Predictive windshear warning instrument
First Claim
1. In an aircraft having means for providing a signal representative of a windshear condition, means for providing a signal representative of the altitude of the aircraft, means for providing a static air temperature signal representative of the temperature of the air through which the aircraft is flying and means for providing a warning in the event that the signal representative of a windshear condition exceeds a threshold signal, the improvement comprising:
- means responsive to the altitude representative signal for providing a standard temperature representative signal that is determined by the altitude of the aircraft;
threshold setting means for comparing the temperature signal and the standard temperature representative signal and decreasing the value of the threshold signal when the static air temperature representative signal decreases at a greater rate than the standard temperature representative signal, wherein said threshold setting means includes means for lowering the value of the threshold signal for a predetermined geographic position of the aircraft which indicates a windshear condition is probable.
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Accused Products
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 acceleraton 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.
18 Citations
4 Claims
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1. In an aircraft having means for providing a signal representative of a windshear condition, means for providing a signal representative of the altitude of the aircraft, means for providing a static air temperature signal representative of the temperature of the air through which the aircraft is flying and means for providing a warning in the event that the signal representative of a windshear condition exceeds a threshold signal, the improvement comprising:
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means responsive to the altitude representative signal for providing a standard temperature representative signal that is determined by the altitude of the aircraft; threshold setting means for comparing the temperature signal and the standard temperature representative signal and decreasing the value of the threshold signal when the static air temperature representative signal decreases at a greater rate than the standard temperature representative signal, wherein said threshold setting means includes means for lowering the value of the threshold signal for a predetermined geographic position of the aircraft which indicates a windshear condition is probable.
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2. A wind shear warning system for aircraft comprising:
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means for detecting a wind shear and for generating a warning if the wind shear exceeds a predetermined magnitude; means for determining rate of change of the barometric pressure rate of the air around the aircraft; means for non-barometrically determining the rate of change of altitude of the aircraft; means responsive to said barometric pressure rate determining means and to said rate of change of altitude determining means for comparing the rate of change of the barometric pressure with the rate of change of altitude and generating a representation of the difference therebetween; and means responsive to said difference representation for altering the predetermined magnitude at which the warning is generated if the rate of change of barometric pressure deviates from the rate of change of the altitude.
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3. A wind shear warning system for aircraft, comprising:
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means for detecting a wind shear and for generating a warning if the wind shear exceeds a predetermined magnitude; means for determining the static air temperature of the air around the aircraft; means responsive to said temperature determining means for determining the rate of change of the static air temperature; and means responsive to the rate of change of temperature for altering the predetermined magnitude in response to the rate of change of air temperature, wherein said altering means is responsive to the air temperature for altering the predetermined magnitude in response to the static air temperature, wherein said predetermined magnitude is reduced at static air temperatures above a predetermined air temperature.
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4. In an aircraft having means for providing a signal representative of a windshear condition, means for providing a signal representative of the altitude of the aircraft, means for providing a static air temperature signal representative of the temperature of the air through which the aircraft is flying and means for providing a warning in the event that the signal representative of a windshear condition exceeds a threshold signal, the improvement comprising:
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means responsive to the altitude representative signal for providing a standard temperature representative signal that is determined by the altitude of the aircraft; threshold setting means for comparing the temperature signal and the standard temperature representative signal and decreasing the value of the threshold signal when the static air temperature representative signal decreases at a greater rate than the standard temperature representative signal, wherein said predetermined magnitude is altered as a function of time of day and geographic position of the aircraft.
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Specification