Blade Controller Redundancy Management for Rotor Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Individual blade control (IBC) rotor systems face catastrophic failure due to lack of redundancy management, leading to potential loss of blade command position and system instability, as traditional control systems are not fully integrated with IBC, resulting in redundant and costly configurations.
Innovation Solution
A redundancy management method and system for IBC rotor systems, involving a control computer and blade controllers, where each blade controller queries and transmits position information, determining a lead blade for historical position validation and smoothing commands, ensuring data transfer through a slip ring between stationary and rotating frames, allowing for graceful degradation in case of communication failures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional control systems are left intact as a safety backup for IBC, then system safety is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the traditional control system with the IBC system by integrating the blade position command logic into a unified control architecture. The control computer executes both traditional collective pitch control and IBC-specific blade position commands, eliminating the need for separate redundant systems while maintaining safety through the validated position command determination process.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system performs self-validation of blade position commands through the determination of valid positions based on lead blade positions and historical data. This self-service mechanism allows the system to detect and correct potential failures internally without requiring external redundant backup systems, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining reliability.
2Reliability
If redundancy management is implemented in IBC rotor systems, then system reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control computer determines valid blade position commands in advance by referencing lead blade positions and historical data before executing control actions. This preliminary validation process prevents catastrophic failures by ensuring command validity ahead of time, providing reliability through logical preprocessing rather than complex hardware redundancy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where blade position commands are continuously validated against lead blade positions and historical data. The control computer monitors blade controller communications and adjusts commands based on validated position information, creating a feedback loop that ensures system reliability through intelligent control rather than hardware complexity.
3Reliability
If blade controllers query and transmit position information amongst themselves, then loss of blade command position is reduced, but data transfer complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control computer serves as an intermediary that coordinates position information queries and transmissions among blade controllers. Rather than creating complex peer-to-peer communication networks, the control computer centralizes the validation and distribution of blade position commands, simplifying data transfer architecture while maintaining reliability through the intermediary's coordinated management of position information.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system for redundancy management of an individual blade controller rotor system is provided. The blade controller rotor system has a control computer in a stationary frame and multiple blade controllers in a rotary frame. Each of the blade controllers corresponds to a blade of a rotor system. A slip ring interfaces the stationary frame and the rotary frame. Data is transferred, via the slip ring, between each blade controller and the control computer. Each blade controller accepts and transmits information, including historical blade positions, from the other blade controllers. Each blade controller can determine a valid position for its blade based on a historical position of another blade.