Active control for performance enhancement of electrically controlled rotor

Electrically controlled rotor (ECR) system has the potential to enhance the rotor performance by applying higher harmonic flap inputs. In order to explore the feasibility and effectiveness for ECR performance enhancement using closed-loop control method, firstly, an ECR rotor performance analysis model based on helicopter flight dynamic model is established, which can reflect the performance characteristics of ECR helicopter at high advance ratio. Based on the simulation platform, an active control method named adaptive T-matrix algorithm is adopted to explore the feasibility and effectiveness for ECR performance enhancement. The simulation results verify the effectiveness of this closed-loop control method. For the sample ECR helicopter, about 3% rotor power reduction is obtained with the optimum 2/rev flap inputs at the advance ratio of 0.34. And through analyzing the distributions of attack of angle and drag in rotor disk, the underlying physical essence of ECR power reduction is cleared. Furthermore, the influence of the key control parameters, including convergence factor and weighting matrix, on the effectiveness of closed-loop control for ECR performance enhancement is explored. Some useful results are summarized, which can be used to direct the future active control law design of ECR performance enhancement. (C) 2015 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of CSAA & BUAA.