System and method for determining airspeed
AssigneeUTI Limited Partnership
InventorsNaser El-Sheimy, Shady Zahran, Adel Moussa
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for use in determining a device's speed. The system uses a plate having a front side that is perpendicular to the device's direction of travel. The airflow caused by the device's motion causes the plate to deflect from a resting position and the amount of deflection of the plate is proportional to the speed of the device. The amount of deflection is measured by a rotary encoder coupled to the plate. By properly calibrating the system, the system can determine the device's velocity simply from the airflow caused by the device's motion.
Claims18
A system for use in determining a speed of a moving device, the system comprising:
- a rigid plate having a front side exposed to an airflow outside of said device as said device is moving, said airflow causing said rigid plate to deflect from a predefined resting position;
- a subsystem for measuring an amount of deflection of said rigid plate as said rigid plate deflects due to said airflow as said device is in motion;
- wherein said amount of deflection of said plate from said resting position is proportional to a speed of said airflow, said speed of said airflow being related to said speed of said moving device,
- and wherein said subsystem comprises a rotary encoder sensor coupled to said rigid plate, wherein said rotary encoder sensor detects a rotation angle of said rigid plate, said rotation angle being proportional to an amount of said deflection of said plate.
A speed determination system, the system comprising:
- a deflection-based subsystem mounted on a moving device exposed to an airflow, said deflection-based subsystem comprising a rigid component, wherein a deflection of said rigid component due to an exposure to said airflow is related to a speed of said moving device;
- and
- a deflection measurement subsystem for determining said deflection of said deflection-based subsystem;
- wherein
- said deflection is measured from a predefined resting position of said rigid component;
- and
- said deflection measurement subsystem comprises a rotary encoder sensor coupled to said rigid plate, wherein said rotary encoder sensor detects a rotation angle of said rigid component, said rotation angle being proportional to an amount of said deflection of said rigid component.
A method for determining a speed of a moving device using a speed determination system mounted on said device, the method comprising:
- a) providing a deflection-based subsystem on said speed determination system, said deflection-based subsystem comprising a rigid component exposed to an airflow;
- b) determining an amount of a deflection of said rigid component, said deflection of said rigid component being caused by said airflow, said amount of deflection being measured relative to a predefined resting position;
- c) using a data processing device, calculating said speed based on said amount of deflection;
- wherein
- said airflow is outside of said device as said device is moving;
- and
- a deflection of said rigid component is related to a speed of said moving device;
- and
- said deflection measurement subsystem comprises a rotary encoder sensor coupled to said rigid component, wherein said rotary encoder sensor detects a rotation angle of said rigid component, said rotation angle being proportional to an amount of said deflection of said rigid component.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.