A&D Funded Projects
Nationals
Electromechanical Actuators for Primary Flight Controls, Lubricated for Life - LUBFORLIFE
Re-lubrication of Electro-mechanical actuators (EMA) is synonymous with aircraft downtime, mobilising resources, increased aircraft operating costs and higher risk of fault conditions caused by human error.
With the challenging task of eliminating re-lubrication during the entire electro-mechanical actuator operating life, UMBRAGROUP is leading the R&D project LubForLife, in collaboration with academics and industrial partners.
LubForLife project seeks to achieve more realistic results by addressing the needs of a real flight-control actuator based upon requirements set with one of the major European airframer.
All the main aspects identified as drivers such as tribology, architecture and configuration have been analysed for the definition of a new standard of electromechanical actuators with no maintenance tasks or very limited ones.
Within the LubForLife project, UMBRAGROUP has been able to design and manufacture hardware (mock-up, test units) and software (Digital Twin) and then performed tests to validate the theoretical studies.
Ultra-Compact Actuator and Motor for Urban Air Mobility – UAM4UAM
Project funded under the resources allocated by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development Decree of December 31, 2021 - Innovation Agreements
The UAM4UAM project aims to develop ultra-compact electric systems for aircraft actuation and propulsion, addressing the requirements of the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) segment, the emerging electric air transportation system for passengers and goods in urban environments.
The project includes research and development activities on three innovative platforms, covering different power ranges:
- Electromechanical actuator for primary flight control systems (low power)
- Electromechanical actuator for thrust vectoring/conversion systems (medium power)
- Electric motor/generator for propulsion applications (high power)
Project objective: reduce weight and overall dimensions by at least 25% compared to the current state of the art, achieving Technology Readiness Level 5 (TRL 5).
The project was completed on April 1, 2026.
Digital Marketing