VIRTUAL ICE ACCRETION METER DISPLAY

• US 20140285363A1
• Filed: 06/04/2014
• Published: 09/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: Flemming, Robert James
• Granted Patent: US 9,352,841 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/946
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 15/20 Means for detecting icing or initiating de-icing
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/005 Flight directors indicating arrangements specially adapted for rotary gyroscopes G01C19/32

Abstract

An example flight display for an aircraft includes a virtual ice accretion meter display having a liquid water content portion and an ice thickness portion. The ice thickness portion is configured to display a virtual ice thickness value.

Claims

1. A flight display for an aircraft, comprising:

a virtual ice accretion meter display having a liquid water content portion and an ice thickness portion, wherein the ice thickness portion is configured to display a virtual ice thickness value.

2. The flight display as recited in claim 1, further comprising a liquid water content (LWC) meter display adjacent to said virtual ice accretion meter display.

3. The flight display as recited in claim 1, further comprising an engine torque display adjacent to said virtual ice accretion meter display.

4. The flight display as recited in claim 1, wherein said ice thickness portion includes a numeric value which represents ice thickness.

5. The flight display as recited in claim 4, wherein said numeric value is color coded with respect to the ice thickness.

6. The flight display as recited in claim 1, wherein the virtual ice thickness value is determined by integrating, within an aircraft avionics system, over a time period a constant K multiplied by a liquid water content (LWC) multiplied by true airspeed (TAS).

7. The flight display as recited in claim 1, wherein the virtual ice thickness value is determined without requiring ice to melt.

8. The flight display as recited in claim 1, wherein the virtual ice thickness value is determined independently from ice melting.

9. The flight display as recited in claim 1, wherein the virtual ice thickness value is determined exclusively virtually.

10. A flight display for an aircraft, comprising:

a virtual ice accretion meter display having a liquid water content portion and an ice thickness portion, the ice thickness portion is configured to display a estimated ice thickness value for an area of the aircraft, the estimated ice thickness value calculated without melting any ice.

11. The flight display as recited in claim 10, further comprising a liquid water content (LWC) meter display adjacent to said virtual ice accretion meter display.

12. The flight display as recited in claim 10, further comprising an engine torque display adjacent to said virtual ice accretion meter display.

13. The flight display as recited in claim 10, wherein said ice thickness portion includes a numeric value that represents the estimated ice thickness value.

14. The flight display as recited in claim 13, wherein said numeric value is color coded with respect to the estimated ice thickness value.

15. The flight display as recited in claim 10, wherein the estimated ice thickness value is determined by integrating, within an aircraft avionics system, over a time period a constant K multiplied by a liquid water content (LWC) multiplied by true airspeed (TAS).

16. The flight display as recited in claim 10, wherein the estimated ice thickness value is determined prior to ice melting.

17. The flight display as recited in claim 10, wherein the estimated ice thickness value is determined independently from ice melting.