Session: 05-02: GT Control

Paper Number: 152610

Model Matching and Controller Development for a Small-Scale Electric Aircraft Engine Testbed 

Electric engines for commercial aircraft propulsion provide potentially significant efficiency and performance benefits over state-of-the-art turbomachinery due to the aerodynamic benefits provided by propulsion/airframe integration and the improved precision and bandwidth with which they can be controlled. This paper provides an overview of the SmartFan, a small-scale test rig constructed at NASA Glenn Research center and designed to act as a representative electric engine for the purposes of Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, system identification, and control system development. The SmartFan is a small, single-stage axial fan driven by a brushless DC (BLDC) motor with a variable area nozzle provided by a mass flow plug driven with a linear actuator. The fan and flow path, and power system are instrumented to allow for detailed characterization of the system. A real-time computer and field programmable gate array (FPGA) board are used to develop and implement control and performance monitoring algorithms. The paper describes the design of the test rig in more detail and documents the baseline performance of the fan and electrical power system. A digital twin model of the SmartFan electromechanical system is developed in MATLAB/Simulink using the Toolbox for the Modeling and Analysis of Thermodynamic Systems (T-MATS) and the Electrical Modeling and Thermal Analysis Toolbox (EMTAT). The model is presented and used to develop a simple closed-loop speed controller, which is then demonstrated on the test rig. The importance of low-cost, small-scale testbeds such as the SmartFan for HIL testing for validating models and maturing control technologies is discussed, and potential follow-on work is described.

Presenting Author: Jonah Sachs-Wetstone NASA Glenn Research Center

Presenting Author Biography: Jonah Sachs-Wetstone is currently working as an Aerospace Engineer in the Intelligent Control and Autonomy Branch at NASA Glenn Research Center. In this position, Jonah is contributing to the Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core (HyTEC) Project and the Transformational Tools and Technologies (TTT) project, under NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD). Jonah earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.

Authors:

Jonah Sachs-Wetstone NASA Glenn Research Center
Marcus Horning HX5, LLC
Nolan Lamarche HX5, LLC
Dennis Culley NASA Glenn Research Center