A master-slave approach to aircraft engine bleed flow sharing control

In this paper, a master-slave control strategy is developed for the flow sharing control of multiple engine systems, applicable to aircraft and industrial plants. Under the proposed control strategy, one of the engine airflow channels is designated as the master control channel, and its pressure is controlled using pressure sensor measurements. The remaining bleed flow channels are treated as the slave flow channels. The air mass flow is also measured in the master channel, and the air flow sensor output of the master channel is utilized to slave the other channels, which are flow-controlled. Since the proposed strategy avoids simultaneous pressure control of multiple channels, the resultant effects of the dynamic coupling among the channels are reduced. Experimental results have confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed control method.