Design and Control of a Shape Memory Alloy Actuator for Flap Type Aerodynamic Surfaces

• Published in: IFAC Proceedings Volumes Vol. 44; no. 1; pp. 8138 - 8143
• Main Authors: Dönmez, Burcu, Özkan, Bülent
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.2011
• Subjects: antagonistic actuation; power feedback; self-sensing capability; Shape memory alloys and control; Shape memory alloys and control; self-sensing capability; antagonistic actuation; power feedback
• ISSN: 1474-6670
• DOI: 10.3182/20110828-6-IT-1002.01113

This paper presents flap control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) using shape memory alloy (SMA) wires as actuator. In this content, the mathematical model of the SMA wire is obtained through characterization tests then model of the proposed flap mechanism is derived. Later, based on these models, both flap angle and power dissipation of the SMA wire are controlled in two different loops employing compensated proportional-integral type and neural network-based control schemes. The angle commands are converted to power commands through the outer loop controller later which are updated based on the error in the flap angle induced because of the indirect control and external effects. In this study, power consumption of the wire is introduced as a new internal feedback variable instead of generally employed resistance feedback. Constructed simulation models are run and performance specifications of the proposed control systems are investigated. Eventually, it is shown that proposed controllers perform well in terms of achieving small tracking errors.