System and method for electronic propeller blade angle position feedback with angled pairs of teeth

An aircraft propeller system comprising:

• a propeller rotatable about a longitudinal axis and having a plurality of blades each rotatable through a range of blade angles;
• a feedback device comprising at least one pair of position markers spaced from one another around a circumference of said feedback device and oriented at ac first angle relative to one another and at a same second angle relative to said longitudinal axis;
• a sensor adjacent the feedback device and configured for detecting said position markers passing the sensor and for generating a sensor signal indicative of passage of said position markers, the feedback device and sensor movably mounted with respect to one another, one of the feedback device and sensor mounted for rotation with the propeller and the other fixedly mounted;
• and
• a detection unit connected to the sensor and configured for determining on the basis of said sensor signal a time interval between passage of the position markers and computing a blade angle position based on said time interval.

A method for blade angle position feedback for an aircraft propeller, the propeller rotatable about a longitudinal axis and comprising a plurality of blades each rotatable through a range of blade angles, the method comprising:

• receiving a sensor signal from at least one sensor mounted adjacent to a feedback device, one of said at least one sensor and said feedback device operatively connected to rotate with the propeller, the feedback device comprising at least one pair position markers spaced apart around a circumference thereof and oriented at a first angle relative to one another and at a same second angle relative to said longitudinal axis, the at least one sensor configured for successively detecting a passage of each one of the at least one pair of position markers and for generating a sensor signal indicative of passage of said position markers, the feedback device and the at least one sensor configured for relative axial displacement;
• determining on the basis of the sensor signal a time interval elapsed between the passage of a first position marker and a second position marker of said at least one pair;
• and
• computing from the time interval a blade angle position for the plurality of blades.