Dynamic Thrust and Vector Control of a Small Scale TurboJet Engine

Abstract

Increased controllability of a jet engine would allow this powerful piece of machinery to become even more versatile. A primary new function of highly controllable turbojet engines would be to replace the rotors of a quadcopter with turbojets for more lifting capacity. This would result in a cheaper alternative of giving an aircraft vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities. In order for an aircraft to have both conventional take- off and landing as well as vertical take-off and landing, an aircraft would have to have significant additional machinery that is both expensive and heavy. An external method of providing an aircraft with VTOL capabilities would allow this VTOL method to be applied to numerous different aircraft. This also allows for a greater flexibility of where these aircraft are able to take-off. An experimental setup was designed to test the controllability of a turbojet engine with the added control system of thrust vector and air restriction control. This experimental setup was virtually designed primarily using Creo. It was then tested online using Matlab Simulink.