Design and wind tunnel experimental validation of a controlled new rotary actuation system for a morphing wing application

Abstract

The paper presents the design and the experimental validation of a position controller for a morphing wing application. The actuation mechanism uses two DC motors to rotate two eccentric shafts which morph a flexible skin along two parallel actuation lines. In this way, the developed controller aim is to control the shape of a wing airfoil under different flow conditions. In order to control the actuators positions, a proportional–derivative control algorithm is used. The morphing wing system description, its actuation system structure, the control design, and its validation are highlighted in this paper. The results, obtained both by numerical simulation and experimental validation, are obtained following the control design and its validation. An analysis of the wind flow characteristics is included as a supplementary validation; the pressure coefficients obtained through numerical simulation for several desired airfoil shapes are compared with those obtained through measurements for the experimentally obtained airfoil shapes under different flow conditions.