Small signal point-to-point tracking of a propellant mixer

The mixer described in this work is responsible for combining high pressure LH2 and GH2 to produce a hydrogen flow that meets certain thermodynamic properties before it is fed in to a test article. The desired properties are maintained by controlling the LH2 and GH2 flows. The mixer is modeled as a general multi-flow lumped volume for single constituent fluids using density and internal energy as states. A small-signal model is developed based on the nonlinear model and simulated including a table look-up feature of the fluid thermodynamic properties. Pulse disturbances are introduced to the valve positions and the quality of the linear model is ascertained by comparing its behavior against the nonlinear model simulations. Valve control strategies that simulate an operator-in-the-loop scenario are then explored demonstrating the need for automatic feedback control. Finally, classical optimal multi-output proportional/integral controllers are designed based on the linear model and applied to the nonlinear model with excellent results to track simultaneous, constant setpoint changes in desired exit flow, exit temperature, and mixer pressure, as well as to reject unmeasurable but bounded additive step perturbations in the valve positions.