APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SHAPE OF STRUCTURES

摘要

An apparatus and method control the shape of a structure (6) with one or more surfaces (8, 9) and internal actuators (11). A plurality of translational actuators (11) are capable of extending and contracting. The structure (6) can have any number of controllable surfaces (8, 9) which are controlled by computing the actuator strokes or loads required for achieving specified surface deflections. There are two methods for accomplishing this control. In the actuator stroke-control method, the surface deflections, or deflection errors for closed-loop control, are multiplied by a stroke-control gain matrix which is a function of the properties of the structure with the actuators absent. In the actuator load-control method, the surface deflections, or deflection errors for closed-loop control, are multiplied by a load-control gain matrix which is a function of the properties of the structure with the actuators absent. In either of these methods, different control gain matrices can be developed depending on whether it is desired to minimize actuator loads or surface shape errors.