Traditional aerospace jet engine and flight surface electronic systems employ centralised electronic control products (with embedded software) installed in a benign environment. The maximum ambient temperature experienced by the electronics ranges from 85 to 125℃. Up to 500 conductors could be used to interface between jet engine sensors, actuators, flight control computers and the centralised FADEC (Full Authority Digital Electronic Control). Evolving systems are beginning to apply distributed architectures where smart actuators and sensors replace the centralised control electronics. In such architecture the electronic product is installed inside the actuator or sensor housing. A fully distributed fueldraulic jet engine system would reduce the conductor count from 500 to 8 for duplex control and offer harness weight saving, connector pin reduction, fault detection, a simple FADEC and life cycle cost benefits. Although there are distinct advantages to distributed control techniques, the one disadvantage is that the electronic product is installed in a harsh environment. Higher temperatures, vibration levels and vastly reduced space envelope contribute to the engineering challenge. This paper summarises the work performed by the HiTEAM 2 consortium led by TRW Aeronautical Systems to demonstrate a smart Fuel Metering Unit containing high temperature electronics (with imbedded software) and the life testing of the electronic product. In addition this paper discusses whether an economic version of the high temperature technologies could be applied to solve the traditional aerospace electronic product challenges such as component obsolescence, space envelope, weight, vibration, interconnect, thermal life and reducing component life concerns (due to die shrink).
展开▼
