# US 10,371,575 B2 · Airplane-mounted external fire detection system > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,371,575 B2 - Document ID: US10371575B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/983,148 - Filed: 2018-05-18 - Published: 2019-01-10 - Granted: 2019-08-06 - Earliest claimed: 2017-07-05 - Assignees: The Boeing Company - Applicants: The Boeing Company - Inventors: Robert Steven Wright; Van Jerold Winters - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10371575B2 ## CPC - G01J 5/0088: {in turbines} - B64D 45/00: Aircraft indicators or protectors not otherwise provided for - G08B 17/12: Actuation by presence of radiation or particles, e.g. of infrared radiation or of ions - G08B 17/125: {by using a video camera to detect fire or smoke} - B64D 33/00: Arrangement in aircraft of power plant parts or auxiliaries not otherwise provided for - B64D 2045/009: {Fire detection or protection; Erosion protection, e.g. from airborne particles} - G01J 3/0264: {Electrical interface; User interface} - G01J 3/027: {Control of working procedures of a spectrometer; Failure detection; Bandwidth calculation} - G01J 3/0289: {Field-of-view determination; Aiming or pointing of a spectrometer; Adjusting alignment; Encoding angular position; Size of measurement area; Position tracking} - G01J 3/2803: {using photoelectric array detector} - G01J 5/0018: {Flames, plasma or welding} - G01J 5/602: {using selective, monochromatic or bandpass filtering} - G01J 2005/0077: {Imaging} - G01J: MEASUREMENT OF INTENSITY, VELOCITY, SPECTRAL CONTENT, POLARISATION, PHASE OR PULSE CHARACTERISTICS OF INFRARED, VISIBLE OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT; COLORIMETRY; RADIATION PYROMETRY (light sources F21, H01J, H01K, H05B; investigating properties of materials by optical means G01N) - B64D: EQUIPMENT FOR FITTING IN OR TO AIRCRAFT; FLIGHT SUITS; PARACHUTES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF POWER PLANTS OR PROPULSION TRANSMISSIONS IN AIRCRAFT - G08B: SIGNALLING SYSTEMS, e.g. PERSONAL CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS ## Abstract An aircraft-mounted external fire detection system includes optical circuitry and processing circuitry. The optical circuitry is mounted on an aircraft forward of an engine nacelle of the aircraft, and is configured to optically monitor an exterior of the engine nacelle for a hydrocarbon fire by detecting radiation outside of the visible light spectrum. The processing circuitry is communicatively coupled to the optical circuitry and is configured to use the optical circuitry to determine that the fire has been continuously present for more than a threshold duration, and in response, transmit a warning to an operator terminal of the aircraft. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An aircraft-mounted external fire detection system comprising: optical circuitry mounted on an aircraft forward of an engine nacelle of the aircraft, the optical circuitry being configured to optically monitor an exterior of the engine nacelle for a hydrocarbon fire by detecting radiation outside of the visible light spectrum; processing circuitry communicatively coupled to the optical circuitry and configured to use the optical circuitry to determine that the fire has been continuously present for more than a threshold duration, and in response, transmit a warning to an operator terminal of the aircraft. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The aircraft-mounted external fire detection system of claim 1, wherein to optically monitor the exterior of the engine nacelle, the optical circuitry has a field of view comprising a perimeter substantially defined by a maximum expected deflection of the engine nacelle relative to the optical circuitry under maneuvering load of the aircraft such that the exterior of the engine nacelle remains within the field of view during the maneuvering load. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The aircraft-mounted external fire detection system of claim 1, wherein to transmit the warning to the operator terminal, the processing circuitry is configured to control the operator terminal to display video of the engine nacelle. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The aircraft-mounted external fire detection system of claim 3, wherein to control the operator terminal to display video of the engine nacelle, the processing circuitry is configured to trigger the operator terminal to display video captured by a ground maneuvering camera system mounted on the aircraft and to which the operator terminal is communicatively connected. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) The aircraft-mounted external fire detection system of claim 3, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the operator terminal to display video of the engine nacelle responsive to determining that at least a threshold number of displays are operative at the operator terminal. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The aircraft-mounted external fire detection system of claim 1, wherein to transmit the warning to the operator terminal, the processing circuitry is configured to control the operator terminal to display a notification that is distinct from a further notification produced for a different fire detection system that monitors for fire inside of the engine nacelle. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The aircraft-mounted external fire detection system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to receive a warning suppression signal from the operator terminal, and in response, refrain from sending a further warning to the operator terminal until the processing circuitry determines that the fire is no longer present and subsequently determines that another fire has been continuously present for more than the threshold duration. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The aircraft-mounted external fire detection system of claim 1: further comprising additional optical circuitry mounted on the aircraft, the additional optical circuitry being configured to optically monitor the exterior of the engine nacelle for the fire by detecting radiation outside of the visible light spectrum; wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to refrain from transmitting the warning to the operator terminal until the processing circuitry also determines that the fire has been continuously present for more than the threshold duration using the additional optical circuitry. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The aircraft-mounted external fire detection system of claim 1, wherein the optical circuitry is mounted on a fuselage of the aircraft. ### Claim 10 A method, implemented in an aircraft-mounted external fire detection system, the method comprising: optically monitoring an exterior of an engine nacelle of an aircraft for a hydrocarbon fire by detecting radiation outside of the visible light spectrum using optical circuitry mounted on the aircraft forward of the engine nacelle; using the optical circuitry to determine that the fire has been continuously present for more than a threshold duration, and in response, transmitting a warning to an operator terminal of the aircraft. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the optical circuitry has a field of view comprising a perimeter substantially defined by a maximum expected deflection of the engine nacelle relative to the optical circuitry under maneuvering load of the aircraft such that the exterior of the engine nacelle remains within the field of view during the maneuvering load. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein transmitting the warning to the operator terminal comprises controlling the operator terminal to display video of the engine nacelle. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein controlling the operator terminal to display video of the engine nacelle comprises triggering the operator terminal to display video captured from a ground maneuvering camera system mounted on the aircraft and to which the operator terminal is communicatively connected. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, controlling the operator terminal to display video of the engine nacelle is responsive to determining that at least a threshold number of displays are operative at the operator terminal. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein transmitting the warning to the operator terminal comprises controlling the operator terminal to display a notification that is distinct from a further notification produced for a different fire detection system that monitors for fire inside of the engine nacelle. ### Claim 16 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving a warning suppression signal from the operator terminal, and in response, refraining from sending a further warning to the operator terminal until determining that the fire is no longer present and subsequently determining that another fire has been continuously present for more than the threshold duration. ### Claim 17 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, further comprising: optically monitoring the exterior of the engine nacelle for the fire by detecting radiation outside of the visible light spectrum using additional optical circuitry mounted on the aircraft; refraining from transmitting the warning to the operator terminal until it is also determined that the fire has been continuously present for more than the threshold duration using the additional optical circuitry. ### Claim 18 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the optical circuitry is mounted on a fuselage of the aircraft. ### Claim 19 A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program product for controlling a programmable aircraft-mounted external fire detection system, the computer program product comprising software instructions that, when executed on processing circuitry of the programmable aircraft-mounted external fire detection system, cause the processing circuitry to: use optical circuitry, mounted on an aircraft forward of an engine nacelle of the aircraft and configured to optically monitor an exterior of the engine nacelle for a hydrocarbon fire by detecting radiation outside of the visible light spectrum, to determine that the fire has been continuously present for more than a threshold duration; and transmit a warning to an operator terminal of the aircraft in response to the determination. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the software instructions cause the processing circuitry to transmit the warning to the operator terminal by controlling the operator terminal to display a notification that is distinct from a further notification produced for a different fire detection system that monitors for fire inside of the engine nacelle, the notification comprising video captured by a ground maneuvering camera system mounted on the aircraft to which the operator terminal is communicatively connected.