Motion control systems at national wind tunnel facility

摘要

The National Wind Tunnel Facility (NWTF) at IIT Kanpur uses Virtual Instrumentation (LabVIEW) for all its control and data acquisition functions. Deviating from the general practice of using a workstation for data acquisition and control, the entire control and DAQ function has been implemented using a network of PCs. In this paper motion control systems used for model attitude control using sting type model support system and turntable are presented. The sting type model mounting system with closed loop servo controlled hydraulic motors, Flex Motion controller, and Lab VIEW based application software is one of the most versatile systems in use, providing angular (±20° in pitch and yaw and full 360° in roll) and positional (vertical 1750 mm and cross 2100 mm) movements. The position accuracy is (±0.01° in roll & pitch, ±0.05° in yaw, ±0.13 mm vertical, and ±0.08 mm cross. Five independent motions, e.g., pitch, yaw, roll, vertical, and cross translation can be simultaneously applied statically or dynamically. This permits simulation of various real life situations like, heaving, pitch, yaw and roll oscillations. The FlexMotion controller has also been used for turntable motion control. The motion control systems have been integrated with the various measurement systems to automate the entire measurement chain.