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Advanced Flight Control Systems
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Advanced Actuation Systems Set To Revolutionise Flight Control Systems
The need to transmit control of an aircraft from the pilot’s hands to the flight control surfaces has always existed. In early aircraft, this was achieved by rudimentary linkages consisting of rods and cables, but as speeds increased it became necessary to boost the pilot’s muscular effort by the introduction of hydraulic systems.
These were effectively fluid rods, the fluid being, to all intents and purposes, incompressible. When such systems were introduced just before World War II it was felt that hydraulic actuators enjoyed many advantages over the electromechanical kind in terms of reliability and the high torque and power they could provide.
Consequently, they became recognised in the ensuing 20 to 30 years as the preferred method for all high power demand applications. Hydraulic systems were used to control and operate flaps and slats, tailplanes, elevators, ailerons, rudder surfaces and various engine functions. In the interests of safety, such systems incorporated a high degree of redundancy and with it, an increased weight penalty. Hydraulic systems were designed on the assumption that not more than a proportion in the region of two-thirds of the actuators would operate simultaneously.
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