Electric Aircraft Flight Control with Torque Allocation Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
In electric aircraft, maintaining safety during flights is compromised due to potential component malfunctions, which can lead to unsafe operating modes, risking the aircraft, passengers, and cargo.
Innovation Solution
A flight control system that includes sensors to capture pilot inputs, an inertial measurement unit for detecting aircraft angles and rates, an outer loop controller to generate rate setpoints, an inner loop controller to calculate moments, and a mixer to allocate torque to motors, ensuring stable aircraft control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a flight control system is implemented to maintain aircraft stability, then aircraft safety and stability are improved, but device complexity increases due to multiple controllers and sensors
Solution Approach 1:
The flight control system is divided into multiple independent controllers (outer loop controller, inner loop controller, mixer) that each perform specific functions. This segmentation allows the system to maintain stability through distributed control while enabling modular design and fault isolation, addressing the contradiction between reliability and complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system dynamically adjusts control parameters and torque allocation based on real-time aircraft state feedback from sensors. The mixer dynamically allocates torque to motors based on current operating conditions, allowing the system to adapt to varying flight conditions and maintain stability without requiring overly complex fixed-structure control mechanisms.
2Manufacturing precision
If torque allocation is performed by the mixer to control motor commands, then aircraft control precision is improved, but computational load and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The mixer pre-calculates torque allocation based on moment demands from the inner loop controller, preparing motor command data before actual actuation is needed. This preliminary computation allows the system to maintain high control precision while reducing real-time processing delays, as the computationally intensive torque allocation is performed in advance rather than during critical flight control moments.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for flight control configured for use in an electric aircraft includes a sensor configured to capture an input datum. The system includes an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and configured to detect an aircraft angle and an aircraft angle rate. The system includes a flight controller including an outer loop controller configured to receive the input datum from the sensor, receive the aircraft angle from the IMU, and generate a rate setpoint as a function of the input datum. The system includes an inner loop controller configured to receive the aircraft angle rate, receive the rate setpoint from the outer loop controller, and generate a moment datum as a function of the rate setpoint. The system includes a mixer configured to receive the moment datum, perform a torque allocation as a function of the moment datum, and generate a motor command datum as a function of the torque allocation.