Christopher Aksland

Current Work

Improved power management techniques are required to enhance the operating behavior of hybridized and electrified vehicles. However, the complex, multi-domain, and multi-timescale dynamics for this class of systems create challenges for real-time capable control design. Additionally, these vehicles have strict electrical and thermal operating constraints to maintain reliable operation. For example, battery state of charge, current, and temperature must remain within specific bounds to prevent premature degradation or thermal runaway. Chris’ latest work has focused on the application of model predictive control for the multi-timescale coordination of the electro-mechanical dynamics of a hybrid electric UAV powertrain. Simulated and hardware demonstrations of the predictive control designs showed improvements in the overall system performance, reliability, and efficiency in comparison to a well designed baseline controller (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 Comparison of performance, reliability, and efficiency metrics for the validated control designs presented in [5].

Chris’ ongoing work considers the control design and validation for a full aircraft power system. A predictive hierarchical control framework that understands the electrical, mechanical, and thermal system coupling will be used to demonstrate enhancements in the aircraft operation.

The validation of Chris’ control designs through testbed demonstrations are added value of the research. Chris currently works on the POETS Aerospace Vehicle testbed which is composed of a hybrid electric UAV powertrain (Fig. 2) and aircraft fuel thermal management system (Fig. 3).

Fig. 2 Hybrid electric UAV powertrain testbed.

Fig. 3 Aircraft fuel thermal management system testbed.

 

Publications

Journal

[1] Aksland, Christopher; Tannous, Pamela; Wagenmaker, Minda; Pangborn, Herschel; Alleyne, Andrew, Hierarchical Predictive Control of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Integrated Power, Propulsion, and Thermal Management System, Transactions on Control Systems and Technology. (Conditionally Accepted) [PDF] [Link] (Coming Soon)

[2] Russell, Kayla; Aksland, Christopher; Alleyne, Andrew, Graph-Based Dynamic Modeling of Two-Phase Heat Exchangers in Vapor Compression Systems, International Journal of Refrigeration, 2022. [PDF] [Link]

[3] Alleyne, Andrew; Aksland, Christopher, Control as an Enabler for Electrified Mobility, Annual Review of Control, Robotics, and Autonomous Systems, 2021. [PDF] [Link]

[4] Aksland, Christopher; Alleyne, Andrew, Hierarchical Model-Based Predictive Controller for a Hybrid UAV Powertrain, Control Engineering Practice, 2021. [PDF] [Link]

Conference

[5] Lupp, Christopher; Clark, Daniel; Aksland, Christopher; Alleyne, Andrew, Mission and Shape Optimization of a HALE Aircraft including Transient Power and Thermal Constraints, AIAA Aviation. (Accepted) [PDF] [Link] (Coming Soon)

[6] Aksland, Christopher; Alleyne, Andrew, Gradient-Based Optimization for Anti-Windup PID Controls, Proc. of the American Control Conference, 2022. [PDF] [Link] (Coming Soon)

[7] Laird, Cary; Docimo, Donald; Aksland, Christopher; Alleyne, Andrew, Graph-based design and control optimization of a hybrid electrical energy storage system, Proc. of the ASME 2020 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, 2020. [PDF] [Link]

[8] Aksland, Christopher; Alleyne, Andrew, Experimental Model and Controller Validation for a Series Hybrid Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Proc. of the American Control Conference, 2020. [PDF] [Link]

[9] Aksland, Christopher; Bixel, Tyler; Raymond, Logan; Rottmayer, Michael; Alleyne, Andrew, Graph-Based Electro-Mechanical Modeling of a Hybrid Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Real-Time Applications, Proc. of the American Control Conference, 2019. [PDF] [Link]

[10] Garrow, Sarah; Aksland, Christopher; Sharma, Sunny; Alleyne, Andrew, Integrated Modeling for Battery Electric Vehicle Transcritical Thermal Management System, Proc. of the American Control Conference, 2018. [PDF] [Link]

[11] Aksland, Christopher; Koeln, Justin; Alleyne, Andrew, A graph-based approach for dynamic compressor modeling in vapor compression systems, Proc. of the ASME 2017 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, 2017. [PDF] [Link]

Theses

[12] Aksland, C.T., Modular Modeling and Control of a Hybrid Unmanned Aerial Vehicle’s Powertrain,” M.S. Thesis, Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2019. [PDF] [Link]