Flight control indicator for an aircraft, in particular a transport airplane, intended to supply the thrust generated by at least one engine of the aircraft

• US 20040215375A1
• Filed: 05/28/2003
• Published: 10/28/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS (Airbus SE)
• Original Assignee: Airbus France
• Inventors: Moulis, Francois, Andre, Joan, Joye, Jacky, Malagoli, Armand
• Granted Patent: US 6,904,340 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/14
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 15/2045 for optimising the use of energy
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 3/024 for range change; Arrangements for substituting one sensing member by another
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 7/08 using a common indicating element for two or more variables
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/64 Electric machine technologies in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility

Abstract

Flight control indicator for an aircraft, in particular a transport airplane, intended to supply the thrust generated by at least one engine of the aircraft.

The flight control indicator (1) comprises display means (4) which present, on a viewing screen (5), a dial (6) which is graduated in percentage, whose maximum represents the maximum thrust available for the current phase of flight, in the current configuration of the aircraft and for the current anemometric conditions, and which is furnished with characteristic signs (7, 8), whose positions on the dial (6) respectively represent prescribed and actual thrusts which are expressed as a percentage of the maximum thrust.

Claims

1. A flight control indicator for an aircraft, intended to supply the thrust (THR) generated by at least one engine of the aircraft, said flight control indicator (1) comprising:

information sources (2) supplying at least information relating to a control parameter of the engine;

means (3) for processing information received from said information sources (2); and

display means (4) able to present information relating to said engine on at least one viewing screen (5),

wherein said information processing means (3) determine, for said engine, at least;

the maximum thrust which is available for the current phase of flight, as a function of the current configuration of the aircraft and for the current anemometric conditions;

the prescribed thrust; and

the actual thrust, said prescribed and actual thrusts being expressed as a percentage of said maximum thrust,

and wherein said display means (4) present, on said viewing screen (5), a dial (6) which is graduated in percentage, whose maximum represents said maximum thrust, and which is furnished with first and second characteristic signs (7, 8) whose positions on said dial (6) respectively represent said prescribed and actual thrusts.

2. The flight control indicator as claimed in claim 1,

wherein said information processing means (3) determine, moreover, a controlled thrust which is expressed as a percentage of said maximum thrust and which corresponds to the thrust representative of the position of the throttle of the aircraft, and wherein said display means (4) further present, on said viewing screen (5), a third characteristic sign (9) whose position on said dial (6) corresponds to said controlled thrust.

4. The flight control indicator as claimed in claim 1,

wherein said information processing means (3) determine, moreover, an auxiliary minimum thrust and wherein said display means (4) furthermore present, on said viewing screen (5), a fifth characteristic sign (12), whose position on said dial (6) corresponds to said auxiliary minimum thrust.

6. The flight control indicator as claimed in claim 1,

wherein said information processing means (3) determine the percentage THRx of a thrust x, for a forward thrust, from the following expression:

THRx=(FNx−

FNwml)/|FN100−

FNwml|

where;

FNx represents the thrust corresponding to a control parameter of the engine;

FN100 represents the maximum forward thrust that the engine is capable of delivering without air bleed for the current phase of flight and the current configuration of the aircraft; and

FNwml represents the thrust of the windmilling engine.

7. The flight control indicator as claimed in claim 1,

wherein said display means (4) are able to present, on said viewing screen (5), at least one value of thrust digitally (14).

8. The flight control indicator as claimed in claim 1, for a configuration of the aircraft exhibiting a thrust reversal of the engine,

wherein said dial (6) presents a negative zone (17) making it possible to present the thrusts relating to this configuration of the aircraft as thrusts of negative values.

9. The flight control indicator as claimed in claim 8,

wherein, during a thrust reversal of the engine, said information processing means (3) determine the percentage THRx of a thrust x, from the following expression:

THRx=FNx/|FN100|

in which;

FNx represents the thrust corresponding to a control parameter of the engine; and

FN100 represents the maximum reverse thrust that the engine is capable of delivering without air bleed for the current phase of flight and the current configuration of the aircraft.

10. The flight control indicator as claimed in claim 1, which furthermore comprises detection means (19) which are able to detect an error in the thrust indication, and where said display means (4) are able to present on said viewing screen (5) an error indication, during the detection of an error by said detection means (19).

11. An aircraft,

which comprises a flight control indicator (1) such as that specified under claim 1.

3. The flight control indicator as claimed in claim

wherein said information processing means (3) determine, moreover, an auxiliary maximum thrust, and wherein said display means (4) furthermore present, on said viewing screen (5), a fourth characteristic sign (11), whose position on said dial (6) corresponds to said auxiliary maximum thrust.

5. The flight control indicator as claimed in claim 3,

wherein said fourth and fifth characteristic signs (11, 12) delimit a circular sector (13) which presents a color which is different from that of the background of said dial (6).