Control of a Miniducted-Fan Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Using Active Flow Control

Abstract

An experimentalstudy of thecontrol of the e owe eld around thestatorvanes of a new miniducted-fan unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) using synthetic jet actuators is presented. As a result, a new control approach of the UAV is proposed in which active e ow control can be used instead of moving control surfaces and articulated rotor blade. Therefore, the UAV’ s propulsion and control systems are reduced to a single moving part, a e xed pitch propeller. This mechanical simplicity makes the active e ow control application particularly attractive for development of mini- and micro-UAVs. The directional and rotational control of the UAV (0.5 m in diameter and 0.15 m in height ) can be obtained by controlling the e ow within the duct. This can be achieved by the activation of surface e uidic actuators based on synthetic jet technology that are located downstream from a miniature passive obstruction. The synthetic jets are e ush mounted on a set of four e xed stators located downstream from the propeller. In the present work the e owe eld around the stator vanes is studied using particle image velocimetry at different radial locations, where the geometrical angle of attack of the stator vanes is e xed at 10 deg and the propeller rotational speed is either 4300 or 6200 rpm. Velocity measurements in the near wake are also obtained, and the data show that as a result of the actuation the cross-stream extent of the wake and its velocity dee cit are signie cantly reduced and the e ow is quasi-steady.