Reactive windshear warning instrument
First Claim
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1. In an aircraft having means for providing a signal representative of a windshear condition;
- means for providing a temperature signal representative of the temperature of the air through which the aircraft is flying and the rate of change of the temperature representative signal; and
means for providing a warning in the event that the signal representative of a windshear condition exceeds a threshold signal, the improvement comprising;
threshold setting means for decreasing the value of the threshold signal when the rate of change of the temperature representative signal is decreasing. further including means for providing a signal representative of the time and date; and
means for biasing said threshold setting means to lower said threshold signal for predetermined ranges of times and dates.
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Abstract
An instrument (10) is disclosed for an aircraft having a windshear warning system to vary the threshold alarm setting as a function of a thermodynamic property of the air and as a function of local geographic and seasonal conditions. Specifically, a function generator 16 and other circuitry is disclosed. The output from the function generator 16 and other circuitry is then added to a fixed threshold acceleration signal to produce a threshold alarm signal which has a value that is a function of the temperature of the air, in a basic embodiment.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. In an aircraft having means for providing a signal representative of a windshear condition;
- means for providing a temperature signal representative of the temperature of the air through which the aircraft is flying and the rate of change of the temperature representative signal; and
means for providing a warning in the event that the signal representative of a windshear condition exceeds a threshold signal, the improvement comprising;threshold setting means for decreasing the value of the threshold signal when the rate of change of the temperature representative signal is decreasing. further including means for providing a signal representative of the time and date; and
means for biasing said threshold setting means to lower said threshold signal for predetermined ranges of times and dates. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 7, 8)
- means for providing a temperature signal representative of the temperature of the air through which the aircraft is flying and the rate of change of the temperature representative signal; and
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4. An instrument for an aircraft, having a source of signals representative of the temperature of the air, means responsive to flight path parameters for producing a signal representative of a windshear condition and means for producing a warning signal when said windshear representative signal exceeds a predetermined threshold signal, the improvement comprising:
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(a) rate means responsive to the air temperature representative signal for producing a rate signal representative of the rate of change of the temperature of the air; (b) combining means for combining said rate signal and said predetermined threshold signal and generating a variable threshold signal before said predetermined threshold signal for a predetermined range of rate signals; and (c) means for comparing said variable threshold signal to said windshear signal and for producing a warning in the event that said variable threshold signal is exceeded further including means for providing a signal representative of the time and date; and
means for biasing said warning signal to lower said predetermined threshold signal for predetermined ranges of times and dates. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
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9. A method for enhancing the sensitivity of a windshear warning, wherein a warning signal is generated when a signal representative of a windshear conditions exceeds a threshold value;
- the improvement comprising the steps of;
(a) producing a signal whose value is representative of the air temperature of the air in the flight path of the aircraft; (b) producing a rate signal whose value is representative of the rate of change of said air temperature; (c) generating a first signal whose value is a function of said signal representative of said air temperature; (d) generating a second signal whose value is a function of said rate signal; (e) adding said first signal and said second signal and said threshold value to produce a comparison signal; and (f) producing a warning in the event that the value of said windshear condition signal exceeds said comparison signal;
further including means for providing a signal representative of the time and date; and
means for biasing said warning signal to lower said threshold value for predetermined ranges of times and dates. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
- the improvement comprising the steps of;
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13. An aircraft instrument having means for providing a signal representative of a windshear condition and means for providing a warning in the event that the windshear representative signal exceeds a predetermined threshold signal, wherein said threshold signal is based on the geographic position of the aircraft, the improvement comprising:
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(a) means for providing a temperature signal representative of the temperature of the air through which the aircraft is flying; (b) means for providing a warning in the event that said signal representative of a windshear condition exceeds a threshold condition; and (c) threshold setting means for lowering the value of said threshold condition when said temperature is in a predetermined range further including means for providing a signal representative of the time and date; and
means for biasing said threshold setting means to lower said threshold condition for predetermined ranges of times and dates.
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Specification