System and method for controlling an auxiliary power unit inlet door
AssigneePratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
InventorsPatrick Manoukian, Sarah Theriault
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for controlling an inlet door of an auxiliary power unit (APU) are provided. It is determined whether a condition to inhibit a start of the APU is present. If no condition to inhibit the start of the APU is present, a door-opening signal comprising instructions to cause the inlet door to be commanded to an open position in advance of a prospective command to start the APU is output. If the condition to inhibit the start of the APU is present, a door-closing signal comprising instructions to cause the inlet door to be commanded to a closed position is output.
Claims9
A method for controlling an inlet door of an auxiliary power unit, the method comprising:
- receiving, at a computing device, input data comprising at least one of a current operating state of the auxiliary power unit, an indication as to whether an emergency shutdown of the auxiliary power unit has been commanded, and an indication as to whether at least one operational fault causing a shutdown of the auxiliary power unit is present;
- determining, at the computing device, from the input data, whether a condition to inhibit a start of the auxiliary power unit is present;
- responsive to determining, at the computing device, that no emergency shutdown has been commanded and that no operational fault is present, indicating that no condition to inhibit the start of the auxiliary power unit is present, outputting a door-opening signal comprising instructions to cause the inlet door to be commanded to an open position in advance of a prospective command to start the auxiliary power unit;
- and
- responsive to determining, at the computing device, that the condition to inhibit the start of the auxiliary power unit is present, outputting a door-closing signal comprising instructions to cause the inlet door to be commanded to a closed position.
A system for controlling an inlet door of an auxiliary power unit, the system comprising:
- a memory;
- and
- a processing unit coupled to the memory and configured to:
- receive input data comprising at least one of a current operating state of the auxiliary power unit, an indication as to whether an emergency shutdown of the auxiliary power unit has been commanded, and an indication as to whether at least one operational fault causing a shutdown of the auxiliary power unit is present;
- determine, from the input data, whether a condition to inhibit a start of the auxiliary power unit is present;
- responsive to determining that no emergency shutdown has been commanded and that no operational fault is present, indicating that no condition to inhibit the start of the auxiliary power unit is present, output a door-opening signal comprising instructions to cause the inlet door to be commanded to an open position in advance of a prospective command to start the auxiliary power unit;
- and
- responsive to determining that the condition to inhibit the start of the auxiliary power unit is present, output a door-closing signal comprising instructions to cause the inlet door to be commanded to a closed position.
A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon program code executable by a processor for:
- receiving input data comprising at least one of a current operating state of an auxiliary power unit, an indication as to whether an emergency shutdown of the auxiliary power unit has been commanded, and an indication as to whether at least one operational fault causing a shutdown of the auxiliary power unit is present;
- determining, from the input data, whether a condition to inhibit a start of the auxiliary power unit is present;
- responsive to determining that no emergency shutdown has been commanded and that no operational fault is present, indicating that no condition to inhibit the start of the auxiliary power unit is present, outputting a door-opening signal comprising instructions to cause an inlet door of the auxiliary power unit to be commanded to an open position in advance of a prospective command to start the auxiliary power unit;
- and
- responsive to determining that the condition to inhibit the start of the auxiliary power unit is present, outputting a door-closing signal comprising instructions to cause the inlet door to be commanded to a closed position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.