Research on Integrated Control Method of Tiltrotor with Variable Rotor Speed Based on Two-Speed Gearbox

The process of rotor speed variation under tiltrotor cruise state has been studied, and the integrated variable speed control method of tiltrotor based on two-speed gearbox is proposed. Firstly, a nonlinear model predictive controller (NMPC) based on state variable model of the component-level model of the turboshaft engine is designed. Then based on the integrated engine model, the two-speed dual path tiltrotor driveline comprehensive simulation model was developed by utilizing gear kinematics theory, blade element analysis and the theory of classical mechanics. Finally, both a Parallel Shift Control (PSC) strategy and a Sequential Shift Control (SSC) strategy in tiltrotor cruise state were analyzed and compared with conventional PID controller. It is shown that the rotors' speed can synchronously vary by 50 percent under the PSC strategy in tiltrotor cruise state. Meanwhile, disengaging the engine in turn by freewheel clutches can reduce the rotors' speed from 190 rpm to 102.5 rpm along the specified path under the SSC strategy. The overshoot and droop amount of the power turbine speed can be reduced to less than 1.5% with the steady error no more than 0.2% through NMPC, which realizes the fast response control of the turboshaft engine.