods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Decentralized Voting and Monitoring Flight Control Actuation System for eVTOL Aircraft

He,

Holzapfel,

Bröcker

et al. 2024

Aerospace

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The emergence of eVTOL (electrical Vertical Takeoff and Landing) aircraft necessitates the development of safe and efficient systems to meet stringent certification and operational requirements. The primary state-of-the-art technology for flight control actuation in eVTOL aircraft is electro-mechanical actuators (EMAs), which heavily rely on multiple redundancies of critical components to achieve fault tolerance. However, challenges persist in terms of insufficient reliability, immaturity, and a lack of a measurable evaluation method. This research addresses these issues by elucidating the design requirements for EMAs in eVTOL aircraft and proposing a systematic design and evaluation approach for EMA architecture. A key enhancement involves the incorporation of decentralized voting and monitoring (VoDeMo) mechanisms within the Electronic Control Units (ECUs) to improve the overall safety of the EMA. The paper introduces an innovative triple-dual redundant architecture for aircraft control effectors, comprising three dissimilar lanes of ECUs and two similar redundant parallel channels of power electronics and motors. The design is synergistically supported by a comprehensive evaluation that incorporates quantifiable Model-Based Safety Assessment (MBSA), utilizing both physical simulation and logical safety models. Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) tests are conducted on a constructed prototype to validate the proposed architecture.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%