eVTOL Actuator Priority Control for Redundant Flight Controllers
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Solution Overview
Problem
In electrically driven vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, the existing methods for managing redundant controllers and actuators lead to complex selection issues, error dependencies, communication path failures, and the need for feedback channels, which increase weight, power consumption, and development costs, while also risking aircraft stability due to actuator and controller interdependence.
Innovation Solution
A method and control architecture where each controller is assigned a unique priority ranking, allowing it to determine and transmit manipulated variable signals to actuators and other controllers, with signals relayed through successive priority rankings, enabling the actuator to select the highest priority signal for activation, thus eliminating the need for redundant feedback channels and reducing error dependencies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If redundant controllers are implemented for safe operation, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases due to the need for selection mechanisms and feedback channels
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the controller network into hierarchical levels (centralized controller, distributed controllers, and actuator-level controllers). Each segment operates semi-independently, allowing the system to maintain reliability through redundancy while reducing overall complexity by distributing decision-making authority across multiple segments rather than requiring a single complex selection mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of having controllers compete for actuator control through complex selection mechanisms, the invention inverts the approach by enabling actuators to autonomously select and execute commands from any available controller. This reversal simplifies the architecture by eliminating the need for centralized controller selection logic and feedback channels, reducing device complexity while maintaining reliability.
2Reliability
If feedback channels are added for controller redundancy, then reliability is improved, but weight and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The actuator is equipped with autonomous decision-making capability to independently evaluate and select commands from multiple controllers without requiring feedback channels. This self-service approach eliminates the need for weighty feedback infrastructure, as the actuator serves itself by autonomously determining which controller command to execute based on simple availability criteria rather than complex feedback loops.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the feedback channel requirement from the system entirely. By allowing actuators to autonomously select from available controller commands without needing to report back or receive confirmation signals, the design removes the feedback infrastructure that would add weight and power consumption, while still maintaining controller redundancy for reliability.
3Reliability
If multiple actuators are used to fulfill the same object, then reliability is improved, but weight and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamic actuator allocation where the number of active actuators automatically adjusts based on operational requirements and controller availability. Rather than permanently deploying multiple actuators for every function, the system dynamically activates only the necessary number of actuators, reducing power consumption while maintaining reliability through on-demand redundancy.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the operational parameter of actuator engagement from static (always multiple actuators active) to variable (number of active actuators adjusts based on needs). This parameter change allows the system to maintain reliability when redundancy is required while minimizing power consumption when full redundancy is not necessary, optimizing the trade-off between reliability and energy use.
4Measurement precision
If controllers use integrative components for chronological summation, then control precision is improved, but error accumulation increases when control loops are open
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements a hybrid feedback mechanism where distributed controllers continuously monitor actuator responses and adjust their commands accordingly. This feedback loop prevents error accumulation by detecting and correcting integration drift before it becomes significant, allowing controllers to maintain precision through chronological summation without the reliability issues of uncorrected error accumulation in open loops.
Solution Approach 2:
Controllers perform preliminary error checking and validation before executing integrative commands. By预先 verifying the validity and consistency of control deviations before summation, the system prevents erroneous data from being integrated, thereby maintaining measurement precision while avoiding the error accumulation that would occur with unchecked integration in open control loops.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for operating an eVTOL multirotor aircraft having distributed actuators activated by controllers that each determines an associated manipulated variable signal at least for a subset of actuators and provides it for the relevant actuator. The method provides that for an actuator: i) assigning a different priority ranking for each controller; ii) determining, by way of a given controller having a given priority ranking, at least one manipulated variable signal for the actuator and transmitting the signal identified by the given priority ranking to the relevant actuator and to a controller having a successive priority ranking; iii) receiving, via a given controller having a given priority ranking, manipulated variable signals from controllers having higher priority ranking and relaying these signals to the actuator and to a controller having a successive priority ranking; and iv) activating the actuator using the manipulated variable signal identified by the highest priority ranking.