Composite Control of Stratospheric Airships with Moving Masses

Chen, L.; Gang, Zhou; Yan, Xiu-Juan; Duan, Dengping

doi:10.2514/1.c031364

Cited by 63 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Several studies have focused on the automatic control of finless airships with vectored thrusters, including that of spherical airships with two vectored thrusters, 2,9,10 either finned or finless airships with vectored thrusters, 11,12,13 and finless and twin-hull airships with vectored thrusters. 14, 15 Similar research has been conducted on vectoredthrust underwater ships.…”

Section: Design Of the Flight Control Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Control of a Multi-vectored Thrust Airship

Chen

Wen

Zhou

et al. 2015

22nd AIAA Lighter-Than-Air Systems Technology Conference

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A new multi-vectored thrust airship is proposed in this paper. The shape of the airship is a cross between a ball and a water droplet. Its drag coefficient is smaller than that of the spherical airship, and its lift efficiency is higher than that of the conventional streamlined airship, and less sensitive to the lateral winds. This airship is equipped with four vectored thrusters and has the moving ability to any direction in tree-dimensional space. Two suitable control methods for the multi-thrust airship, namely, direct and indirect position tracking, are proposed. The simulation results of the two methods are compared in terms of position tracking accuracy, energy consumption, and disturbance rejection ability. Then a composite control structure is designed for the airship to realize accurate position control and to decrease energy consumption. Indoor experimental results were given to validate the composite control structure. Nomenclature m = airship massVol = airship volume S = airship surface area ref S = reference area of the airship ref l = reference length of the airship z G = mass position of the airship q  = dynamic pressure of airflow V = airspeed , ,    = Euler angle u,v,w = linear velocities in the body-fixed frame M = mass matrix D C = Drag coefficient e L = Lift efficiency b u  , b v  , b w  = linear accelerations b p  , b q  , b r  = angular accelerations around the body frame GB F = gravity and buoyancy, A F = aerodynamic force, I F = coriolis force, and T F = vectored thrust.  = attack angle  = sideslip angle 1 Associate Professor, 2 H C = aerodynamic coefficient of the horizontal force Z C = aerodynamic coefficient of the vertical force M C = aerodynamic coefficient of the main pitch moment i  = deflection angle of i propeller i f = generated force of i propeller Rp = position of the propeller on the body m ii = add mass items of the airship I x, I y, I z = inertia the of the airship

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Section: Design Of the Flight Control Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Control of a Multi-vectored Thrust Airship

Chen

Wen

Zhou

et al. 2015

22nd AIAA Lighter-Than-Air Systems Technology Conference

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“…The vectored-thrust aerostats, such as the spherical or elastica aerostat, differ from the airship [20,21,22]. The elastica aerostat has an isotopic drag coefficient, lateral control capability, and independent control of position and attitude.…”

Section: Design Of the Reconfigurable Control Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of a multi-vectored thrust aerostat with a reconfigurable control system

Chen

Duan

Sun

2016

Aerospace Science and Technology

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This paper presents an aerostat developed in the shape of an ellipsoid, which is a cross between a ball and a water droplet. This aerostat is equipped with four vectored thrusters. Its coefficient of forward drag is smaller than that of the spherical aerostat, and its lift efficiency is higher than that of the conventional airship. To allocate control among the multi-vectored thrusters, a control system based on pseudo-inverse dynamics is designed. A reconfiguration strategy is also proposed to reallocate actuators in case of control actuator failure. Three diagonal weight matrices are combined to represent all possible failure situations occurred on vectored thruster, they make the reconfigurable controller more general. Based on simulation results under different fault situations, the reconfigurable control system performs more effectively than a normal control system in cases of actuator failure, even when more than one actuator fails. Reconfigurable ability of controller also validated in real flight experiment.

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“…When δ e is positive, the airship is inclined upward; otherwise, the airship is pointed downward. The moment of pitch aerodynamics generated by δ e is: (15) . .…”

Section: Elevator Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…. (18) In airship dynamics, a change in x G alters the pitch moment of gravity and buoyancy M GB (15) :…”

Section: Dynamics Of Ballonetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Di (14) established a method to solve the problem of attitude control given an aerodynamic fin and vectored thruster. Chen (15) analysed a nonlinear composite controller with aerodynamic control surfaces, moving mass, and vectored thrust. These studies have focused on flight control at the working altitude based on the assumption that buoyancy is equal to weight and that air is not exchanged by the ballonets.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Control of the horizontal position of a stratospheric airship during ascent and descent

Chen¹,

Zhou²,

Wen³

et al. 2015

Aeronaut.j.

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A stratospheric airship flies at a working altitude of 20km when it takes off from the ground. During ascent and descent, the wind field and thermal environment are highly complex. The thermal environment affects altitude, whereas wind influences the horizontal position of the airship. At a low altitude, this horizontal position cannot be controlled by thrusts given the low thrust-to-weight ratio, especially under a large wind field. However, it may be controlled indirectly by the pitch angle during ascent and descent with a certain vertical velocity. This study therefore proposes ascending and descending schemes for a stratospheric airship based on the thermal model. In this model, altitude is determined by the net lift/weight, whereas the horizontal position is controlled by the thrust and pitch. The pitch angle is determined by ballonets and an elevator. To allocate pitch control between the ballonets and the elevator under different airspeeds, pseudo-inverse dynamics of varied weight are introduced. In horizontal position control, the method of chain allocation is then applied between a pitch angle and vectored thrust to control the position of a stratospheric airship during ascent/descent.

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Composite Control of Stratospheric Airships with Moving Masses

Cited by 63 publications

References 10 publications

Design and Control of a Multi-vectored Thrust Airship

Design and Control of a Multi-vectored Thrust Airship

Design of a multi-vectored thrust aerostat with a reconfigurable control system

Control of the horizontal position of a stratospheric airship during ascent and descent

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