Supernal Collaborates with UmbraGroup on New Light-weight Actuation Technology for eVTOL Aircraft

Super­nal and Umbra­Group announced this week at the Paris Air­show a con­tin­ued col­lab­o­ra­tion to lever­age inno­v­a­tive tech­nol­o­gy that will enhance flight con­trol oper­a­tions in eVTOL air­craft, reports a press release. Italy-based Umbra­Group is to sup­ply actu­a­tors and motor con­trol elec­tron­ics need­ed to deploy a safe sys­tem for Supernal’s future air­craft, which the Com­pa­ny plans to launch in 2028 for com­mer­cial flights.

The part­ner­ship “aims to cre­ate new actu­a­tion stan­dards, both for rotary and lin­ear appli­ca­tions, that will deliv­er for Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty (AAM) man­u­fac­tur­ers,” explains the release, “which are con­cerned about size, weight, pow­er, reli­a­bil­i­ty and, most impor­tant­ly, safe­ty.”

Tra­di­tion­al rotary actu­a­tors employ a gear­box con­nect­ed to a pow­er source that then oper­ates an aircraft’s flight con­trol sur­face. UmbraGroup’s new line of actu­a­tors “elim­i­nates the use of the gear­box, mak­ing its prod­uct small­er, lighter and more effi­cient.”

(Graph­ic image: Super­nal)

It goes on, “Based on ball screws, this assem­bly can last beyond 20 years in com­mer­cial air­crafts and is ide­al­ly suit­ed for the AAM mar­ket where vehi­cles are often char­ac­terised by thin wings and lim­it­ed com­po­nent space.”

Adam Slepi­an, Chief Com­mer­cial Offi­cer of Super­nal, remarked, “Supernal’s approach is to dri­ve inno­va­tion, not only at the air­craft lev­el, but also at the sys­tem lev­el.” He con­tin­ued, “UmbraGroup’s actu­a­tion solu­tions will help us opti­mise our eVTOL vehi­cle design for max­i­mum reli­a­bil­i­ty in dai­ly oper­a­tions and enable Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty to reach the same lev­els of safe­ty as the com­mer­cial avi­a­tion indus­try.”

Umbra­Group offers a new solu­tion for eVTOL air­craft vis its capa­bil­i­ties in devel­op­ing lin­ear jam-tol­er­ant actu­a­tors, that have a mech­a­nism which can resolve a fail­ure with­in an actu­a­tor. This part­ner­ship cel­e­brates the first time this type of tech­nol­o­gy is to be inte­grat­ed with elec­tro-mechan­i­cal actu­a­tors (EMA), mak­ing them appro­pri­ate for pri­ma­ry and crit­i­cal flight-con­trol sur­faces.

Mat­teo Notarange­lo, CEO of Umbra­Group, com­ment­ed, “Being a sup­pli­er of advanced tech­nolo­gies for Super­nal and the Hyundai Group is an hon­our. To be select­ed for the electro­mechan­i­cal imple­men­ta­tion on such a rev­o­lu­tion­ary plat­form ele­vates us among the lead­ing play­ers in Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty.”

“The part­ner­ship,” states the release, “is part of Supernal’s vision to work with rep­utable sup­pli­ers that have a his­to­ry of build­ing aero­space-grade com­po­nents, enabling the Com­pa­ny to design safe, reli­able and redun­dant sys­tems for its air­craft.” Super­nal and Umbra­Group held a sign­ing cer­e­mo­ny for the part­ner­ship at the Paris Air Show this week (June 21st).

Umbra­Group Head Office

Back­ground

Found­ed in 1972, Umbra­Group is a lead­ing man­u­fac­tur­er of ball screws in the aero­space sec­tor pro­vid­ing inno­v­a­tive, cer­ti­fied and safe solu­tions for high-tech mar­kets.

With plants in Italy, Ger­many and the U.S, and a work­force of 1,200, the Group serves air­craft and air­craft man­u­fac­tur­ers, inte­grat­ed sys­tem man­u­fac­tur­ers, air­lines, and machine tool man­u­fac­tur­ers world­wide.

In 2022, UmbraGroup’s actu­a­tor tech­nol­o­gy for rotary actu­a­tors earned the Air­bus Heli­copter Sup­pli­er Inno­va­tion Award.

For more infor­ma­tion

www.supernal.aero

www.umbragroup.com

(Top image: Supernal/UmbraGroup Col­lab­o­ra­tion)