Enhancing VTOL Multirotor Performance With a Passive Rotor Tilting Mechanism

Thumbnail Image
Files
09411834.pdf (1.6 MB)
Identifiers
ISSN: 2169-3536
DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3075113
Publication date
2021-04
Authors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Citations
Google Scholar
Export
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Abstract
This article discusses the benefits of introducing a simple passive mechanism to enable rotor tilting in Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) multirotor vehicles. Such a system is evaluated in relevant Urban Air Mobility (UAM) passenger transport scenarios such as hovering in wind conditions and overcoming rotor failures. While conventional parallel axis multirotors are underactuated systems, the proposed mechanism makes the vehicle fully actuated in SE(3), which implies independent cabin position and orientation control. An accurate vehicle simulator with realistic parameters is presented to compare in simulation the proposed architecture with a conventional underactuated VTOL vehicle that shares the same physical properties. In order to make fair comparisons, controllers are obtained solving an optimization problem in which the cost function of both systems is chosen to be equivalent. In particular, the control laws are Linear-Quadratic Regulators (LQR), which are derived by linearizing the systems around hover. It is shown through extensive simulation that the introduction of a passive rotor tilting mechanism based on universal joints improves performance metrics such as vehicle stability, power consumption, passenger comfort and position tracking precision in nominal flight conditions and it does not compromise vehicle safety in rotor failure situations.
Description
Publisher Copyright: © 2013 IEEE.
Keywords
Urban air mobility (UAM) , Airtaxi , Fully actuated vehicle , VTOL , LQR , Optimal control , Wind gusts , Rotor failure , Vehicle performance metrics , Universal joint , Urban air mobility (UAM) , Airtaxi , Fully actuated vehicle , VTOL , LQR , Optimal control , Wind gusts , Rotor failure , Vehicle performance metrics , Universal joint , General Computer Science , General Materials Science , General Engineering , SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being , SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
Type
journal article
Citation
Iriarte , I , Iglesias , I , Lasa , J , Calvo-Soraluze , H & Sierra , B 2021 , ' Enhancing VTOL Multirotor Performance With a Passive Rotor Tilting Mechanism ' , IEEE Access , vol. 9 , 9411834 , pp. 64368-64380 . https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3075113