Application of Switching Valves to Improve Reliability of Fueldraulic Systems

DynSan will collaborate with the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) to develop and test an innovative digital hydraulic valve design that is insensitive to working fluid contamination. The goal is to improve the reliability of fueldraulic systems on aircraft gas turbine engines and similar applications. Current fueldraulic systems use Electro Hydraulic Servo Valves (EHSV) to control actuator position. We propose replacing the EHSV by a collection of connected fast operating switching valves to digitally control an actuator. Early results indcate that this system will perform closed loop control with significantly better contamination resistance and dynamic characteristics in comparison to EHSV. Phase I will have two focus areas: 1) theoretical and simulation-based design of controller operations and optimization of displacement control and 2) experimentally-based validation of the proposed system. Phase II will focus on on optimization of the design using CFD and high-fidelity electro-magnetic model to accurately characterize valve dynamics. The results from the modelling effort will be used to design a prototype valve and controller assembly that packs the setup developed in Phase I into a single unit. Phase III commercialization will seek to exploit the natural multi-use applicability of the developed system.