Results for “inertia emulation”

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Sliding Mode Transient Scaling Controller for Gas Turbine Engine Emulation on an Electric Machine

The testing of hybrid-electric aircraft propulsion system components and control strategies has dictated the need for a low-cost gas turbine engine (GTE) emulation testbed. Within that testbed, electric machines (EMs) are used to emulate the dynamics of a GTE. GTE mathematical models are used to provide control torque commands to EMs. Most GTEs operate at much higher power levels than commercially available EMs. Therefore, the transient shaft dynamics of the GTE must be scaled appropriately. The sliding mode controller being presented here aims to deliver a control torque to an electric machine with a fixed inertia that will allow it to mimic the response of a GTE with a different inertia. This solution provides an easily scalable and tunable transient emulation method without having to scale the GTE mathematical model and/or add inertia to the physical EM shaft. This controller has been proven in simulation to produce nearly identical transient rotational speed response to a reference GTE shaft model which has a large difference in rotational inertia compared to the motor. Also, the inherent robustness of the sliding mode control scheme results in negligible changes in performance for large amounts of parameter uncertainty while minimizing high frequency fluctuations in the control signal.

sliding mode↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Hybrid Propulsion Emulation Rig (HyPER)

HyPER is a hardware-in-the-loop laboratory that was designed specifically to investigate the dynamic interactions between turbomachinery, the electric power system, and the constantly varying loads of electrified aircraft. It is a small-scale lab capable of rapid reconfiguration through software. This allows the emulation of new engines using simulation models that are easily replaced and then appropriately scaled for power and inertia to the test hardware.

Control↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Hybrid-Electric Aero-Propulsion Controls Laboratory: Overview and Capability

A hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) laboratory is developed to investigate control technologies for electrified aircraft propulsion (EAP). The laboratory emulates a propulsion system by reproducing the mechanical shaft interface to the electrical power system in hardware. The experimental electric power system includes supercapacitor energy storage and a dynamically variable electrical load. A novel method of scaling power and inertia is provided in software to accurately reproduce the transient, off-design turbomachinery performance dynamics without including actual turbomachinery. An overview of how the HIL system can accommodate a broad range of EAP architectures, including power extraction and insertion, with capability for transient energy management is described. The real-time system operates in the 100kW power class and is instrumented to emulate turbomachinery – power system interactions. The platform is an agile, flexible laboratory for low-cost, risk-reduction development and testing of propulsion control, operability, and energy management technologies.

Controls↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Hybrid-Electric Aero-Propulsion Controls Laboratory: Overview and Capability

A hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) laboratory is developed to investigate control technologies for electrified aircraft propulsion (EAP). The laboratory emulates a propulsion system by reproducing the mechanical shaft interface to the electrical power system in hardware. The experimental electric power system includes supercapacitor energy storage and a dynamically variable electrical load. A novel method of scaling power and inertia is provided in software to accurately reproduce the transient, off-design turbomachinery performance dynamics without including actual turbomachinery. An overview of how the HIL system can accommodate a broad range of EAP architectures, including power extraction and insertion, with capability for transient energy management is described. The real-time system operates in the 100kW power class and is instrumented to emulate turbomachinery – power system interactions. The platform is an agile, flexible laboratory for low-cost, risk-reduction development and testing of propulsion control, operability, and energy management technologies.

controls↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Control and Scaling Approach for the Emulation of Dynamic Subscale Torque Loads

Research and development of electrified aircraft propulsion powertrains is moving toward the use electro-mechanical systems to emulate the loads a system imparts on another. Replacing a prime mover with a model driving an electro-mechanical system capable of emulating loads that regulate the system to produce a desired response is a lower risk, lower cost alternative to using the traditional prime mover for control system verification. This paper outlines a control and scaling approach for emulating scaled dynamic torque loads using electric machine (EM) hardware for electrified aircraft propulsion research and development purposes. The approach, known as the Sliding Mode Impedance Controller with Scaling (SMICS), drives a mechanically coupled two-EM system that provides a scaled hardware representation of an electrified turbomachinery shaft. One EM reflects inertial dynamics and load of the shaft under steady-state and transient operation while the second EM represents a motor/generator connected to the shaft. This closed loop system applies impedance and sliding mode control schemes to match desired dynamics in real-time along with parameter scaling to effectively scale full scale torque inputs, a full-scale desired inertia, and sub-scale speed feedback. The result is a sub-scale hardware implementation of a coupled EM system that is command-able by a model and control system designed for a full-scale electrified aircraft propulsion powertrain. The paper elaborates on the need for closed loop control and scaling as well as impedance and sliding mode control theory, shows a derivation of the controller and scaling, its implementation, and presents a comparison of theoretical and actual simulation results acquired during hardware-in-the-loop testing of a partial turboelectric propulsion concept at the NASA Electric Aircraft Testbed (NEAT).

Santino J Bianco↗