A New Technique to Qualify Rotary Electro-Mechanical Actuator for Tactical Class of Missile System

A novel technique has been adopted to establish the functionality and to qualify the Rotary Electro-Mechanical Actuator (REMA) system developed for a typical tactical class of weapon system in addition to the conventional method of checking the functionality through On-Board Computer in-loop simulation, Actuator in-loop simulation and Hardware in-loop simulation. The REMA along with full scale fin surface subjected to wind tunnel tests at the actual flight Mach number and flight dynamic pressure conditions. Flight hardware of REMA and fin assembly has been used in the tests so as to derive direct conclusions without applying any corrections to the measured results. This technique revealed the capability of the actuator, the dynamic functionality of its components such as gear systems, bearings and structural integrity of the whole actuator under the flight aerodynamic load on the full scale fin surface and vibration environments. The test conducted is being the most critical condition and the REMA and fin combination performed the intended commands as predictable and survived without any structural dis-integrity qualifies for further flight use. Subsequently flight tests were conducted and found the performance of REMA was as anticipated. Based on these results, recommendation made that it is mandatory that the all the actuation systems developed for fin actuation in missiles has to undergo the wind tunnel tests and qualify further actual use. The details of wind tunnel tests and the results of typical REMA with full scale fin are presented in this paper.