Heated control stick
AssigneeBell Helicopter Textron Inc.
InventorsChen Kuang, Paul Goyer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A series of heated control sticks for rotorcrafts, tiltrotors, and helicopters. The heated collective and cyclic sticks feature several heater assemblies to provide localized heating for pilots and co-pilots. The heater assemblies are formed from several layers of fabrics and resistive materials designed to generate heat while current is provided to conductive materials in the resistive material. A controller provides individualized control for users to adjust the temperature of various zones associated with either the collective stick or the cyclic stick. The heater assemblies can be installed entirely external to the stick like in a retrofit or partially internally.
Claims20
A heated control stick for a rotorcraft, the heated control stick comprising:
- a tubular member;
- a first heater assembly partially covering the tubular member;
- and
- a controller configured for varying a temperature of the first heater assembly.
A rotorcraft having a rotor system comprising a plurality of rotor blades, the rotorcraft comprising:
- a heated cyclic stick having;
- at least one heater assembly located on the heated cyclic stick;
- wherein the heated cyclic stick is configured for varying a pitch of at least one blade of the rotor system.
A method of heating a control stick for a rotorcraft comprising:
- locating an at least one heater assembly on the control stick;
- and
- varying a temperature of the at least one heater assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.