Design Actuator Control Unit for Aerospace Applications: Automatic Closed-Loop Control for Permanent Magnet Brushless DC Motors

Actuators are the building block for every automated system. The field of applications is wide open, from home appliances to aerospace. In this joint project between OTM Servo Mechanism and Brunel University London, we design and develop custom-tailored actuators for the aerospace industry. Actuators at aerospace specifications are suitable for many applications, such as aeroplanes and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The design requires significant considerations of the hosting working environment and size and weight constraints. This paper discusses the design, model and simulation of an actuator control unit (ACU) for an electromechanical actuator driven by a 51mm airborne three-phase brushless DC motor. By modelling and simulating the whole system, we can set and tune the control modes of the controller. The ACU comprises the controller and necessary components to complete the automatic control process. We rely on a set of feedback control loops to meet the desired setpoints for the employed actuator despite the applied load and disturbances. Electromechanical actuators are an excellent fit for all-electric systems that require new developments in the field of automatically controlled actuators.