Meggitt’s electronic brakes under test with Bombardier

Bombardier Aerospace installed Meggitt’s electrically actuated carbon brake system–dubbed EBrake–and electric braking controls on its technology demonstrator aircraft. The Canadian aircraft manufacturer will perform full flight-test evaluations of the new brakes and controls on its flying testbed over the coming weeks.

“This collaboration with Bombardier is significant to the introduction of the technology on future platforms,” said Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems president Ken Schwartz. “No other civil flight-test demonstrator of electric braking technology has covered an aircraft’s entire braking system.”

The Meggitt EBrake system includes electromechanically actuated brakes, brake data concentrators, electric motion actuation control units and supporting aircraft wiring and power distribution systems. According to Schwartz, the system is compact, yet efficient. “In a little over two years, we have achieved a degree of compactness and efficiency in our electromechanical actuator that the industry took around 70 years to perfect in traditional hydraulic brakes,” he noted.

Meggitt said electrically actuated brakes will provide improved signal response, enhancing braking and antiskid efficiency. Further, the company claims improved aircraft dispatch reliability because of the EBrake’s fault-tolerant modular design and the elimination of potential hydraulic leaks.