Collective to elevator mixing of a rotary wing aircraft
AssigneeSikorsky Aircraft Corporation
InventorsErez Eller, Matthew A. White, Matthew T. Luszcz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An aircraft is provided including an airframe, an extending tail, and a counter rotating, coaxial main rotor assembly including an upper rotor assembly and a lower rotor assembly. A translational thrust system positioned at the extending tail, the translational thrust system providing translational thrust to the airframe. A horizontal stabilizer with a left elevator and right elevator positioned at the extending tail. A flight control computer to independently control one or more of the main rotor assembly and the elevator through a fly-by-wire control system. The flight control computer is configured to mix a collective pitch of the main rotor assembly and a deflection of the elevator.
Claims13
An aircraft comprising:
- an airframe;
- an extending tail;
- a counter rotating, coaxial main rotor assembly including an upper rotor assembly and a lower rotor assembly;
- a translational thrust system positioned at the extending tail, the translational thrust system providing translational thrust to the airframe;
- a horizontal stabilizer with a left elevator and right elevator positioned at the extending tail;
- and
- a flight control computer to independently control one or more of the main rotor assembly and the elevator through a fly-by-wire control system;
- wherein the flight control computer is configured to mix a collective pitch of the main rotor assembly and a deflection of the elevator.
A method of operating an aircraft, comprising:
- receiving, with a plurality of sensors, sensor data of at least one environmental condition and at least one aircraft state data;
- receiving, with at least one flight control computer, at least one control input and the sensor data;
- determining, with the flight control computer, through an algorithm a mix of a collective pitch of a main rotor assembly and a deflection of an elevator based on the control input and the sensor data;
- and
- commanding, with the flight control computer, the mix of the collective pitch of the main rotor assembly and the deflection of the elevator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.