Proximity probe piston positioning systems
AssigneeHamilton Sundstrand Corporation
InventorsErin E. Berry, Donna Laboda
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A piston assembly includes a housing, a piston positioned within the valve housing, and an inductive proximity probe sensor positioned on the housing configured to detect a position of the piston with the housing. The piston is configured to at least one of rotate or translate axially relative to the housing. The piston includes a variable surface. A fuel control system includes the piston assembly, a servo valve in fluid communication with the piston assembly, and an engine controller. The engine controller is operatively connected to the inductive proximity probe sensor.
Claims13
A piston assembly including:
- a housing;
- a piston positioned within the housing, wherein:
- the piston is configured to at least one of rotate or translate axially relative to the housing;
- and
- the piston includes a piston base and a variable surface, wherein the variable surface comprises:
- a first base metallic material having a plurality of notches;
- and
- a second non-ferrous material, wherein at least one of the plurality of notches is filled with the second non-ferrous material;
- a working fluid chamber positioned between a first side of the piston base and the housing in fluid communication with a servo valve;
- a control pressure chamber positioned between a second side of the piston base and the housing in fluid communication with the servo valve;
- and
- an inductive proximity probe sensor positioned on the housing configured to detect a current position of the piston within the housing by counting a subset of the plurality of notches between a previous known position and the current position of the piston.
A fuel control system comprising:
- a piston assembly including:
- a housing
- a piston positioned within the housing, wherein:
- the piston is configured to at least one of rotate or translate axially relative to the housing;
- and
- the piston includes a piston base and a variable surface, wherein the variable surface comprises:
- a first base metallic material having a plurality of notches;
- and
- a second non-ferrous material, wherein at least one of the plurality of notches is filled with the second non-ferrous material;
- a working fluid chamber positioned between a first side of the piston base and the housing;
- a control pressure chamber positioned between a second side of the piston base and the housing;
- and
- an inductive proximity probe sensor positioned on the housing configured to detect a current position of the piston within the housing by counting a subset of the plurality of notches between a previous known position and the current position of the piston;
- a servo valve in fluid communication with the working fluid chamber and the control pressure chamber of the piston assembly;
- and
- an engine controller operatively connected to the inductive proximity probe sensor, wherein the engine controller sets a position of the servo valve based on the current position of the piston detected by the inductive proximity probe.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.