Actuation for Compressor Surge Allevation and Stall Line Management

Control systems that stabilize the operation of a compressor around the surge line have been demonstrated in controlled laboratory conditions on fixed speed compressors. Jet engine manufacturers are considering this technology for improving engine performance and operability by reducing the compressor surge margins that are currently built into engine control logic. To demonstrate this technology on an engine over the entire flight envelope, reliable sensing, actuation,a nd control logic are all required. A number of research groups are already working on methods to detect the onset of surge and/or rotating stall in real-time. These precursor algorithms and signal processing techniques, combined with flight qualified static pressure transducers, have shown promising results for sensing. A number of research groups are also working on control approaches to stablize the region near the surge line. Little work, however, is being done on the development of reliable actutation for practical, implementable surge system control sstystems. The research proposal being presented here targets actuation as an area where the state-of-the-art needs most improvement in bringing the active compressor stabilization out of the laboratories and into the skies.