Testing Active Rotor Control Applications using DLR's Multiple Swashplate Control System in the LLF of DNW

摘要

In the frame of the nationally funded LuFo-V-1 joint research project FTK (engl.: advanced swashplate concepts) the Multiple Swashplate Control System (META) has successfully completed its first wind tunnel test in the DNW's Large Low-Speed Facility (LLF). META provides full individual blade control (IBC) for rotors with more than three blades without using actuators in the rotating frame~(1,2) and was introduced and patented~(3'4) by DLR in 2008. META was integrated into the DLR's rotor test rig and successfully demonstrated its IBC capabilities in 2012~5. The main goal of the wind tunnel tests was to examine the effectiveness of several IBC strategies regarding noise, vibration and power reduction at different wind speeds and flight attitudes using highly instrumented Bo105-type model rotor blades (from the HART campaigns~(6-9)) as well as a set of newly manufactured model blades (FTK blades) with a more modern blade planform. The results of these tests, which for the first time included 2/rev HHC and TPP-splitting without using actuators in the rotating frame, are a valuable addition to the data gathered from the HART- and HART II campaigns and additionally provide the opportunity to directly compare the performance of two different generations of rotor blades under otherwise identical test conditions.