FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM ESPECIALLY SUITED FOR VTOL VEHICLES
First Claim
1. A flight control system for a VTOL vehicle comprising at least a pair of ducted lift fans, each of said pair of ducted lift fans having a plurality of adjustable directional vanes associated therewith, said flight control system comprising:
- a plurality of groups of controls collectively supplying 100% of required control power for the flight control system; and
means enabling at least 50% of the required control power to be available upon failure of any one of said plurality of groups of controls.
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Abstract
Flight control systems have plural control subsystems with redundancies organized so as to provide continued but degraded control power over critical aircraft flight operating parameters even if any one complete control subsystem catastrophically fails. One example described in detail for a VTOL craft includes four groups of controls, each group comprising inputs relating to six degrees of freedom of the vehicle, at least one control computer and a plurality of actuators; each group utilizing 25% of required flight control power for the vehicle.
52 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A flight control system for a VTOL vehicle comprising at least a pair of ducted lift fans, each of said pair of ducted lift fans having a plurality of adjustable directional vanes associated therewith, said flight control system comprising:
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a plurality of groups of controls collectively supplying 100% of required control power for the flight control system; and means enabling at least 50% of the required control power to be available upon failure of any one of said plurality of groups of controls. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A flight control system for a VTOL vehicle comprising at least a pair of ducted lift fans, each of said pair of ducted lift fans having a plurality of adjustable directional vanes, at least some of which are located adjacent respective inlet ends thereof;
- said flight control system comprising;
n groups of controls, each group being independent of all remaining groups and controlling adjustment of 1/n of said plurality of adjustable directional vanes. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
- said flight control system comprising;
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9. A flight control system for a VTOL vehicle comprising at least a pair of ducted lift fans, each of said pair of ducted lift fans having a plurality of adjustable directional vanes at least some of which are located adjacent respective inlet ends thereof;
- said flight control system comprising;
n groups of controls, each group contributing approximately 1/n of total control power required for the flight control system, each group comprising at least one control computer subsystem for controlling a plurality of actuators for a predetermined fraction of said plurality of adjustable directional vanes, such that failure of any one group leaves at least n-1/n of the control power available for controlling the directional vanes of the remaining groups. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
- said flight control system comprising;
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20. A flight control system for a VTOL vehicle comprising four groups of controls, each group comprising inputs relating to six degrees of freedom of the vehicle, at least one control computer subsystem and a plurality of actuators;
- each group utilizing 25% of required flight control power for the vehicle.
- View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of controlling the flight of a VTOL vehicle comprising:
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dividing a flight control system into n control groups; and incorporating into each control group a plurality of inputs, at least one control computer subsystem and a plurality of actuators such that each control group provides approximately 1/n of required control power, and wherein each group contributes to control of the vehicle in six degrees of freedom.
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Specification