The Boeing Company
System and Method for Monitoring the Remaining Useful Life of a Ball Screw in Actuation System

Abstract:

A method for monitoring remaining useful life (RUL) of an actuation system in a vehicle that includes receiving position data of the actuation system from a position sensor, maintaining a total distance traveled for the actuation system, and calculating the RUL of the actuation system. The calculating includes estimating force data using an output variable estimator, determining motor torque, weighing the estimated force data using a confidence level, predicting a total life of the actuation system based on the weighted force data, and comparing the predicted total life with the total distance traveled to determine the remaining useful life.