Design and Construction of a Small Ducted Fan Engine for Nonlinear Control Experiments

Henry Choi, Peter Sturdza, Richard M. Murray
Proceedings of the 1994 American Control Conference
June 1994

This paper describes the design and construction of a small ducted fan engine which is being used for experimental research in robust nonlinear control of high-performance jet aircraft. The fan consists of a high-efficiency electric motor with a 6-inch diameter blade, capable of generating up to 9 Newtons of thrust. Flaps on the fan allow the thrust to be vectored from side to side and even reversed. The engine is mounted on a three degree of freedom stand which allows horizontal and vertical translation as well as unrestricted pitch angle. We give a detailed description of the performance of the fan, including models for the thrust as a function of flap angle and fan speed, as well as some discussion of ground effects. Initial experiments for hover stabilization are included to verify the system model and indicate future avenues of research.

Conference paper (PDF, 720K, 5 pages)
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