Modeling and control of a monopropellant-based pneumatic actuation system

This work describes the modeling and control of a proposed actuation system that is capable of pressurizing a chamber volume via the catalytic decomposition of a liquid monopropellant controlled by a binary on/off propellant valve. Two design configurations of the actuation system are presented and common portions of both are energetically modeled. The parameters of the resulting dynamic model are meaningful physical properties of either the propellant or the system. A model-based switching controller is then applied to the task of pressure tracking. Model validation and controller performance are shown experimentally.