Motorized Tail Unit System with Acquisition

The horizontal tail unit proposed is part of a 1/11th scale aerodynamic aircraft model designed for wind tunnel testing. Pedagogical Objectives: This system covers both Mechanical and Electrical Engineering domains: structural analysis of the tail unit control mechanism; role of tail unit in aircraft flight dynamics; functional analysis of the control mechanism; identification of constituent parts; schematic and geometric representations; kinematic behaviour; static behaviour; technical analysis and assembly/guidance characteristics; definition and structure of a servo-controlled system; open-loop operation with kinematic and dynamic function graphs; closed-loop servo-controlled operation (gain adjustment) with kinematic and dynamic function graphs.

Technical Description:

Energy chain:

• Articulated tail unit support relative to the fixing frame (designed for manual application of a perturbation force)
• DC motor
• Bevel gear pair with straight teeth
• Ball screw/nut system
• Two spring tie rods (simulating aerodynamic forces, with two different stiffnesses)
• Visualization device for ball screw operation

Information and control chain:

• Application developed under data acquisition software
• Angular position sensor on the ball screw
• Potentiometric sensor on the tilting housing measuring tail unit rotation angle
• Acquisition chain for: motor terminal voltage, motor torque, tail unit angular positions, input and output angular velocities, overall reduction ratio
• Electrical cabinet with power card, power supply, connectivity for model and PC connection
• Technical, pedagogical and resource documentation on CD-ROM