Redundant avionics for critical flight instruments

• US 6,281,810 B1
• Filed: 12/15/1998
• Issued: 08/28/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Eventide, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Eventide, Inc.
• Inventors: Factor, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): SWARTHOUT, BRENT
• Application Number:
  US09/211,103
• Time in Patent Office: 987 Days
• Field of Search: 340/971, 340/973, 340/974, 340/975, 340/980, 340/945, 701/3, 701/14, 701/9
• US Class Current: 340/971
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/00 Combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value, e.g. for aircraft; Combined measuring devices for measuring two or more variables of movement, e.g. distance, speed or acceleration

Abstract

Redundant avionics for flight instruments: a plurality of aircraft flight data sensors, which provide data that are normally displayed on indicators in the cockpit, are transmitted to two independent computers. Each computer is associated with and creates images representative of data sensed by the sensors on a respective projected image display creation device which is in the form of a liquid crystal display, for example. Associated illumination sources and one common or two respective sets of optics project the images from each image creation device on a new screen. The image creation device and the optics would cause the image representative of data from the same sensor to be projected to the same location on the screen regardless of which computer and image creation device provided and projected the image. The computers are independently operable for selectively causing the display of information corresponding to data received from none, some or all of the sensors. For example, the computers are operable so that one display device will display information corresponding to data received from some of the sensors and the other display device will display information corresponding to data received from other sensors and the computers are operable so that each computer may cause display of information based on all of the sensors, as required.

Claims

1. Redundant avionics for aircraft instruments, comprising:

a plurality of sensors for various displayable flight data;

two computers each able to receive the data from all of the sensors and each of the computers being operable independently of the other computer;

a respective projected visible image display creation device operated by each of the computers and each computer being operable to cause the respective display creation device to create an image representative of the data of selected ones of the sensors and to project those images;

a display screen visible to an operator for receiving the images projected from each of the display creation devices and the display creation devices projecting images onto the screen; and

switching devices connected with the computers to selectively cause each computer to simultaneously create some of the images projected on the display screen through the respective image creation device.

2. The avionics of claim 1, wherein each visible image display creation device comprises

an apparatus for providing a projectable image to be projected and driven by the respective computer to create that projectable image;

an illumination source for illuminating the apparatus for providing the image to be projected; and

optics associated with both of the display creation devices for distributing the images created by the display creation devices over the screen.

3. The avionics of claim 2, wherein the optics comprises respective optic elements associated with each of the image display creation device for distributing the images produced by the image display creation device on the screen.

4. The avionics of claim 3, wherein the optics of each of the image display creation devices are adapted to distribute the image of the data from each sensor over the same respective area of the screen, whereby an image corresponding to the data from each sensor and projected by each of the image display creation devices would appear at the same location over the screen.

5. The avionics of claim 2, wherein the optics comprises optical elements positioned in the path of the images projected by both of the display creation devices as operated by the computer the optical elements being for directing the projected images to the screen.

6. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising an enclosure having a front side with the screen thereon and the enclosure including therein the image display creation devices, the computers and the optics.

7. The avionics of claim 2, wherein the apparatus of the image display creation device comprises a liquid crystal display and the computer transmits a signal to the liquid crystal display for creating an image on the display which when illuminated by the illumination source will provide a visible image on the screen;

and

the optics comprises the illumination source directed for illuminating the liquid crystal display and focusing optical elements at one side of the liquid crystal display for focusing the projected image on the screen.

8. The avionics of claim 7, wherein the focusing optical elements are so shaped and oriented that the image formed by the respective computer on each liquid crystal display of data representative of a particular one of the sensors overlaps on a location on the screen regardless of which computer and which liquid crystal display is causing the creation of the image of the data from the particular sensor.

9. A method of providing redundant avionics for aircraft flight instruments comprising:

sensing various flight data;

transmitting a signal representing each sensed data to each of two image display creators;

creating an image through the image display creators for being projected, wherein the respective image for projection created by each image display creator selectively is derived from some or all of the various sensed flight data; and

simultaneously projecting the images created through the image display creators on a screen visible to a user, each image display creator creating some of the simultaneously projected images.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising operating the image display creators for selectively creating images representative of the data of at least some of the data sensed through one of the image display creators and for creating images representative of the other data sensed through the other of the image display creators, so that the combined images created by both of the image display creators and projected on the screen corresponds to all of the flight data sensed.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising projecting the images created by each of the image display creators from each respective sensed flight data at the same location on the screen regardless of which of the image display creators created the image derived from that data.