Method and apparatus for control of a steerable landing gear
AssigneeAirbus Operations GmbH
InventorsCecile Garaygay, Louis-Emmanuel Romana, Matthieu Mayolle
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A slip-reduction control unit for an aircraft having a steerable landing gear. The control unit receives steering input signals from which a target steering command output may be ascertained and additional input signals (a) the motion of the aircraft, (b) a steering angle, or (c) a parameter relating to the slip sustained by the steerable landing gear. The slip-reduction control unit determines, based on the additional input signals, reduces the rate of change of steering angle that would otherwise be commanded. The reduction in the rate of change may reduce vibration on the aircraft that might be caused by a greater rate of change in the steering angle.
Claims17
A slip-reduction control unit configured to be employed on an aircraft having a longitudinal axis and a steerable landing gear including one or more steerable wheels, wherein the slip-reduction control unit is configured to (i) receive a steering input signal from which a target steering command output is ascertained, and (ii) receive one or more additional input signals concerning at least one of (a) the motion of the aircraft, (b) a steering angle, and (c) a parameter relating to the slip sustained by the steerable landing gear, and
- the slip-reduction control unit is configured so that, in dependence on the one or more additional input signals, a rate of change of an angle of the one or more steerable wheels that would otherwise be commanded is reduced.
A method of reducing vibration on an aircraft caused by steering effected by a steerable nose landing gear comprising controlling a rate of change of the angle of the steerable nose landing gear, wherein the controlling the rate of change of the angle of the steerable nose landing gear is performed in dependence on values concerning at least one of (a) the motion of the aircraft, (b) a steering angle, and (c) a parameter relating to the slip sustained by the steerable landing gear.
A computer program stored on a non-transitory storage media and configured to be executed by a processor in a slip-reduction control unit on an aircraft having a longitudinal axis and a steerable landing gear wheel, wherein the execution of the computer program causes the slip-reduction control unit to:
- receive a steering input signal;
- generate a target steering command output based on the received steering input signal;
- based on the target steering command output, determine a rate of change of a steering angle to turn the steerable landing gear wheel;
- receive an additional input signal indicating at least one of (a) a motion of the aircraft, (b) a steering angle for the steerable landing gear wheel, and (c) a parameter relating to slip sustained by the steerable landing gear wheel;
- and
- based on the additional input signal, reduce the rate of change of the steering angle.
A method to control a steering angle of a steerable landing gear for an aircraft comprising:
- receive a steering input signal;
- generate a target steering command output based on the received steering input signal;
- based on the target steering command output, determine a rate of change of a steering angle to turn the steerable landing gear wheel;
- receive an additional input signal indicating at least one of (a) a motion of the aircraft, (b) a current steering angle of the steerable landing gear wheel, and (c) a parameter relating to a current slip sustained by the steerable landing gear wheel with respect to a runway;
- determine a maximum rate of change of the steering angle based on the additional input signal;
- reduce the determined rate of change to at most the maximum rate of change, and
- turn the steerable landing gear wheel at the reduced determined rate of change of the steering angle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.