Automating Swashplate Calibration on Experimental Whirl Tower

Institute

Lehrstuhl für Hubschraubertechnologie (TUM-ED)

Type

Semester Thesis /

Content

experimental / constructive /  

Description

The MERIT test rig is a whirl tower featuring an 85kW motor and constant-rpm control, capable of monitoring rotor blade behaviour in a variety of extreme flight conditions, most notably deep dynamic stall in a two-blade configuration. To facilitate this, it features a fully actuated swashplate controlled via three linear screw actuators. A previous engineering project is just finishing to connect the software that controls the actuators into the central control panel containing the sensory equipment. This gets us one step closer to automating what was previously an arduous and imprecise process – calibrating the swashplate to ensure pitch inputs reflect reality. This is a process that should be conducted regularly, which we currently do by hand, taking hundreds of angle measurements using an inclinometer and inputting these into a rudimentary Excel spreadsheet, then manually adjusting the actuators.

One major limitation of the current system is that the precise pitch sensors only measure relative pitch – the first task would be to implement some method of measuring pitch absolutely. This could be done in all manner of creative ways ( e.g. accelerometer measuring gravitational vector) and would ultimately be up to you.

The majority of the sensory equipment is sampled using LabVIEW. If you have experience with LabVIEW this will be a huge help, however, it would also be possible to simply interface with the existing software, and conduct the project using more user-friendly software, e.g. MATLAB. The next task would be combining the available data, processing it to identify the necessary adjustments to the swashplate, then executing these adjustments.

Requirements

Suitable for Semesterarbeit or Engineering Project

- Experience with LabVIEW beneficial

- Creative and independent approach to problem solving

Possible start

sofort

Contact

Matti Mitropoulos
Room: MW2701
matti.mitropoulostum.de

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