Olsen Actuators and Drives provides primary flight control actuation systems to Vertical Aerospace’s VX4 prototype
Market-leading tilt actuators and blade pitch actuators are being used on the VX4 prototype, which is now progressing through its piloted flight test programme
| Olsen Actuators and Drives has provided Vertical Aerospace, a global aerospace and technology company pioneering electric aviation, with an actuation and drives package for the primary flight control actuation systems for the company’s VX4 prototype aircraft. Olsen’s actuators are critical to ensuring the VX4 can change between vertical flight and conventional forward flight safely, based on the pilot’s demands. Vertical is creating a safer, cleaner and quieter way to travel. The VX4 is a piloted, four passenger, electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, with zero operating emissions. The VX4 will have cruise speeds of 150mph and a range of up to 100 miles, with agile vertical take-off and landing, it will reduce travel-times to minutes. The latest VX4 prototype performed its first piloted flight in July 2024, while tethered to the ground, during which Vertical measured over 20,000 flight and system parameters to verify thrust, handling qualities and system performance. The Tilt Rotor Actuation systems provided by Olsen comprised a modified COTS (Commercial Off the Shelf) servo high-capacity roller screw actuator that offers some unique features, including: a precision position encoder, high-capacity parking brake, D38999 connectors and improved seal assembly, coupled with modified main rods. These actuators are packaged with ESI Motion servo drive electronics. The measured dynamic performance during chirp testing exhibited better than expected frequency responses 5 times faster than anything Olsen has tested during the past 15 years and 10 times faster than leading high end industrial servo drive brands. The Blade Pitch is fully designed and manufactured in the UK utilizing a completely bespoke solution created by Olsen to the required specifications. Olsen internal load testing rigs were used to validate the design performance, heat rise times and endurance life testing, dynamic and static performance and impact loading. External qualification testing has been completed to independently verify that the design complies with the relevant EMC, shock, vibration and environmental requirements and limits as defined in the DO160G testing standards. Adam Bargh, Technical Director, Olsen Actuators and Drives said: “It’s been a pleasure to work closely with Vertical’s teams, giving them agile response to design iterations addressing specification changes and compliance with additional requirements along this journey. We are pleased to see Vertical’s continued progress through the piloted flight test programme.” Piers Olsen, CEO of Olsen Actuators and Drives said: “We are proud to have been selected to provide our actuators for such an ambitious and ground-breaking project. We look forward to continuing our work in the exciting eVTOL industry in the future.” Olsen Actuators and Drives has re-invested the profits from the Vertical Aerospace projects and created twelve highly skilled, highly paid jobs in the UK. Olsen’s resources continue to be utilised during the flight-testing campaigns. “It’s been a great experience to work with Vertical Aerospace over the last four years and we have been able to both learn from and share experience with the team. It’s helped us to grow as a company and develop capabilities in advanced manufacturing here in the UK. We look forward to using this experience to enable us to explore more opportunities in the eVTOL market in the future,” Piers concluded. Olsen is currently working towards full approval with AS9100 and hope to have this in place by Q1 2025. The company also continues to invest heavily in R&D and has a technology roadmap to new UK Aero COTS actuator product lines. |
