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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1993

Slewing maneuvers and vibration control of space structures by feedforward/feedback moment-gyro controls

This paper presents a moment-gyro control approach to the maneuver and vibration suppression of a flexible truss arm undergoing a constant slewing motion. The overall slewing motion is triggered by a feedforward input, and a companion feedback controller is employed to augment the feedforward input and subsequently to control vibrations. The feedforward input for the given motion requirement is determined from the combined CMG (Control Momentum Gyro) devices and the desired rigid-body motion. The rigid-body dynamic model has enabled us to identify the attendant CMG momentum saturation constraints. The task for vibration control is carried out in two stages; first in the search of a suitable CMG placement along the beam span for various slewing maneuvers, and subsequently in the development of Liapunov-based control algorithms for CMG spin-stabilization. Both analytical and numerical results are presented to show the effectiveness of the present approach.

Yang, Li-Farn↗
NASA NTRS1933

Wind tunnel research comparing lateral control devices, particularly at high angles of attack X : various control devices on a wing with a fixed auxiliary airfoil

Results are given of a series of systemic tests comparing lateral control devices with particular reference to their effectiveness at high angles of attack. These tests were made with two sizes of ordinary ailerons and different sizes of spoilers on a Clark Y wing model having a narrow auxiliary airfoil fixed ahead and above the leading edge, the chords of the main and auxiliary airfoils being parallel. In addition, the auxiliary airfoil itself was given angular deflection. The purpose was to provide rolling moments for lateral control. The tests were made in a 7 by 10 foot wind tunnel. They included both force and rotation tests to show the effect of the devices on the lift and drag characteristics of the wing and on the lateral stability characteristics, as well as lateral control. They showed that none of the aileron arrangements tried would give rolling control of an assumed satisfactory value at all angles of attack up to the stall. However, they would give satisfactory values, but at the expense of abnormally high deflections and very heavy hinge moments. The most effective combination of ailerons and spoilers gave satisfactory values of rolling moment at angles of attack below the stall, and the values did not fall off as rapidly above the stall as with ailerons alone. With an arrangement of this type having the proper relative proportions and linkage, it should be possible to obtain reasonably satisfactory yawing moments and control forces. Deflecting one-half of the auxiliary airfoil downward for the purpose of control gave strong favorable yawing moments at all angles of attack, but gave very small rolling moments at the low angles of attack.

Weick, Fred E↗
NASA NTRS1993

Supervised autonomous control, shared control, and teleoperation for space servicing

A local-remote telerobot system for single- and dual-arm supervised autonomy, shared control, and teleoperation has been demonstrated. The system is composed of two distinct parts: the local site, where the operator resides; and the remote site, where the robots reside. The system could be further separated into dual local sites communicating with a common remote site. This is valuable for potential space missions where a space based robotic system may be controlled either by a space based operator or by a ground based operator. Also, multiple modes of control integrated into a common system are valuable for satisfying different servicing scenarios. The remote site single arm control system is described, and its parameterization for different supervised autonomous control, shared control, and teleoperation tasks are given. Experimental results are also given for selected tasks. The tasks include compliant grasping, orbital replacement unit changeout, bolt seating and turning, electronics card removal and insertion, and door opening.

Backes, Paul G.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Robust control of multi-jointed arm with a decentralized autonomous control mechanism

A decentralized autonomous control mechanism applied to the control of three dimensional manipulators and its robustness to partial damage was assessed by computer simulation. Decentralized control structures are believed to be quite robust to time delay between the operator and the target system. A 10-jointed manipulator based on our control mechanism was able to continue its positioning task in three-dimensional space without revision of the control program, even after some of its joints were damaged. These results suggest that this control mechanism can be effectively applied to space telerobots, which are associated with serious time delay between the operator and the target system, and which cannot be easily repaired after being partially damaged.

Kimura, Shinichi↗
NASA NTRS1995

Emergency Flight Control Using Computer-Controlled Thrust

Propulsion Controlled Aircraft (PCA) systems are digital electronic control systems undergoing development to provide limited maneuvering ability through variations of individual engine thrusts in multiple-engine airplanes. Provide landing capability when control surfaces inoperable. Incorporated on existing and future airplanes that include digital engine controls, digital flight controls, and digital data buses, adding no weight for additional hardware to airplane. Possible to handle total failure of hydraulic system, depending on how surfaces respond to loss of hydraulic pressure, and broken control cables or linkages. Future airplanes incorporate data from Global Positioning System for guidance to any suitable emergency runway in world.

Burcham, Frank W., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Piloted simulation tests of propulsion control as backup to loss of primary flight controls for a mid-size jet transport

Failures of aircraft primary flight-control systems to aircraft during flight have led to catastrophic accidents with subsequent loss of lives (e.g. , DC-1O crash, B-747 crash, C-5 crash, B-52 crash, and others). Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) investigated the use of engine thrust for emergency flight control of several airplanes, including the B-720, Lear 24, F-15, C-402, and B-747. A series of three piloted simulation tests have been conducted at Ames Research Center to investigate propulsion control for safely landing a medium size jet transport which has experienced a total primary flight-control failure. The first series of tests was completed in July 1992 and defined the best interface for the pilot commands to drive the engines. The second series of tests was completed in August 1994 and investigated propulsion controlled aircraft (PCA) display requirements and various command modes. The third series of tests was completed in May 1995 and investigated PCA full-flight envelope capabilities. This report describes the concept of a PCA, discusses pilot controls, displays, and procedures; and presents the results of piloted simulation evaluations of the concept by a cross-section of air transport pilots.

Bull, John↗
NASA NTRS1997

Piloted Simulation Tests of Propulsion Control as Backup to Loss of Primary Flight Controls for a B747-400 Jet Transport

Partial failures of aircraft primary flight control systems and structural damages to aircraft during flight have led to catastrophic accidents with subsequent loss of lives (e.g. DC-10, B-747, C-5, B-52, and others). Following the DC-10 accident at Sioux City, Iowa in 1989, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended 'Encourage research and development of backup flight control systems for newly certified wide-body airplanes that utilize an alternate source of motive power separate from that source used for the conventional control system.' This report describes the concept of a propulsion controlled aircraft (PCA), discusses pilot controls, displays, and procedures; and presents the results of a PCA piloted simulation test and evaluation of the B747-400 airplane conducted at NASA Ames Research Center in December, 1996. The purpose of the test was to develop and evaluate propulsion control throughout the full flight envelope of the B747-400 including worst case scenarios of engine failures and out of trim moments. Pilot ratings of PCA performance ranged from adequate to satisfactory. PCA performed well in unusual attitude recoveries at 35,000 ft altitude, performed well in fully coupled ILS approaches, performed well in single engine failures, and performed well at aft cg. PCA performance was primarily limited by out-of-trim moments.

Bull, John↗
NASA NTRS1997

Design of Launch Vehicle Flight Control Augmentors and Resulting Flight Stability and Control (Center Director's Discretionary Fund Project 93-05, Part III)

This publication presents the control requirements, the details of the designed Flight Control Augmentor's (FCA's), the static stability and dynamic stability wind tunnel test programs, the static stability and control analyses, the dynamic stability characteristics of the experimental Launch Vehicle (LV) with the designed FCA's, and a consideration of the elastic vehicle. Dramatic improvements in flight stability have been realized with all the FCA designs; these ranged from 41 percent to 72 percent achieved by the blunt TE design. The control analysis showed that control increased 110 percent with only 3 degrees of FCA deflection. The dynamic stability results showed improvements with all FCA designs tested at all Mach numbers tested. The blunt TE FCA's had the best overall dynamic stability results. Since the lowest elastic vehicle frequency must be well separated from that of the control system, the significant frequencies and modes of vibration have been identified, and the response spectra compared for the experimental LV in both the conventional and the aft cg configuration. Although the dynamic response was 150 percent greater in the aft cg configuration, the lowest bending mode frequency decreased by only 2.8 percent.

Barret, C.↗
NASA NTRS1961

Effects of Control-Feel Configuration on Airplane Longitudinal Control Response

A general study of longitudinal control feel was made with a transonic fighter-type airplane equipped with a control-feel system which 4 was adjustable in flight. The control-feel system provided a feel component with individual gain control in proportion to each of five quantities: stick deflection, stick rate, airplane normal acceleration, pitching acceleration, and pitching velocity. A number of feel configurations were investigated in flight and analytically. These feel configurations had feel components in various amounts from various combinations of these five sources. The results contained herein are all for an airplane center-of-gravity position at approximately 25 percent of the mean aerodynamic chord, a Mach number of 0.85, and an altitude of 28,000 feet. Results are presented as time histories, as plots of the variation of peak force per g with input duration, and as frequency-response plots. A number of frequency-response plots are included to illustrate the effects of choice of feel sources and gains. The results illustrate the desirability of balancing a normal-acceleration feel component with a pitching-acceleration feel component. Pitching-velocity feel is shown to be useful for shaping control-system frequency response. The results suggest the desirability of designing a control-feel system to a large extent by means of frequency-response analysis in order to keep the shapes of the frequency-response curves within desirable limits.

Crane, Harold L.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Emergency Multiengine Aircraft System for Lateral Control Using Differential Thrust Control of Wing Engines

Development of an emergency flight control system is disclosed for lateral control using only differential engine thrust modulation of multiengine aircraft is currently underway. The multiengine has at least two engines laterally displaced to the left and right from the axis of the aircraft. In response to a heading angle command psi(sub c) is to be tracked. By continually sensing the heading angle psi of the aircraft and computing a heading error signal psi(sub e) as a function of the difference between the heading angle command psi(sub c) and the sensed heading angle psi, a track control signal is developed with compensation as a function of sensed bank angle phi. Bank angle rate phi, or roll rate p, yaw rate tau, and true velocity produce an aircraft thrust control signal ATC(sub psi(L,R)). The thrust control signal is differentially applied to the left and right engines, with equal amplitude and opposite sign, such that a negative sign is applied to the control signal on the side of the aircraft. A turn is required to reduce the error signal until the heading feedback reduces the error to zero.

Burken, John J.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Two Reconfigurable Flight-Control Design Methods: Robust Servomechanism and Control Allocation

Two methods for control system reconfiguration have been investigated. The first method is a robust servomechanism control approach (optimal tracking problem) that is a generalization of the classical proportional-plus-integral control to multiple input-multiple output systems. The second method is a control-allocation approach based on a quadratic programming formulation. A globally convergent fixed-point iteration algorithm has been developed to make onboard implementation of this method feasible. These methods have been applied to reconfigurable entry flight control design for the X-33 vehicle. Examples presented demonstrate simultaneous tracking of angle-of-attack and roll angle commands during failures of the fight body flap actuator. Although simulations demonstrate success of the first method in most cases, the control-allocation method appears to provide uniformly better performance in all cases.

Burken, John J.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Sliding-Mode Control Applied for Robust Control of a Highly Unstable Aircraft

An investigation into the application of an observer based sliding mode controller for robust control of a highly unstable aircraft and methods of compensating for actuator dynamics is performed. After a brief overview of some reconfigurable controllers, sliding mode control (SMC) is selected because of its invariance properties and lack of need for parameter identification. SMC is reviewed and issues with parasitic dynamics, which cause system instability, are addressed. Utilizing sliding manifold boundary layers, the nonlinear control is converted to a linear control and sliding manifold design is performed in the frequency domain. An additional feedback form of model reference hedging is employed which is similar to a prefilter and has large benefits to system performance. The effects of inclusion of actuator dynamics into the designed plant is heavily investigated. Multiple Simulink models of the full longitudinal dynamics and wing deflection modes of the forward swept aero elastic vehicle (FSAV) are constructed. Additionally a linear state space models to analyze effects from various system parameters. The FSAV has a pole at +7 rad/sec and is non-minimum phase. The use of 'model actuators' in the feedback path, and varying there design, is heavily investigated for the resulting effects on plant robustness and tolerance to actuator failure. The use of redundant actuators is also explored and improved robustness is shown. All models are simulated with severe failure and excellent tracking, and task dependent handling qualities, and low pilot induced oscillation tendency is shown.

Vetter, Travis Kenneth↗
NASA NTRS2002

Sliding Mode Control Applied to Reconfigurable Flight Control Design

Sliding mode control is applied to the design of a flight control system capable of operating with limited bandwidth actuators and in the presence of significant damage to the airframe and/or control effector actuators. Although inherently robust, sliding mode control algorithms have been hampered by their sensitivity to the effects of parasitic unmodeled dynamics, such as those associated with actuators and structural modes. It is known that asymptotic observers can alleviate this sensitivity while still allowing the system to exhibit significant robustness. This approach is demonstrated. The selection of the sliding manifold as well as the interpretation of the linear design that results after introduction of a boundary layer is accomplished in the frequency domain. The design technique is exercised on a pitch-axis controller for a simple short-period model of the High Angle of Attack F-18 vehicle via computer simulation. Stability and performance is compared to that of a system incorporating a controller designed by classical loop-shaping techniques.

Hess, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Reusable Launch Vehicle Attitude Control Using a Time-Varying Sliding Mode Control Technique

In this paper we present a time-varying sliding mode control (TVSMC) technique for reusable launch vehicle (RLV) attitude control in ascent and entry flight phases. In ascent flight the guidance commands Euler roll, pitch and yaw angles, and in entry flight it commands the aerodynamic angles of bank, attack and sideslip. The controller employs a body rate inner loop and the attitude outer loop, which are separated in time-scale by the singular perturbation principle. The novelty of the TVSMC is that both the sliding surface and the boundary layer dynamics can be varied in real time using the PD-eigenvalue assignment technique. This salient feature is used to cope with control command saturation and integrator windup in the presence of severe disturbance or control effector failure, which enhances the robustness and fault tolerance of the controller. The TV-SMC ascent and descent designs are currently being tested with high fidelity, 6-DOF dispersion simulations. The test results will be presented in the final version of this paper.

Shtessel, Yuri B.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Integrated Power and Attitude Control for a Spacecraft with Flywheels and Control Moment Gyroscopes

A law is designed for simultaneous control of the orientation of an Earth-pointing spacecraft, the energy stored by counter-rotating flywheels, and the angular momentum of the flywheels and control moment gyroscopes used together as all integrated set of actuators for attitude control. General. nonlinear equations of motion are presented in vector-dyadic form, and used to obtain approximate expressions which are then linearized in preparation for design of control laws that include feedback of flywheel kinetic energy error as it means of compensating for damping exerted by rotor bearings. Two flywheel 'steering laws' are developed such that torque commanded by all attitude control law is achieved while energy is stored or discharged at the required rate. Using the International Space Station as an example, numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate control about a torque equilibrium attitude and illustrate the benefits of kinetic energy error feedback.

Roithmayr, Carlos M.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Reliable and Affordable Control Systems Active Combustor Pattern Factor Control

Active, closed-loop control of combustor pattern factor is a cooperative effort between Honeywell (formerly AlliedSignal) Engines and Systems and the NASA Glenn Research Center to reduce emissions and turbine-stator vane temperature variations, thereby enhancing engine performance and life, and reducing direct operating costs. Total fuel flow supplied to the engine is established by the speed/power control, but the distribution to individual atomizers will be controlled by the Active Combustor Pattern Factor Control (ACPFC). This system consist of three major components: multiple, thin-film sensors located on the turbine-stator vanes; fuel-flow modulators for individual atomizers; and control logic and algorithms within the electronic control.

McCarty, Bob↗
NASA NTRS2004

Motor Control of Two Flywheels Enabling Combined Attitude Control and Bus Regulation

This presentation discussed the flywheel technology development work that is ongoing at NASA GRC with a particular emphasis on the flywheel system control. The "field orientation" motor/generator control algorithm was discussed and explained. The position-sensorless angle and speed estimation algorithm was presented. The motor current response to a step change in command at low (10 kRPM) and high (60 kRPM) was discussed. The flywheel DC bus regulation control was explained and experimental results presented. Finally, the combined attitude control and energy storage algorithm that controls two flywheels simultaneously was presented. Experimental results were shown that verified the operational capability of the algorithm. shows high speed flywheel energy storage (60,000 RPM) and the successful implementation of an algorithm to simultaneously control both energy storage and a single axis of attitude with two flywheels. Overall, the presentation demonstrated that GRC has an operational facility that

Kenny, Barbara H.↗
NASA NTRS2006

The Space Technology-7 Disturbance Reduction System Precision Control Flight Validation Experiment Control System Design

As originally proposed, the Space Technology-7 Disturbance Reduction System (DRS) project, managed out of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was designed to validate technologies required for future missions such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). The two technologies to be demonstrated by DRS were Gravitational Reference Sensors (GRSs) and Colloidal MicroNewton Thrusters (CMNTs). Control algorithms being designed by the Dynamic Control System (DCS) team at the Goddard Space Flight Center would control the spacecraft so that it flew about a freely-floating GRS test mass, keeping it centered within its housing. For programmatic reasons, the GRSs were descoped from DRS. The primary goals of the new mission are to validate the performance of the CMNTs and to demonstrate precise spacecraft position control. DRS will fly as a part of the European Space Agency (ESA) LISA Pathfinder (LPF) spacecraft along with a similar ESA experiment, the LISA Technology Package (LTP). With no GRS, the DCS attitude and drag-free control systems make use of the sensor being developed by ESA as a part of the LTP. The control system is designed to maintain the spacecraft s position with respect to the test mass, to within 10 nm/the square root of Hz over the DRS science frequency band of 1 to 30 mHz.

O'Donnell, James R.↗