Flight control system especially suited for VTOL vehicles
First Claim
1. A flight control system for a VTOL vehicle comprising at least a pair of ducted lift fans, each of said pair of ducted lift fans having a plurality of adjustable directional vanes associated therewith, said flight control system comprising:
- a plurality of groups of controls collectively supplying 100% of required control power for the flight control system; and
means enabling at least 50% of the required control power to be available upon failure of any one of said plurality of groups of controls.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Flight control systems have plural control subsystems with redundancies organized so as to provide continued but degraded control power over critical aircraft flight operating parameters even if any one complete control subsystem catastrophically fails. One example described in detail for a VTOL craft includes four groups of controls, each group comprising inputs relating to six degrees of freedom of the vehicle, at least one control computer and a plurality of actuators; each group utilizing 25% of required flight control power for the vehicle.
200 Citations
44 Claims
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1. A flight control system for a VTOL vehicle comprising at least a pair of ducted lift fans, each of said pair of ducted lift fans having a plurality of adjustable directional vanes associated therewith, said flight control system comprising:
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a plurality of groups of controls collectively supplying 100% of required control power for the flight control system; and
means enabling at least 50% of the required control power to be available upon failure of any one of said plurality of groups of controls. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A flight control system for a VTOL vehicle comprising at least a pair of ducted lift fans, each of said pair of ducted lift fans having a plurality of adjustable directional vanes, at least some of which are located adjacent respective inlet ends thereof;
- said flight control system comprising;
n groups of controls, each group being independent of all remaining groups and controlling adjustment of 1/n of said plurality of adjustable directional vanes. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
- said flight control system comprising;
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9. A flight control system for a VTOL vehicle comprising at least a pair of ducted lift fans, each of said pair of ducted lift fans having a plurality of adjustable directional vanes at least some of which are located adjacent respective inlet ends thereof, said flight control system comprising:
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n groups of controls, each group contributing approximately 1/n of total control power required for the flight control system, each group comprising at least one control computer subsystem for controlling a plurality of actuators for a predetermined fraction of said plurality of adjustable directional vanes, such that failure of any one group leaves at least n−
1/n of the control power available for controlling the directional vanes of the remaining groups. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A flight control system for a VTOL vehicle comprising four groups of controls, each group comprising inputs relating to six degrees of freedom of the vehicle, at least one control computer subsystem and a plurality of actuators;
- each group utilizing 25% of required flight control power for the vehicle.
- View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of controlling the flight of a VTOL vehicle comprising:
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dividing a flight control system into n control groups; and
incorporating into each control group a plurality of inputs, at least one control computer subsystem and a plurality of actuators such that each control group provides approximately 1/n of required control power, and wherein each group contributes to control of the vehicle in six degrees of freedom.
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26. An aircraft flight control system having plural control subsystems with redundancies organized so as to provide continued but degraded control power over critical aircraft flight operating parameters even if any one complete control subsystem catastrophically fails, said system comprising:
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a plurality of pilot controlled input sensors associated with each of a plurality of degrees of freedom in aircraft flight movement;
a plurality of aircraft flight control actuators associated with each of a plurality of degrees of freedom in aircraft flight movement;
a plurality of aircraft flight state sensors associated with each of a plurality of aircraft flight state conditions such as current aircraft position, altitude and speed;
a plurality of control subsystems, each said subsystem having at least one control computer subsystem connected to;
(a) receive inputs from at least one of said pilot controlled input sensors for each of said plurality of degrees of freedom, (b) receive inputs from at least one of said flight state sensors for each of said plurality of aircraft flight conditions, and (c) provide outputs to at least one of said flight control actuators associated with each of said plural degrees of freedom;
said inputs and outputs to the control computer subsystem of each control subsystem being selected such that a catastrophic failure of any one control subsystem causes degraded but continued control power over critical aircraft flight parameters sufficient to permit controlled aircraft descent to a landing. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method for providing aircraft flight control utilizing plural control subsystems with redundancies organized so as to provide continued but degraded control power over critical aircraft flight operating parameters even if any one complete control subsystem catastrophically fails, said method comprising:
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providing a plurality of pilot controlled input sensors associated with each of a plurality of degrees of freedom in aircraft flight movement;
providing a plurality of aircraft flight control actuators associated with each of a plurality of degrees of freedom in aircraft flight movement;
providing a plurality of aircraft flight state sensors associated with each of a plurality of aircraft flight state conditions such as current aircraft position, altitude and speed;
providing a plurality of control subsystems and connecting at least one control computer subsystem in each control subsystem to;
(a) receive inputs from at least one of said pilot controlled input sensors for each of said plurality of degrees of freedom, (b) receive inputs from at least one of said flight state sensors for each of said plurality of aircraft flight conditions, and (c) provide outputs to at least one of said flight control actuators associated with each of said plural degrees of freedom;
selecting said inputs and outputs to the control computer subsystem of each control subsystem such that a catastrophic failure of any one control subsystem causes degraded but continued control power over critical aircraft flight parameters sufficient to permit controlled aircraft descent to a landing. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification