An hydrofoil control system for the SR02 vessel in the scope of the Tecnico Solar Boat Project,

October 21, 2020

This thesis focuses on the design, implementation and testing of a control system for the hydrofoil vessel SR02, developped under the Técnico Solar Boat project. In this project solar-powered vessels are built and therefore aim to be as light and efficient as possible. For this purpose it is intended to design and implement a system with hydrofoils, wings that are inserted underneath the boat becoming submerged and creating sufficient lift force for the hull not to touch the water. This way it is possible to reduce the drag of the boat and advance in a more energy efficient way. In this thesis all the physical equations that govern the system are studied so that it is possible to create a Simulink model to be able to make all kinds of simulations and analyze the behavior of the boat when it is foilborne. This model is followed by the implementation of a control system that can regulate the lift force generated by the hydrofoils and thus stabilize the vessel at a certain height in relation to the water line. The controller analysed is based on an LQR (Linear Quadratic Regulator), where reference tracking, integral action, anti wind-up and a delta implementation are introduced.

Authors in the community:

• 

  B

  Basile Jean Belime

  ist180960

Supervisors of this institution:

• 

  A

  António Manuel dos Santos Pascoal

  ist11814

electrical-engineering-electronic-engineering-information-engineering - Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering

eng - English

Instituto Superior Técnico