Apparatus for controlling aircraft ground movement
AssigneeBorealis Technical Limited
InventorsJonathan Sidney Edelson, Isaiah Watas Cox, Daniel Liviu Barbalata
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for controlling the movement of an aircraft having a self-propelled nosewheel, on the ground, is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a control arm; a control unit; means for transmitting information to said self-propelled nosewheel; means for receiving information at said self-propelled nosewheel; and means for controlling at least one of the speed and direction of said nosewheel; whereby airport ground staff can intuitively control the movements of said aircraft by holding said arm and moving it in the direction of required movement of said aircraft.
Claims23
An aircraft ground movement control system with apparatus to enable airport ground staff from a location remote from the aircraft to control either or both of aircraft ground speed and direction of ground movement of an aircraft driven on the ground by at least one self-propelled nose wheel, comprising
- a. an aircraft equipped with a self-propelled nose wheel, wherein said nose wheel propels itself by drive means comprising an electric motor to move the aircraft on the ground;
- b. an aircraft ground movement control unit located remotely from the aircraft self-propelled nose wheel,
- c. an aircraft ground movement control arm movably attached by one end to said remotely located control unit, wherein an opposite end is movable by airport ground staff to operatively communicate directional movements to said control unit to input aircraft ground speed and direction information to said control unit;
- d. information transmission means on said remotely located control unit for transmitting the inputted aircraft ground speed and direction information to said self-propelled nose wheel;
- e. information receiver means at said self-propelled nose wheel for receiving the ground speed and direction information transmitted by said information transmission means;
- and
- f. speed and direction control means in operative communication with the self-propelled nose wheel drive means and responsive to signals from said information receiver means to control either or both of the ground speed and direction of ground movement of the nose wheel to move the aircraft on the ground at a desired speed or in a desired direction in response to the received ground speed and direction information corresponding to the movements of the control arm.
A method for controlling by airport ground staff the ground speed and direction of ground movement of an aircraft equipped with at least one self-propelled nose wheel to move the aircraft at a desired speed and in a desired direction on the ground, comprising:
- a. providing an aircraft equipped with at least one self-propelled nose wheel, wherein said at least one nose wheel propels itself by drive means comprising at least one electric motor to move the aircraft on the ground, at least one control unit located remotely from the aircraft, and at least one control arm movably and operatively attached at one end to said remotely located control unit so that said at least one control unit recognizes directional control movements of said at least one control arm;
- b. providing ground speed and direction information transmission means on said at least one control unit, ground speed and direction information receiver means on said at least one self-propelled nose wheel, and speed and direction control means in operative communication with said at least one electric motor and responsive to signals from said information receiver means;
- c. providing airport ground staff access to the at least one remotely located control unit, wherein an airport ground staff operator activates said control unit;
- d. inputting information to said at least one control unit by the ground staff operator moving an end of the at least one control arm not attached to said control unit in at least one of a speed and direction corresponding to a desired speed and direction of ground movement of the aircraft, wherein the movement of the at least one control arm is recognized by said at least one control unit;
- and
- e. transmitting the inputted speed and direction information from the information transmission means on the control unit to the information receiver means on the nose wheel, wherein signals are transmitted from the information receiver means to the speed and direction control means to said at least one electric motor, thereby controlling the at least one motor to drive the at least one self-propelled nose wheel and move the aircraft on the ground at a desired speed and in a desired direction corresponding to the movement of the at least one control arm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.