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At least 55 records · Page 3

Rotor Design Options for Improving V-22 Whirl-Mode Stability

With current tilt-rotor technology, very stiff, thick wings of limited aspect ratio are essential to meet aeroelastic stability requirements, which severely limits cruise efficiency and maximum speed. Larger and more efficient tiltrotors; will need longer and lighter wings, for which whirl-mode flutter is a serious design issue. Numerous approaches to improving the whirl-mode airspeed boundary have been investigated, typically focusing on wing design, active stability augmentation, and variable geometry rotors. The research to be reported applies the much simpler approaches of sweeping the outboard blade sections and extending balance weights at the tip. Improving proprotor whirl-mode stability margins is an ongoing research activity at NASA Ames Research Center. Previous efforts focussed on the XV-15 rotor. This is the first application of these design principles to a full V-22 rotor model in CAMRAD II (a previous publication presented results for a preliminary analytical model). The analysis to be discussed in the proposed paper includes a dual load-path blade model, a compressible-flow aerodynamic model, a representation of swashplate/rotor modal coupling, and other new features. The paper will include discussions of the mechanisms by which blade sweep and tip-mass offsets improve whirl-flutter margins. The V-22 was modeled with CAMRAD II; the rotor model is shown. It is also shows an example swept blade derived from the V-22 rotor system. For this rotor, the primary significance of sweep is the improved whirl-flutter boundary, not the reduced Mach-number effects. An offset tip mass is also shown.

Acree, C. W., Jr.↗

Modeling-Error-Driven Performance-Seeking Direct Adaptive Control

This paper presents a stable discrete-time adaptive law that targets modeling errors in a direct adaptive control framework. The update law was developed in our previous work for the adaptive disturbance rejection application. The approach is based on the philosophy that without modeling errors, the original control design has been tuned to achieve the desired performance. The adaptive control should, therefore, work towards getting this performance even in the face of modeling uncertainties/errors. In this work, the baseline controller uses dynamic inversion with proportional-integral augmentation. Dynamic inversion is carried out using the assumed system model. On-line adaptation of this control law is achieved by providing a parameterized augmentation signal to the dynamic inversion block. The parameters of this augmentation signal are updated to achieve the nominal desired error dynamics. Contrary to the typical Lyapunov-based adaptive approaches that guarantee only stability, the current approach investigates conditions for stability as well as performance. A high-fidelity F-15 model is used to illustrate the overall approach.

Kulkarni, Nilesh V.↗

Investigations of stability and dynamic performances of switching regulators employing current-injected control

The stability and dynamic performances of a buck/boost regulator employing a current-injected control are examined. Small-signal models for the power state, the multi-loop error processor and the duty-cycle pulse-modulator are developed. The error-processor model which incorporates the current-injected loop, the dc loop and the compensation network permits evaluation of the effects of each individual control loop and their combined efforts toward shaping the performance characteristics of the closed-loop system. Comparisons are made between this modeling approach and earlier approaches. Some important yet subtle dissimilarities are discussed. This model predicts the constant-frequency 50 percent duty-cycle instability which is inherent to the current-injected control.

Lee, F. C.↗

Frequency-Tuneable Pre-Stabilized Lasers for LISA via Sideband Locking

Laser frequency noise mitigation is one of the most challenging aspects of the LISA interferometric measurement system. The unstabilized frequency fluctuations must be suppressed by roughly twelve orders of magnitude in order to achieve a stability sufficient for gravitational wave detection. This enormous suppression will be achieved through a combination of stabilization and common-mode rejection. The stabilization component will itself be achieved in two stages: pre-stabilization to a local optical cavity followed by arm-locking to some combination of the inter-spacecraft distances. In order for these two stabilization stages to work simultaneously, the lock-point of the pre-stabilization loop must be frequency tunable. The current baseline stabilization technique, locking to an optical cavity, does not provide tunability between cavity resonance, which are typically spaced by 100s of MHz. Here we present a modification to the traditional Pound-Drever-Hall cavity locking technique that allows the laser to be locked to a cavity resonance with an adjustable frequency offset. This technique requires no modifications to the optical cavity itself, thus preserving the stability of the frequency reference. We present measurements of the system stability, demonstrating that the pre-stabilization level satisfies LISA requirements. We also present a demonstration of a phase-lock loop which utilizes the tunable sideband locking technique as a pre-stabilizations tage. The performance of the pre-stabilized phase-lock-loop indicates that the tunable sideband technique will meet the requirements as an actuator for arm-locking in LISA.

Thorpe, James Ira↗

Frequency-tunable Pre-stabilized Lasers for LISA via Sideband-locking

Laser frequency noise mitigation is one of the most challenging aspects of the LISA interferometric measurement system. The unstabilized frequency fluctuations must be suppressed by roughly twelve orders of magnitude in order to achieve stability sufficient for gravitational wave detection. This enormous suppression will be achieved through a combination of stabilization and common-mode rejection. The stabilization component will itself be achieved in two stages: pre-stabilization to a local optical cavity followed by arm-locking to some combination of the inter-spacecraft distances. In order for these two stabilization stages to work simultaneously, the lock-point of the pre-stabilization loop must be frequency tunable. The current baseline stabilization technique, locking to an optical cavity, does not provide tunability between cavity resonances, which are typically spaced by 100s of MHz. Here we present a modification to the traditional Pound-Drever-Hall cavity locking technique that allows the laser to be locked to a cavity resonance with an adjustable frequency offset. This technique requires no modifications to the optical cavity itself, thus preserving the stability of the frequency reference. We present measurements of the system performance and demonstrate that we can meet implement the first two stages of stabilization.

Livas, Jeffrey C.↗

Advanced Wet Tantalum Capacitors: Design, Specifications and Performance

Insertion of new types of commercial, high volumetric efficiency wet tantalum capacitors in space systems requires reassessment of the existing quality assurance approaches that have been developed for capacitors manufactured to MIL-PRF-39006 requirements. The specifics of wet electrolytic capacitors is that leakage currents flowing through electrolyte can cause gas generation resulting in building up of internal gas pressure and rupture of the case. The risk associated with excessive leakage currents and increased pressure is greater for high value advanced wet tantalum capacitors, but it has not been properly evaluated yet. This presentation gives a review of specifics of the design, performance, and potential reliability risks associated with advanced wet tantalum capacitors. Problems related to setting adequate requirements for DPA, leakage currents, hermeticity, stability at low and high temperatures, ripple currents for parts operating in vacuum, and random vibration testing are discussed. Recommendations for screening and qualification to reduce risks of failures have been suggested.

wet tantalum capacitors (WTC)↗

Advanced Wet Tantalum Capacitors: Design, Specifications and Performance

Insertion of new types of commercial, high volumetric efficiency wet tantalum capacitors in space systems requires reassessment of the existing quality assurance approaches that have been developed for capacitors manufactured to MIL-PRF-39006 requirements. The specifics of wet electrolytic capacitors is that leakage currents flowing through electrolyte can cause gas generation resulting in building up of internal gas pressure and rupture of the case. The risk associated with excessive leakage currents and increased pressure is greater for high value advanced wet tantalum capacitors, but it has not been properly evaluated yet. This presentation gives a review of specifics of the design, performance, and potential reliability risks associated with advanced wet tantalum capacitors. Problems related to setting adequate requirements for DPA, leakage currents, hermeticity, stability at low and high temperatures, ripple currents for parts operating in vacuum, and random vibration testing are discussed. Recommendations for screening and qualification to reduce risks of failures have been suggested.

hermeticity↗

LC-oscillator with automatic stabilized amplitude via bias current control

A stable excitation supply for measurement transducers is described. It consists of a single-transistor oscillator with a coil connected to the collector and a capacitor connected from the collector to the emitter. The output of the oscillator is rectified and the rectified signal acts as one input to a differential amplifier; the other input being a reference potential. The output of the amplifier is connected at a point between the emitter of the transistor and ground. When the rectified signal is greater than the reference signal, the differential amplifier produces a signal of polarity to reduce bias current and, consequently, amplification.

Hamlet, J. F.↗

Current status of longitudinal stability, 24 May 1948

The problems of static and dynamic longitudinal stability both at high speeds and at low speeds are discussed and data are presented which indicate progress made in the solution of these problems. It is shown that the incorporation of large amounts of sweepback on both the wing and the horizontal tail can significantly increase the Mach number at which critical trim changes and stability changes occur and can greatly reduce the trim changes and stability changes encountered at supercritical speeds. Data are also presented which demonstrate the possibility of obtaining satisfactory longitudinal stability in the landing configuration for wings with sweepback of the order of 45 deg utilizing various stall control devices. Optimum arrangements for such devices, however, should be determined experimentally.

Donlan, C. J.↗

Current status of longitudinal stability

The problems of static and dynamic longitudinal stability both at high speeds and at low speeds are discussed and data are presented which indicate recent progress made in the solution of these problems.

STABILITY, LONGITUDINAL - DYNAMIC↗