Development and flight test of a shape memory alloy actuator flight control system

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Brennison ◽  
R. M. Barrett ◽  
L. Kerth
2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
M. Brennison ◽  
R. M. Barrett ◽  
L. Kerth

This paper details an investigation of shape memory alloy (SMA) filaments which are used to drive a flight control system with precision control in a real flight environment. An antagonistic SMA actuator was developed with an integrated demodulator circuit from a JR NES 911 subscale UAV actuator. Most SMA actuator studies concentrate on modeling the open-loop characteristics of such a system with full actuator performance modeling. This paper is a bit different in that it is very practically oriented and centered on development of a flight-capable system which solves the most tricky, practical problems associated with using SMA filaments for aircraft flight control. By using well-tuned feedback loops, it is shown that intermediate SMA performance prediction is not appropriate for flight control system (FCS) design. Rather, capturing the peak behavior is far more important, along with appropriate feedback loop design. To prove the system, an SMA actuator was designed and installed in the fuselage of a 2 m uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV) and used to control the rudder through slips and coordinated turns. The actuator was capable of 20 degrees of positive and negative deflection and was capable of 7.5 in-oz (5.29 N cm) of torque at a bandwidth of 2.8 Hz.


Author(s):  
S Farzaneh Hoseini ◽  
S Ali MirMohammadSadeghi ◽  
Alireza Fathi ◽  
Hamidreza Mohammadi Daniali

Shape memory alloys are among the highly applicable smart materials that have recently appealed to scientists from various fields of study. In this article, a novel shape memory alloy actuator, in the form of a rod, is introduced, and an adaptive model predictive control system is designed for position control of the developed actuator. The need for such an advanced control system emanates from the fact that modeling and controlling of shape memory alloy actuators are thwarted by their hysteresis nonlinearity, dilatory response, and high dependence on environmental conditions. Real-time identification and dynamic parameter estimation of the model are addressed according to orthogonal Laguerre functions and recursive least square algorithm. In the end, the designed control system is implemented on the experimental setup of the fabricated shape memory alloy actuator. It is observed that the designed control system successfully tracks the variable step and sinusoidal control references with startling accuracy of ±1 μm.


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