Optical device for the detection of icing conditions on aircraft
First Claim
1. An optical device on board an aircraft and coupled to temperature and velocity sensors of the aircraft for detecting icing conditions, the device comprising:
- an optical beam emitter for emitting an optical beam to create at least one illuminated volume of measurement external to the aircraft through which flows air charged with water particles;
a collector optical system for collecting a portion of light back-scattered by the water particles, wherein the volume of measurement is located on an optical axis of said collector optical system;
photodetection means for detecting a varying polarization of the back-scattered light collected by the collector optical system over time to distinguish between liquid water particles and ice particles;
a signal processor for processing a signal output by the photodetection means, a velocity received from the velocity sensors, and a temperature received from the temperature sensor to compute a severity of the icing conditions, wherein the severity of icing conditions is indicative of a water concentration multiplied by a speed of the aircraft; and
means for providing information on the computed severity of the icing conditions, wherein the optical beam emitter is external to a back-scattering path of the back-scattered light.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An optical device on board an aircraft for detecting icing conditions including an optical beam emitter to create at least one illuminated external volume of measurement through which there circulates a flow of air charged with water particles; a collector optical system for the collection of at least a part of the light beam back-scattered by the water particles (the external volume of measurement being located on the optical axis of said collector optical system); a photodetector for detecting back-scattered optical beams; a signal processor for processing the signal delivered by the photodetector to compute the severity of the icing conditions; an information provider for providing information on the calculated severity of the icing conditions. Advantageously, the optical means for the differentiation of device includes a differentiation for differentiating between liquid water particles and solid water particles, based on analysis of the polarization.
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Citations
8 Claims
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1. An optical device on board an aircraft and coupled to temperature and velocity sensors of the aircraft for detecting icing conditions, the device comprising:
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an optical beam emitter for emitting an optical beam to create at least one illuminated volume of measurement external to the aircraft through which flows air charged with water particles; a collector optical system for collecting a portion of light back-scattered by the water particles, wherein the volume of measurement is located on an optical axis of said collector optical system; photodetection means for detecting a varying polarization of the back-scattered light collected by the collector optical system over time to distinguish between liquid water particles and ice particles; a signal processor for processing a signal output by the photodetection means, a velocity received from the velocity sensors, and a temperature received from the temperature sensor to compute a severity of the icing conditions, wherein the severity of icing conditions is indicative of a water concentration multiplied by a speed of the aircraft; and means for providing information on the computed severity of the icing conditions, wherein the optical beam emitter is external to a back-scattering path of the back-scattered light. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification