Paper
Safe Dynamics and Control of a Rotor Vehicle on a Track
- Authors:
- Makoto Katoh; Tasuku Kumagai; Takayuki Ozeki
- Abstract
- This paper presents the concepts and tests of a Flettner rotor vehicle model on a track that can travel safely in a straight line under constant wind force conditions using rotor power. It also discusses emergency operational procedures, primarily a main rotor trip (MRT) function that immediately disengages the rotor from the power train, and a runback (rapidly reducing system loading) feature that can be implemented when the rotor stalls or when other dangerous operating conditions suddenly appear. While such procedures are necessary for the safe operation of this type of vehicle, there are also economic considerations that may make it necessary to halt or rapidly curtail rotor rotation. In our simulations and experiments, we use a stall detector to show the utility of our novel MRT and runback procedures using the moving average method, and compare it to methods that govern low vessel velocities using threshold speed data. The results of our experiments showed that symptom-based control is more appropriate than timing based control. We then analyzed the merits, demerits, risk and countermeasure (MDRC) aspects of both policies. While a concrete guiding principle for risk counter-measures has yet to be determined, the eventual result is expected to be a fusion of the two policies.
- Keywords
- Flettner rotor vehicle; Rotor speed control; MRT and runback; MDRC
- StartPage
- 63
- EndPage
- 70
- Doi