On the multidisciplinary control and sensing of a smart hybrid morphing wing

Abstract

Morphing wing technology is of great interest for improving the aerodynamic performance of future aircraft. A morphing wing prototype using both surface embedded Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) and piezoelectric macro fiber composite (MFC) actuators has been designed for wind tunnel experiments. This smart wing is a mechatronic system that contains embedded sensors to measure the surrounding flow and control the actuators. This article will focus on the control of the cambering system which is achieved using a group of nested control loops as well as on the perspective of a novel control strategy using in-situ temperature measurements. It will be shown that by exploiting the inherent hysteretic properties of the SMAs cambering a significant reduction in power consumption is possible by appropriately tailoring the control strategy. Furthermore, by comparing the post-processed pressure signals recorded during the wind tunnel experiments to the aerodynamic performance gains a perspective for a novel in-situ control will be shown.