Assembly for identifying obstructing foreign matter in an air intake of an aircraft propulsion system and method of using same

A method for removing foreign matter from a flow control assembly of an air intake of an aircraft propulsion system, the method comprising:

• measuring, at a controller, an accumulation at a flow control member of the flow control assembly;
• identifying, at the controller, a presence or an absence of an obstruction condition of the flow control member, the presence of the obstruction condition identified where the accumulation is greater than an accumulation threshold;
• and
• removing the foreign matter from the flow control member, in response to identifying the presence of the obstruction condition, by controlling an actuator with the controller to change a state of the flow control member.

An aircraft propulsion system comprising:

• An aircraft propulsion system comprising:
• an air intake including an intake body forming an air passage, the intake body including an air inlet duct, a core flow duct, and a bypass flow duct, the air inlet duct including an intake inlet of the air intake, the core flow duct extending between and to the air inlet duct and a core outlet of the air intake, the bypass flow duct extending between and to the air inlet duct and a bypass outlet of the air intake;
• and
• an air intake control system including a flow control assembly and a blockage sensor assembly,
• the flow control assembly including a flow control member and an actuator, the flow control member disposed within the air intake, the actuator operably connected to the flow control member to selectively position the flow control member to change one or both of an air flow direction or an air flow rate of an air flow through the air passage, and
• the blockage sensor assembly including a mounting adapter and a blockage sensor, the mounting adapter mounted to an exterior of the intake body, the blockage sensor mounted within the mounting adapter, the blockage sensor having a sensing area directed to the flow control member, the blockage sensor configured to measure an accumulation of foreign matter on the flow control member within the sensing area.