Turbofan engine control design using robust multivariable control technologies

Intelligent Situational Control of Small Turbojet Engines

“…Progressive methodologies like robust control [30], linear quadratic control [31,32], and model predictive and fuzzy control [33,34] are able to produce controllers robust enough to cover a large spectrum of states and uncertainties; they are however often computationally too complex as shown in the references. Another approach, which has already been often used in solution of control problems, is to design simpler specific controllers for specific operational states of the investigated dynamic system for example in an application using different controllers for gas turbine generator and power system of aeropropulsion system as described in [38].…”

“…Both controllers can be also designed as a single robust feedback controller [30,31] or fuel flow scheduler [19,20]; however, the situational control approach allows to design them as two specialized feedback controllers aimed to improve the resulting control quality. The situational control system with intelligent switching can fluently switch between those controllers and even have them operate in cooperative mode to further enhance control quality in order to remove any transients, which could appear during a switch between the acceleration and constant speed controllers.…”

“…These methodologies have been already found to be beneficial in solution of complex control problems as illustrated for example in [28,29]. They were successfully applied in the envisioned engine control systems, the robust control algorithm being described in [30], and LQ control algorithms applied in gas turbine engine control [31,32]. Even more advanced methodologies like model predictive control [33] or hybrid fuzzy-genetic algorithms have been proposed in adaptation of gas turbine engine controllers as described in [34].…”

“…However, most of them base their results and conclusions solely on simulations like [19,27,30,34] or present only conceptual designs like [21,22,25]. Application of methodologies from the field of computational intelligence can also be seen together with interconnection of diagnostic and control systems [21,22,27], which can further enhance the control system's reliability and efficiency.…”

Aircraft Turbine Engine Control Research at NASA Glenn Research Center

“…Although IMPAC methodology was successfully demonstrated by NASA, its application to current and future aircraft configurations was perceived as too complex during industry evaluation. However, the technologies developed for practical application of multivariable control design techniques were perceived to be of value by the industry and were transferred to industry through joint studies as documented in Watts and Garg (1995) and Frederick et al (1996).…”