Methods and systems for operating an auxiliary power unit
AssigneeBombardier Inc.
InventorsClaude Lavoie, Marek Hicar
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Abstract
Methods and systems for operating an auxiliary power unit (APU) of an aircraft are described. The method comprises obtaining external environment parameters of the aircraft, determining an available output power for the APU as a function of the external environment parameters, and setting an overcurrent protection threshold of the APU to a level associated with the available output power.
Claims20
A method for operating an auxiliary power unit (APU) of an aircraft, the method comprising:
- obtaining external environment parameters of the aircraft at a current altitude of the aircraft;
- determining an available output power for the APU as a function of the external environment parameters;
- setting an overcurrent protection threshold of the APU to a level associated with the available output power;
- lowering the current altitude of the aircraft;
- and
- after lowering the current altitude of the aircraft, increasing the overcurrent protection threshold of the APU.
A system for operating an auxiliary power unit (APU) of an aircraft, the system comprising:
- a processing unit;
- and
- a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon program instructions executable by the processing unit for:
- obtaining external environment parameters of the aircraft at a current altitude of the aircraft;
- determining an available output power for the APU as a function of the external environment parameters;
- setting an overcurrent protection threshold of the APU to a level associated with the available output power;
- and
- after the current altitude of the aircraft has been lowered, increasing the overcurrent protection threshold of the APU.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon program instructions executable by a processor for operating an auxiliary power unit (APU) of an aircraft, the program instructions configured for:
- obtaining external environment parameters of the aircraft at a current altitude of the aircraft;
- determining an available output power for the APU as a function of the external environment parameters;
- setting an overcurrent protection threshold of the APU to a level associated with the available output power;
- and
- after the current altitude of the aircraft has been lowered, increasing the overcurrent protection threshold of the APU.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.