In this blog we met with Jason Chapo, one of our engineers to discuss Moog’s “CEHA” or Common Electro-Hydrostatic Actuator. From a technology standpoint, EHAs combine a traditional EH actuator’s piston/cylinder centerline with a self-contained, electrically driven power source. With EHAs, a vehicle-based centralized power supply is replaced with one or more electric motor / pump assemblies each in a closed system. An EHA functional schematic is shown in Figure 3.2.2-1.
The CEHA has benefits of both Hydraulic and EM actuators. When compared to electrohydraulic actuators, integration is very easy. There is no need for hydraulic lines to be ran to the actuator which eliminates the need for external tanks and no leak checking or other complications with lines. This creates less points for failure and saves on weight. Since the EHA is self-contained, just like with an EM actuator, the system can be operated on ground power alone. The CEHA actuator family is modular with many common parts between them, specifically the Electro Hydrostatic Power Unit (EHPU) which contains the hydraulic pump, EM motor, and hydraulic fluid reservoir. Redundancy is achieved by adding additional EHPUs to the actuator which is far easier than the equivalent EM actuator solution.
Moog is developing a CEHA product family to meet the needs of our customers for this type of actuation in space. At Moog, we believe that our CEHA actuators will the next big thing utilized for main stage and booster stage applications, and this product family will be on the forefront of using Electro-Hydrostatic Actuators in space applications. Our Type V CEHA will have an output power of 36HP, while our Type III CEHA has an output of 52HP and only around 30lb heavier.
Moog is looking to use our CEHA family of actuators to help reduce cost and increase efficiency for our customers. Moog is working with major Primes to integrate our CEHA family of actuators into the mix and reduce cost for our customers while allow them to better compete with new and opportunistic launch offerings.