Triplex fully redundant Fly-by-Wire architecture
AssigneeEmbraer S.A.
InventorsLuiz Fernando Silva De Castro Paiva, Norton Jody Murata, Omar Mogames, Rafael Desideri De Freitas
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A first Flight Control system configuration, and the method to obtain such first configuration, has controllers of effector actuation able to receive commands directly from at least three Flight Control Computers (FCCs). A second Flight Control system configuration, and the method to obtain such second configuration, has retransmitters (RTX) that receive commands from the three FCCs and then retransmit to the controllers of effector actuation. A third Flight Control system configuration, and the method to obtain such third configuration, is a hybrid configuration.
Claims23
A Flight Control system configured so that a majority of effectors continue to be operational even in case of loss of a majority of flight control computers, comprising:
- a first Flight Control Computer (FCC);
- a second Flight Control Computer (FCC);
- a third Flight Control Computer (FCC);
- and
- communications links that link the first, second and third Flight Control Computers to a controller of an effector actuator to enable the controller to receive commands from the first, second and third FCCs either directly or through a number of retransmitters (RTXs),
- wherein each of the first, second and third FCCs is linked to the controller, and the FCCs and/or the communications links are configured so only one FCC is active at a time to control the controller,
- wherein the number of retransmitters is determined using complete or bipartite graphs, wherein, where E is a maximum number of controllers, and n is the minimum number of retransmitters, a value of n results by finding the minimum value of K such that K is greater than or equal to E, where K=n*(n−1)/2;
- or where m is the minimum number of RTXs of a first type and n is the minimum number of RTXs of a second type, values of m and n are determined by finding any combination in which the values of m and n result in the minimum value of K such that K is greater than or equal to E, where it is given by Km,n=m*n.
A Flight Control method configured so a majority of effectors continue to be operational even in case of loss of a majority of flight control computers, comprising:
- linking a first Flight Control Computer (FCC), a second Flight Control Computer (FCC) and a third Flight Control Computer (FCC) to a controller of an effector actuator to enable the controller to receive commands from the first, second and third FCCs either directly or through a number of retransmitters (RTXs),
- effecting, with the controller, control by only one active FCC at a time, and
- determining the number of retransmitters using complete or bipartite graphs, wherein, where E is the maximum number of controllers s, and n is the minimum number of retransmitters, a value of n results by finding the minimum value of K such that K is greater than or equal to E, where K=n*(n−1)/2;
- or where m is the minimum number of RTXs of a first type and n is the minimum number of RTXs of a second type, values of m and n are determined by finding any combination in which the values of m and n result in the minimum value of K such that K is greater than or equal to E, where it is given by Km,n=m*n.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.