No-Emission Wireless Electrical Rotorcraft Autonomous Systems (NEW-ERAS)

无排放无线电动旋翼机自主系统（NEW-ERAS）

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-06238
• 负责人: Nitzsche, Fred
• 金额: $ 1.97万
• 依托单位: Carleton University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=759525
• 关键词: No; Emission; Wireless; Electrical; Rotorcraft

NEW-ERAS is an enabling project that explores the concept of decentralizing the electrical power source by deploying local and autonomous vibration energy harvesters, energy storage and power management devices in rotorcraft. There is plentiful and unwanted amount of mechanical energy available in the airframe including the rotor due to vibrations normally excited by the airflow, engine operation and maneuvers during the takeoff, cruise and landing flight regimes. Under the thermodynamic point of view, vibration is an abundant and downgraded form of the total energy that is required to create lift, overcome drag and fly but has not yet been utilized. Harvesting this energy using new "smart" structures techniques in combination with wireless communication and power links can become a common solution to logistic problems associated with the implementation of new and extensive structural health monitoring and actuation systems that aim fuel consumption reduction and loads alleviation in future aircraft and rotorcraft. This is the case because all these systems are electrically powered. By having locally deployed electric power generators based on energy harvesting, dead airframe weight accompanying extensive cabling / connection devices running from the energy source (engine) to the sensor / actuator will be minimized. This saving in weight also marginally contributes to reduce fuel consumption. Although the envisioned approach for energy generation from structural vibrations may be applied to both aircraft and rotorcraft and wind turbines, NEW-ERAS will be focused on rotorcraft due to the background of the applicant, his team and their unique dedicated laboratory facilities at Carleton University.    NEW-ERAS is focused on the generation of power for rotorcraft, especially from the main rotor, which is recognized be the most important source of high-frequency forced aeroelastic vibration in rotorcraft. In addition, NEW-ERAS will investigate for the first time the use of the unique "smart-spring," developed by the applicant and co-inventors in Canada, as a low-frequency generator device to harvest the substantial energy available in the blades lead-lag motion that is otherwise dissipated by dampers to avoid rotor instability.    In summary, the question to be addressed by NEW-ERAS is how much electrical power can be practically generated, stored and recycled from the undesired mechanical vibrations in helicopter rotors during typical flight? Then, based on the available power, a few ancillary (sensor and actuator) system demonstrators that could effectively make use of this power will be investigated. The energy harvesting generators, power management and energy storage systems will be integrated with the exemplary ancillary systems to compose electrically low-power autonomous systems. Reduced-scale prototypes of these systems will be designed, fabricated then tested in laboratory-controlled experiments to answer the question.

NEW-ERAS 是一个使能项目，通过在旋翼机中部署本地和自主振动能量收集器、能量存储和电源管理设备来探索分散电源的概念。机身中存在大量不需要的机械能，包括机翼。在起飞、巡航和着陆飞行状态下，通常由气流、发动机操作和机动引起的振动导致转子的振动。从热力学的角度来看，振动是所需总能量的一种丰富且降级的形式。使用新的“智能”结构技术结合无线通信和电力来产生升力、克服阻力和飞行，但尚未得到利用，可以成为解决与实施新的和广泛的结构健康相关的后勤问题的常见解决方案。旨在减少未来飞机和旋翼机的燃油消耗和减轻负载的监控和驱动系统之所以如此，是因为所有这些系统都是电力驱动的，通过基于能量收集、机身自重以及广泛的布线/连接来进行本地部署。设备运行从尽管通过结构振动产生能量的设想方法可以应用于飞机、旋翼机和风力涡轮机，但这种重量减轻也有助于减少燃料消耗。由于申请人、其团队及其在卡尔顿大学独特的专用实验室设施的背景，ERAS 将专注于旋翼飞机​NEW-ERAS 专注于旋翼飞机的发电，特别是来自主发动机的发电。旋翼被认为是旋翼飞行器中高频受迫气动弹性振动的最重要来源。此外，NEW-ERAS 将首次研究由申请人和合作伙伴开发的独特“智能弹簧”的使用。加拿大的发明者，作为一种低频发电机装置，用于收集叶片超前滞后运动中可用的大量能量，否则这些能量会被阻尼器消散，以避免转子不稳定。​总而言之，要解决的问题是。新时代的是，在典型的飞行过程中，直升机旋翼的不良机械振动实际上可以产生、存储和回收多少电力？然后，根据可用的电力，一些辅助（传感器和执行器）系统演示器可以有效地使将研究能量收集发电机、电源管理和能量存储系统与示例性辅助系统的集成，以构成这些系统的缩小规模的原型。设计、制造然后在实验室控制的实验中进行测试来回答这个问题。