MICROACTUATOR ARRAYS FOR ADAPTABLE CONTROL SURFACES

FLOW SEPARATION CONTROL IS CRITICAL TO THE PERFORMANCE AND SAFETY OF MILITARY AIRBORNE OR SEABORNE VEHICLES. FLUIDS FLOWING OVER AIRFOILS OR THROUGH FLOW PASSAGES CAN SEPARATE FROM WALL SURFACES, CAUSING FLOW INSTABILITIES. UNCHECKED FLOW SEPARATION CAN RESULT IN VEHICLE POWER LOSS, DAMAGE OR DESTRUCTION. ACTIVE FLOW SEPARATION CONTROL IS REQUIRED BECAUSE VEHICLE PEAK PERFORMANCES USUALLY OCCUR NEAR FLOW SEPARATION CONDITIONS. HISTORICALLY, FLOW SEPARATION CONTROL HAS BEEN ACHIEVED BY MODIFYING CONTROL SURFACE SHAPE/ROUGHNESS OR SURFACE POROSITY USING CONVENTIONALLY-SIZED COMPONENTS. JUST IN THE LAST TWO YEARS, LABORATORIES HAVE DEVELOPED MICROMACHINED DEVICES. ONLY NOW CAN MACRO-SIZED COMPONENTS BE REPLACED BY SUBMILLIMETERSIZED ACTUATORS, SENSORS AND CONTROLLERS INTEGRATED DIRECTLY INTO CONTROL SURFACES, RESULTING IN HIGHER CONTROL PRECISION, MORE RAPID RESPONSE TIMES AND IMPROVED COMBAT DAMAGE TOLERANCE DUE TO THE DISTRIBUTED NATURE OF THE MICROACTUATOR SYSTEM. THIS SBIR EXPLORES THE FEASIBILITY OF USING INTERCONNECTED MICROACTUATOR ARRAYS TO PRODUCE ADAPTABLE SURFACES FOR IMPROVED FLOW SEPARATION CONTROL. FOUR MICROACTUATOR CONCEPTS FOR SURFACE ROUGHNESS CONTROL AND THREE CONCEPTS FOR SURFACE POROSITY CONTROL HAVE BEEN DEFINED. COMPARISONS OF DISCRETE MICRODEVICE SPECIFICATIONS AND MICROFABRICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR SUCCESSFUL LARGE SCALE INTEGRATION INTO SUBSONIC AND SUPERSONIC AIRFOILS WILL BE MADE WITH OPTIMIZED MICRODEVICE ARRAYS SELECTED FOR A PHASE II PROOF-OFPRINCIPLE DEMONSTRATOR. PROJECT RESULTS WILL BE APPLICABLE TO DEVELOPING MICROMECHANICALLY-CONTROLLED ADAPTABLE SURFACES (I.E., AIRFOILS, RUDDERS, FLAPS, PROPELLERS) AND FLUID-HANDLING COMPONENTS (I.E., DIFFUSERS, MIXERS, EXPANDERS) FOR FLOW SEPARATION CONTROL AND BOUNDARY LAYER CONTROL SYSTEMS IN MILITARY AIRBORNE AND SEABORNE VEHICLES, MISSILES, COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT, TURBINES, PUMPS AND COMPRESSORS.