Design, Manufacturing and Qualification up to TRL5 of Innovative Electro-Mechanical BRAKE actuation System for SAT Application

Project Information

E-BRAKE

Grant agreement ID: 821079

DOI

10.3030/821079

Project closed

EC signature date 3 October 2018

Start date 1 November 2018

End date 30 June 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 1 463 272,50

EU contribution

€ 1 073 040,75

Coordinated by

MARE ENGINEERING GROUP SPA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - E-BRAKE (Design, Manufacturing and Qualification up to TRL5 of Innovative Electro-Mechanical BRAKE actuation System for SAT Application)

Reporting period: 2021-11-01 to 2022-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The main aim of the project is the realization of an innovative Electro-Mechanical Braking Actuation System for SAT Application, suitable for adoption on small passenger/utility aircraft. It will be designed to meet fixed requirements and to prevent wrong assembly. E-Brake system will be a complex electromechanical assembly designed to provide the wheel braking capability to the P180 landing gear’s wheels. This braking system wants to satisfy the braking requirement of landing and rejected take off, taxi and parking braking situation, with some innovative features. E-Brake will be able to detect the ground conditions and ground variation and it will be able to adjust the braking force in order to avoid the wheel lock situation during braking operation (if it is not required by pilot) with an innovative antiskid algorithm.
E-BRAKE’s contributions and Impacts
By decreasing the weight, lead-time, manufacturing and operational costs of the braking system, E-BRAKE increases the competitiveness of Small Aircraft category. The new proposed technologies and the results provided by the E-BRAKE project will be applicable to other aircraft and helicopter categories, thus strengthening the competiveness of the entire Europe’s air transport system as a whole.
By improving the safety and the reliability of the braking system, E-BRAKE partners will assure the improvement of the transport sector based on SAT.
Minimal impact of transportation on the environment through key innovations
E-BRAKE targets the development of a new ebrake based on new concept by combining several new design approaches and technologies. In the design approach, the advanced control logic will also contribute in obtaining an optimized system in terms of safety and reliability. The weight reduction is another expected impact and goal foreseen by the E-BRAKE consortium.
Guaranteeing Europe’s balance of trade, economic growth and competitiveness
The achievements of E-BRAKE ambitious goals will allow a strong refinement of aircraft key system with the strengthening of European supply chain (incorporated by this project’s partners, but not limited to it). The final prototype of E-BRAKE project will easily become a product, thus contributing to European economic growth and competiveness.
Building industrial leadership in Europe
Larger impacts on the application of these technologies are expected, not only in aviation, but as well in other spill-over areas. Hence, this project will help retain Europe’s industrial leadership, not only within the aeronautical industry, but also in other high-tech industries (i.e. automotive).
Retention and growth of highly skilled jobs, supporting Europe’s knowledge economy
E-BRAKE will support the growth of Europe’s knowledge pool, as well as retaining and growing highly skilled jobs within the Union.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The technical activities performed during the first reporting period were related to the definition of requirements and identification of the applicable solutions from an electronic and mechanical-electrical point of view. The Consortium also shared architecture with the TM. Work carried on supposing the usage of a hot carbon pack, parallelly the evaluation of an alternative materials is being studied. In fact, results of the literature survey of the first months of the project revealed that the cost of C/C-SiC material is the main limitation on their use for the aircraft model under investigation. CRdC proposed to Piaggio and to the Consortium a strategic different approach suggesting to investigate new design ideas. This new approach, fully approved by the consortium and TM, has led to the idea of expanding the implementation of the task connected (Task 2.4) to it throughout the project, without changes in its budget.
The progress of the activities is in line with the forecasts and the times are respected, in particular the activities performed by the Consortium and the results were collected in the following Deliverables, which include the Detailed Technical Specification (DTS) with the and Preliminary Design Review (PDR) documents:
D1.1 - Proof of signature of Implementation /ITD CA/internal CA
D1.2 - Plan for Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation of project results
D1.4 - Technology Readiness Level (TRL) Documentation
D1.5 - Data Management Plan
D2.1 - Detailed technical specification for the landing gear brake actuation systems
D3.1 Technical Summary of the PDR meeting
The technical activities performed during the second reporting period were related to the definition of the applicable designed solutions, from an electronic and mechanical-electrical point of view, for the E-brake.
During the second period, the activities were aimed at fulfilling the milestone of the Critical Design Review (CDR), the continuation of task 2.4 about the braking materials and the beginning of all the activities related the WP4 and so the preliminary manufacturing phase. The corresponding deliverables were achieved within the deadlines scheduled in the applicable Description of Action (DoA).
Regarding the dissemination and communication activities, the consortium carried out a series of articles on the project website and prepared during RP1 a series of posts to publish on the social media channel during the first phase of the third and last reporting period of the project. Moreover, the consortium prepared a video summary of the objectives of the project to spread with project website and social media channels by the end of 2021.
The progress of the activities is in line with the forecasts and the times are respected, in particular the activities performed by the Consortium and the results were collected in the following Deliverables:
D3.2 - Technical summary of CDR meeting of innovative EMA/ECU
D3.3 - Qualification Test Plan and Acceptance Test Procedures

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

As concerns the brake materials, the activity carried out during the first 18 months were aimed at investigating through an extensive literature search.
Results of the literature survey revealed that these aspects are still under investigation, but the cost of such materials is the main limitation on their use for the aircraft model under investigation.
Carbon fiber material is the lightest solution and offer several advantages compared to the first two options. However, one of the most disadvantages, as reported above, is the high cost. In the light of cost reduction, the CRdC suggested the use of Nano coatings developed via the Cold Spray technology as potential alternative brake materials.
The purpose of this innovative project is to create a coating on the brake rotor surface in order to improve its properties. This coating must have specific mechanical properties.
For both Self-Learning Antiskid and Prognostic Algorithms, the identification of a novel optimal slip estimation strategy started from an intuition, which is quite new with respect to the available literature: the road-tire curve μ(λ) can be inferred by analyzing sequences of pairs (λ,μ) collected during the braking procedure. That is using sequences of pairs as input feature for a multilayer neural network (Multi-Layer Perceptron-MLP) this estimates directly the best slip value of the landing surface: The use of a sequence of pairs allows to embed in the network the history of the braking, hence allowing to discriminate among the various possible friction curve.

E-BRAKE Visual Logo

E-BRAKE actuator design draft

E-BRAKE Logo