Novel high-safety aeroengine performance predictive control method based on adaptive tracking weight

Increasing attention has been attracted to the dynamic performance and safety of advanced performance predictive control systems of the next-generation aeroengine. The latest research demonstrates that Subspace-based Improved Model Predictive Control (SIMPC) can overcome the difficulty in solving the predictive model in MPC/NMPC applications. However, applying constant design parameters cannot maintain consistent control effects in all states. Meanwhile, the designed system relies too much on sensor-measured data, and thus it is difficult to thoroughly validate the safety of the system because of its high complexity. This means that any potential hardware/software faults will endanger the engine. Therefore, this paper first presents a novel nonlinear mapping relationship to adaptively tune the tracking weight online with the change of Power Lever Angle (PLA) and real-time relative tracking error. Thus, without introducing additional design parameters, an Adaptive Tracking Weight-based SIMPC (ATW-SIMPC) controller is designed to improve the control performance in all operating states effectively. Then, a Primary/Backup Hybrid Control (PBHC) strategy with the ATW-SIMPC controller as the primary system and the traditional speed (N_f) controller as the backup system is proposed to ensure safety. The designed affiliated switching controller and the real-time monitor therein can be used to realize reasonable and smooth switching between primary/backup systems, so as to avoid bump transition. The PBHC system switches to the N_f controller when the ATW-SIMPC controller is wrong because of potential hardware/software faults; otherwise, the ATW-SIMPC controller keeps acting on the engine. The main results prove that the ATW-SIMPC controller with the optimal nonlinear mapping relationship, compared with the existing SIMPC controller, uplifts the dynamic control performance by 32% and reduces overshoots to an allowable limit, resulting in a better control effect in full state. The comparison results consistently indicate that the PBHC can guarantee engine safety in occurrence of hardware/software faults, such as sensor/onboard adaptive model faults. The approach proposed is applicable to the design of a model-based engine intelligent control system.