Fiber optic actuator overload trip sensor
AssigneeHamilton Sundstrand Corporation
InventorDarrell E. Ankney
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and a method of determining a state of an actuator in an airplane. The apparatus includes a mirror coupled to the actuator, wherein a location of the mirror is dependent on the state of the actuator, a shaft for moving the mirror upon a change in the state of the actuator, and a processor. Incident light is reflected off of the mirror to create a reflected light. The processor receives the reflected light from the mirror, detects a change in a parameter of the reflected light generated by moving of the mirror, and determines the state of the actuator based on the change in the parameter.
Claims7
A method of controlling operation of an airplane, comprising:
- reflecting incident light off of a mirror to create a reflected light, wherein the mirror is coupled to an actuator via a spring, spring is held in a non-equilibrium position by a mechanical trip indicator of the actuator under normal operation of the actuator, and the actuator is coupled to a slat or a flap of the airplane;
- moving the mechanical trip indicator when the actuator is over torqued to allow the spring to relax to its equilibrium position, thereby moving the mirror;
- detecting a change in a phase of the reflected light generated by moving the mirror;
- determining the actuator to be over-torqued based on the change in the phase;
- and
- controlling operation of another slat or another flap based on the actuator being over-torqued to control operation of the airplane.
An apparatus for controlling an airplane, comprising:
- an actuator for controlling a slat or a flap of the airplane;
- a spring held in a non-equilibrium position by a mechanical trip indicator of the actuator under normal operation of the actuator, wherein the mechanical trip indicator moves when the actuator is over-torqued to allow the spring to relax to its equilibrium position;
- a shaft configured to move via the spring;
- a mirror movable via the shaft;
- a processor configured to:
- project incident light onto the mirror;
- receive reflected light from the mirror;
- detect a change in a phase of the reflected light generated by moving the mirror;
- and
- determine the actuator to be over-torqued based on the change in the phase;
- and
- control operation of another slat or another flap based on the actuator being over-torqued to control operation of the airplane.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.