This paper discusses a test approach for evaluating the steady-state performance of small to
medium sized actuators for UAV applications. The used test system is the Iron Bird Test Facility
available at the Chair of Aircraft Design at the Technical University of Munich. This test facility
allows for testing servo actuators in a precise and versatile way for comparing the presented
measurement approaches. The paper gives an overview of the used test setup and describes the
approach used to derive the performance parameters of an actuator. Different load cases are
presented. These load cases are formulated using so-called output lists, which contain position
and load values which are applied to the actuator. Three different actuators are subjected to the
described test procedure. The results of one actuator are used to show the analysis procedure
to extract the performance parameters. The differences of the used load cases are presented
and the validity of the initial steady-state assumptions are discussed. The paper concludes with
a comparison of the data sheet values of the tested actuators to the test results and discusses
possible reasons for the deviations.
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