Aircraft wet wing
AssigneeGoodrich Corporation
InventorsGaldemir C. Botura, Daniel Paul Christy, David C. Flosdorf
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An aircraft wing (12) comprising a structural casing (14) defining a leading edge, a fuel cell (16) within the structural casing (14), a deicer (18) having electrical lines which receive a supply of electrical power from an onboard power source, and a trip line (20). The trip line (20) is positioned to receive early contact upon impact of the wing by a bird or other foreign object and disruption of the trip line triggers termination of the supply of electrical power to the deicer (18).
Claims23
An aircraft wing comprising:
- a structural casing defining a leading edge,
- a fuel cell within the structural casing,
- a deicer having electrical lines which receive a supply of electrical power from an onboard power source, and
- a trip line positioned to receive contact before, during, or slightly after the electrical lines, and before the fuel cell, upon impact of the wing by a bird or other foreign object.
An impact-susceptible portion of an aircraft, comprising:
- electrical lines which receive a supply of electrical power from an onboard power source;
- a trip line which is positioned to receive impact;
- and
- an object-strike protection circuit that terminates the supply of electrical power to the electrical lines upon the trip line being impacted;
- wherein the electrical lines are situated in the vicinity of a fuel container and the trip line is positioned to receive impact before the fuel container.
A method of detecting an impact of a bird or foreign object with an aircraft, comprising:
- generating a strike override signal indicative of impact of the bird or foreign object with a trip line positioned with respect to the aircraft;
- and
- switching off power to a load in response to the strike override signal within a window of time less than the expected time between the conductive path of the trip line being disrupted and a predicted potential impact with a fuel container.
An object-strike protection circuit for an aircraft, comprising:
- a strike detector including a trip line positionable with respect to the aircraft for contact upon impact by a bird or foreign object, the strike detector outputting a strike override signal indicative of disruption of the trip line;
- and
- a switching circuit to terminate the supply of electrical power to a load if the strike override signal indicates that the trip line has been disrupted;
- wherein the switching circuit includes a solid state relay assembly controlled by the combination of a power-on signal indicating a desired power state for a load and the strike override signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.