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US 12,668,358 B2Granted
Aircraft landing gear control system
AssigneeM Nizar Sanadiki
InventorM Nizar Sanadiki
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An aircraft landing gear control system. As an aircraft prepares to land, the system determines the ground speed of the aircraft and causes the aircraft's wheels to rotate at an angular velocity that corresponds to the aircraft's ground speed so that upon landing, the aircraft wheels are not subjected to a sudden jarring impact.
Claims19
An aircraft landing gear control system comprising:
- a speed processing system adapted to determine a ground speed of an aircraft at a time prior to a landing of the aircraft;
- a wheel rotation system including at least one wheel rotating motor adapted to cause at least one wheel of the aircraft to rotate;
- a wheel disengagement system configured with the wheel rotation system and adapted to disengage the at least one wheel rotating motor from the at least one wheel;
- one or more aircraft landing sensors including one or more light sources aligned with corresponding one or more light sensors, wherein the landing of the aircraft causes at least one of the one or more light sources to become misaligned with a corresponding at least one of the one or more light sensors and wherein the misalignment causes the wheel disengagement system to disengage the at least one wheel rotating motor from the at least one wheel;
- wherein the speed processing system determines a ground speed of the aircraft, and converts the ground speed to a corresponding angular velocity of the at least one wheel;
- wherein the at least one wheel rotating motor causes the at least one wheel to rotate at the corresponding angular velocity.
3 more elements
A method of controlling an aircraft landing gear, the method comprising:
- determining, using a controller, an expected future touchdown ground speed of an aircraft for a corresponding expected future touchdown of the aircraft, the expected future touchdown ground speed different than an actual real-time ground speed of the aircraft;
- converting, using a controller, the expected future touchdown ground speed to a corresponding expected future angular velocity of at least one wheel of the aircraft;
- causing, using a wheel rotation system, the at least one wheel of the aircraft to rotate at the expected future angular velocity;
- determining, using a speed processing system, the actual real-time ground speed of the aircraft;
- converting, using the speed processing system, the real-time ground speed to a target angular velocity of the at least one wheel of the aircraft;
- causing, using the wheel rotation system, the at least one wheel of the aircraft to rotate at the target angular velocity.
3 more elements
A method of controlling an aircraft landing gear, the method comprising:
- determining, using a controller, a ground speed of an aircraft;
- converting, using a controller, the ground speed to a corresponding target angular velocity of at least one wheel of the aircraft;
- causing, using a wheel rotation system, the at least one wheel to rotate at the target angular velocity;
- determining, using an angular velocity sensor and feedback system, and after causing the at least one wheel to rotate at the target angular velocity, a real-time angular velocity of the at least one wheel;
- comparing the determined real-time angular velocity of the at least one wheel to a maximum allowed angular velocity determined separate from the groundspeed of the aircraft;
- upon a determination that the real-time angular velocity of the at least one wheel is greater than the maximum allowed angular velocity then:
- causing, using the wheel rotation system, the at least one wheel to rotate at an updated angular velocity that is less than the maximum allowed angular velocity and/or disengaging the wheel rotation system from the at least one wheel.
4 more elements
A method of controlling an aircraft landing gear, the method comprising:
- using a speed processing system to determine a ground speed of an aircraft at a first time prior to landing;
- using the speed processing system to convert the determined ground speed to a corresponding angular velocity of at least one wheel of the aircraft;
- using a wheel rotation system including at least one wheel rotating motor to cause the at least one wheel of the aircraft to rotate at the corresponding angular velocity;
- using an altitude sensing system to determine when the aircraft is within a predetermined distance above a ground surface at a second time prior to landing after the first time;
- and
- upon a determination that the aircraft is within the predetermined distance above the ground surface, disengaging the wheel rotation system from the at least one wheel.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.