Weight is a critical design factor in the aerospace industry. Weight reduction in an aircraft translates to better performance and fuel efficiency, leading directly to higher profitability and improved environmental sustainability.
The weight of an aircraft affects everything from takeoff and landing distances, to climb rate, to fuel consumption. Over the years, massive efforts have been made to reduce overall mass: from large improvements like replacing aluminium frames with lighter composite materials, to smaller initiatives, like removing or downsizing physical in-flight magazines. Even seemingly minor weight reductions can add up to significant savings.
Yet while many systems onboard have evolved, traditional hydraulic systems have largely stayed the same since the 1950s. Despite their reliability and power density, they’ve lagged behind in terms of weight, responsiveness, and energy efficiency.
Here at Domin, we understand the vital importance of both high performance and high efficiency in the aerospace industry. Our revolutionary high-performance servo valves and ultra-compact pumps are helping to redefine aerospace motion control.
Why is Aerospace Weight Reduction Critical?
While composite materials and advanced aircraft design have helped aerospace manufacturers reduce aircraft weight significantly, hydraulic systems remain an often-overlooked area of potential improvement.
Traditional aircraft hydraulic systems are extremely heavy and inefficient. Centralised hydraulic systems on a standard passenger plane can weigh over 2 tonnes and can require over a kilometre of piping. These inefficiencies add unnecessary weight penalties to aircraft.
By reducing the weight of aircraft hydraulic systems using new technologies, we can minimise the performance penalties. This leads to direct improvements in aircraft performance, fuel efficiency, and sustainability, especially in terms of CO2 emissions.
Fuel Efficiency
In an aircraft, every kilogram of weight reduction results in lower fuel consumption. As a general rule of thumb, every kilogram adds 3.5% of its weight in fuel per hour of flight. That means a centralised hydraulic system weighing over 2 tonnes burns more than 70 kg of fuel every hour—or over a thousand kilograms on a long-haul flight. A lighter aircraft requires less energy to take off, climb, and cruise. This improved fuel efficiency leads directly to lower operating costs, extended range for the aircraft, and higher profitability for the company operating it, using important fuel resources more effectively.
Performance
Weight has a direct influence on a variety of aircraft performance factors, including the rate of climb, airspeed, and overall range. Heavier aircraft require more thrust to overcome drag and maintain lift, increasing fuel burn and reducing efficiency.
Put simply, mass penalises manoeuvrability. As aircraft weight increases, so does the power required to sustain acceleration and responsiveness. Trim the excess weight, and that same power translates into sharper climb rates, shorter takeoff runs, and improved agility across the board. These are all key advantages in both commercial and tactical flight scenarios.
Lighter aircraft also experience less induced drag, improving aerodynamic efficiency and allowing the aircraft to maintain speed more easily while consuming less fuel. This translates to faster response times, better control in turbulence, and increased stability—enhancing passenger safety and comfort.
Weight reduction also extends an aircraft’s range and endurance. With less mass to propel, fuel consumption drops, allowing for longer flights, fewer refuelling stops, and lower operating costs. This is especially critical for long-haul and military aircraft, where every kilogram saved can have a significant impact on mission success and operational efficiency.
Sustainability
The aviation industry as a whole is focused on reducing CO2 emissions, and although it does not fall under the Paris Agreement, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. This aligns with broader global climate goals to limit the increase in global temperatures to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
The fuel efficiency of an aircraft translates directly into how much fuel is burned per trip, with lower fuel consumption leading to lower CO2 emissions. While various propulsion systems are emerging as part of this effort, from electric, hybrid, and hydrogen, hydraulic systems will continue to play a critical role in controlling motion and the actuation. There is, therefore, a significant opportunity to improve the efficiency of existing hydraulic systems to better support this drive for sustainable aviation.
Future-Proofing
The aerospace industry is moving rapidly towards using electrified and hybrid systems, with many such technologies currently under development. Hydraulic systems are an important part of these aircraft, managing critical functions, such as control surfaces (e.g., ailerons, elevators, and rudders), landing gear, and brakes. To stay aligned with the industry’s electrification push, these systems will need to evolve. High-performing, lightweight hydraulic components are critical to enabling more electric flight.
While some aircraft manufacturers are exploring fully electromechanical alternatives to traditional hydraulics, these systems often fall short in terms of performance, reliability, and power density—especially for high-load or safety-critical applications.
How Domin Is Advancing High-Performance Aerospace Hydraulics
At Domin, we have developed two key pieces of technology that can enable modern, efficient hydraulic systems. These are our high-performance valves and our compact radial piston pump. Designed from the ground up using advanced engineering and manufacturing—including metal 3D printing—these technologies deliver higher performance in smaller, lighter packages.
Our servo valve technology, Domin Valves, merges the precision of two-stage valves with the responsiveness of proportional designs, delivering fast, efficient, and durable control. Our patented radial piston pump, meanwhile, achieves extremely high power density through complex internal geometries that were impossible to manufacture until now.
But these technologies are just the foundation. Their true potential emerges when we look at how they’re applied to reshape aerospace systems. Our valves and pumps can work together as micro-electrohydrostatic actuators (MEHAs), allowing for the design of decentralised hydraulic systems, which have a number of benefits compared to the heavy, inefficient centralised systems they replace.
Electrohydrostatic vs. Electromechanical
Electrohydrostatic actuators (EHAs) offer a step change in aerospace actuation performance. Unlike electromechanical actuators (EMAs), which are limited in load handling and can be vulnerable under shock conditions, EHAs combine precise electrical control with the force density of hydraulics.
Domin’s compact, high-performance components make it possible to build micro-EHAs that are lighter and more efficient than EMAs, with none of the bulk or complexity of traditional hydraulic systems. Thanks to advanced additive manufacturing, our actuators integrate pumps, valves, and electronics into a single, lightweight unit—less than half the weight of an equivalent EMA.
For aerospace, this means higher performance, lower energy consumption, and better reliability under demanding conditions.
Centralised vs. Distributed Systems
Traditional aircraft hydraulics use centralised systems, which are one or more large hydraulic power units feeding actuators across the aircraft through long runs of piping. While reliable, these systems are heavy, complex, and inefficient.
Domin’s technology enables a shift to distributed hydraulics. Localised EHAs are placed exactly where power is needed, eliminating the need for heavy plumbing and centralised reservoirs. This not only reduces overall system weight but also improves redundancy, simplifies maintenance, and unlocks new design flexibility without reducing reliability.
With distributed architecture and advanced electrohydrostatic control, aircraft designers can build lighter, more efficient systems that support the next generation of aerospace innovation.
Benefits of Using Domin’s Approach
The benefits that come with using our core technologies in a decentralised system are:
Reduced Weight
Our innovative hydraulics solutions reduce the weight of any aircraft by replacing heavy, inefficient, and outdated systems that can weigh over 2 tonnes with over 1 km of pipes that conduct hydraulic fluid to where it is needed. On average, replacing these outdated systems with our hydraulic solutions can reduce system weight by 50%.
More Energy Efficient
The Domin Valves S6 Pro is perfectly suited to the aerospace industry. This single-stage servo proportional valve combines high flow, low power consumption, strong chip shear, and excellent response dynamics. In terms of power reduction, each valve is capable of lowering power usage per valve by 0.3 kW compared to traditional parts. This results in an average power reduction per aircraft of around 9 kW. Ultimately, this translates to 84 million kWh lifetime energy saved for an Airbus A320neo with a lifetime jet fuel saving of around $51 million.
Better Accuracy
Our valves offer high positional accuracy and low hysteresis, which ensures high repeatability in movement in both directions. The outcome of this is more stable flight control and better aircraft performance. There’s better control of systems like control surfaces and landing gear. This can improve flight safety, responsiveness, and the stability of the plane.
Expert Design
Our innovative designs are brought to life by a combination of cutting-edge technologies, such as metal 3D printing, modern onboard electronics within the valve package, digital connectivity, and position sensing. All of these technologies come together to create small and compact, perfectly engineered, hydraulic solutions.
Domin Valves are also unique in that they combine the precision of traditional servo valves with the responsiveness of proportional control, delivering a level of performance that’s both highly adaptable and exceptionally durable.
Reliability
In the aerospace industry, safety and reliability are non-negotiable. Our engineers have put careful thought into every aspect of our valve designs. Domin Valves are free from all the typical small, blockage-prone design features that are associated with traditional valves.
Our valves are fitted with electronics that allow for fault detection and diagnostics, remote monitoring, and data collection, further improving the overall reliability of our hydraulic systems.
Less Maintenance
Our valves also have lower maintenance requirements, since no high-pressure seals or filters are used in our design. This reduced maintenance also adds to the overall lifecycle cost savings of our valves. What’s more, with fewer components, installation times are also reduced. Domin Valves make use of environmental sealing (creating a barrier around equipment or components as a layer of protection), which not only protects the valve but also ensures a long lifespan.
The Future of Aerospace Hydraulics
Domin’s high-performance hydraulic devices deliver significant advantages in a number of aerospace applications, such as:
- Flight control systems
- Landing gear actuation
- Braking systems
- Defence applications
The unnecessary weight that traditional hydraulic systems add to an aircraft leads directly to reduced fuel efficiency, increased CO2 emissions, and a deterioration in performance. As the aerospace industry increases its efforts towards drastically decreasing emissions, these traditional systems can no longer keep up.
At Domin, we’ve recognised these shortcomings. We see it as an opportunity to realise higher fuel efficiency, lower overall CO2 emissions, and improved aircraft performance. With our high-performance radial piston pumps and our top-of-the-line electrohydraulic servo valves, we can achieve enormous weight savings while maintaining extremely high performance and reliability. Domin’s hydraulic solutions play a huge part in enabling the aerospace industry to push for more sustainable, more electric flight by reducing weight and increasing efficiencies.
Looking to enhance your aerospace hydraulic systems? Speak to Domin today to discover how our cutting-edge hydraulic solutions can help your aircraft achieve better efficiency, reliability, and performance.
