US 12,264,631 B2
System and method for synchrophasing a propulsion system using electric machines
Stefan Joseph Cafaro, Chapel Hill, NC (US); and Kalpesh Singal, Ballston Spa, NY (US)
Assigned to General Electric Company, Evendale, OH (US)
Filed by General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US)
Filed on Jun. 15, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/335,366.
Prior Publication US 2024/0418132 A1, Dec. 19, 2024
Int. Cl. B64D 31/12 (2006.01); B64C 11/50 (2006.01); F02C 9/00 (2006.01); F02K 3/00 (2006.01)
CPC F02C 9/00 (2013.01) [B64C 11/50 (2013.01); B64D 31/12 (2013.01); F02K 3/00 (2013.01); F05D 2220/323 (2013.01); F05D 2270/01 (2013.01); F05D 2270/03 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A propulsion system comprising:
at least two propulsors, each of the at least two propulsors comprising a fan; and
a controller having one or more processors configured to implement controller logic, in implementing the controller logic, the one or more processors are configured to:
determine an actual pairwise phase difference between a pair of propulsors of the at least two propulsors;
provide, via a trajectory planner, a reference phase angle trajectory, the reference phase angle trajectory including a plurality of reference phase angle setpoints each corresponding to a respective time within a time period;
compare the actual pairwise phase difference to one of the reference phase angle setpoints to generate a phase error;
provide the phase error to a phase controller module to generate an output based on the phase error; and
adjust a speed of at least one propulsor of the at least two propulsors based on the output to drive the phase error towards zero.