Wide-envelope adaptive control of ducted ram air turbine generator

To address the growing power demand of airborne systems, the Ducted Ram Air Turbine (DRAT) generator is investigated for its high efficiency. This paper proposes a wide-envelope adaptive control strategy to ensure its stable operation. A component-level model captures the system’s coupling dynamics, while a composite controller combining feedforward compensation and gain-scheduled Proportional-Integral (PI) control is designed to handle load transients and flight condition variations. Simulations demonstrate that the proposed controller suppresses the peak speed fluctuation during load transients from 2.70% (with traditional PI) to 0.71%. Monte Carlo analyses confirm enhanced robustness, reducing average speed overshoot by 33.9% and significantly improving stability margins. Finally, Hardware-in-the-Loop tests verify the strategy’s real-time feasibility for airborne applications.