Monitoring rotor aerodynamic and mass imbalances through a self-balancing control

Abstract

A typical concern in rotating systems is related to rotor imbalances, which result typically from pitch misalignment and unbalanced mass distribution. A novel control for simultaneously targeting mass and pitch imbalances on the rotor is presented. Additionally, a novel detection strategy is developed in order to detect the imbalance source out of the behavior of the control action. More in depth, since the control will generate an artificial aerodynamic imbalance which compensates the pre-existent aerodynamic and inertial ones, one can find and interpret the fingerprint of the imbalance source in the behavior of the balancing controller. A clear advantage of this approach is that the imbalance detection is performed while the control keeps the machine working within its operating limits reducing the down-time and unscheduled maintenance actions.