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US 9,845,146 B2Granted
Zoom climb prevention system for enhanced performance
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorHenry L. Beaufrere
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle, such as an airplane sets a limit for a control variable used to deflect a control surface. The limit is set as a function of an unfavorable flight condition/target angle of attack and a rate of change of angle of attack so that a pilot control variable command is prevented from exceeding the limit to prevent the vehicle from reaching an unfavorable flight condition and/or exceeding a desired angle of attack limit.
Claims13
A method comprising:
- deflecting a control surface of a vehicle based on a control variable;
- setting a limit for the control variable used to deflect the control surface, the limit set as a function of a rate of change of angle of attack ({dot over (α)}) and one of an unfavorable flight condition (UFC) and a target angle of attack (α);
- and
- preventing a control variable command received from a pilot from exceeding the limit for the control variable when a condition exists;
- wherein the condition is an integral of the control variable command exceeding a predetermined threshold value of the integral of the control variable command;
- and
- wherein when the control variable command is less than a control variable threshold, the integral of the control variable command is set to zero and the limit on adjusting the control surface is set to maximum value of the control variable.
4 more elements
A method comprising:
- deflecting a control surface of a vehicle using a control loop;
- determining a condition exists;
- and
- when the condition exists, setting a limit on deflecting the control surface based on a rate of change of angle of attack;
- wherein the condition is an integral of a control variable exceeding a predetermined threshold value of the integral of the control variable;
- and
- wherein when the control variable is less than a control variable threshold, the condition does not exist, the integral of the control variable is set to zero and the limit on adjusting the control surface is set to maximum value of the control variable.
4 more elements
A system comprising:
- an airframe;
- a flight control used by a pilot of a vehicle to generate a control variable related to an attitude of the vehicle;
- a control surface that affects the attitude of the vehicle in flight;
- an angle-of-attack sensor coupled to the airframe;
- and
- a flight-critical digital computer coupled to the flight control, the angle-of-attack sensor, and the control surface, the flight-critical digital computer including a processor and a memory, the memory having computer executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the flight-critical digital computer to:
- receive the control variable from the flight control;
- deflect the control surface responsive to the control variable received from the flight control;
- determine when a time integral of the control variable exceeds a threshold value of the time integral of the control variable;
- when the time integral of the control variable exceeds the threshold value of the time integral of the control variable, set a limit on the control variable as a function of a rate of change of angle of attack ({dot over (α)}) and one of an unfavorable flight condition (UFC) and a target angle of attack (α) to restrict movement of the control surface that prevents the vehicle from exceeding a calculated angle-of-attack;
- and
- when the time integral of the control variable is less than the threshold value of the time integral of the control variable, set the time integral of the control variable to zero and the limit on the control variable to a maximum control variable value.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.