Steinmeyer’s ballscrew takes to the sky

The Sukhoi SuperJet 100, produced by Russian aerospace firm Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company, is a modern fly-by-wire regional jet in the 75- to 95-seat category. It is still undergoing flight tests and the first commercial deliveries are expected later in the year. Any aircraft must be in balance longitudinally in order to fly. This means that the net effect of all the forces acting on the aeroplane produces no overall pitching moment about its centre of gravity. Without a horizontal stabilizer there would be only one combination of speed and centre of gravity position where this requirement was met. The horizontal stabilizer provides a balancing force to maintain equilibrium for different speeds and centre of gravity positions. The new ballscrew is part of an actuator that moves the horizontal tail surface of the aircraft up and down to accommodate the changing centre of gravity. Steinmeyer said: “Breaking into the aerospace component market has been a natural progression from the new product development standpoint. We make ballscrews in all sizes from miniature to large ballscrews suitable for high load applications. This design and engineering expertise, we were sure, was going to make it possible to design ballscrews for aerospace applications. "Precision is key in ballscrew manufacturing. This particular ballscrew was going to be part of a flight critical application and there is no room for error."