Aircraft Drive

• US 20070282491A1
• Filed: 08/02/2005
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Borealis Technical Limited (Borealis Exploration Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Isaiah Cox, Robert Carman Jr
• Inventors: Cox, Isaiah, Carman Jr., Robert
• Granted Patent: US 8,712,603 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/3
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 25/40 the elements being rotated before touch-down

Abstract

The present invention describes a drive system for an aircraft involving one or more nose wheel motors. Data regarding the nose wheel rotation is used to control the ground travel of the aircraft, to predict potential problems, to provide more precise control over the aircraft, and to improve aircraft safety.

Claims

1. An aircraft, comprising

an onboard motor for powering taxi operations of said aircraft, and

a nosegear comprising wheels, and

a data collector attached to the nosegear for collecting rotational data of the nosegear wheels, and

a central processing unit for processing the data, and

a guidance system for presenting said processed data to guide taxi operations.

2. The aircraft of claim 1 wherein said onboard motor is housed within the nosegear.

3. The aircraft of claim 2 wherein said onboard motor housed within the nosegear comprises an independently driven motor housed within each wheel of the nosegear.

4. The aircraft of claim 3 wherein said data collector comprises a data collector connected to the motor within each nose wheel for collecting said data regarding the rotational operational of the wheel by the measurement of motor characteristics, wherein said motor characteristics are selected from the group consisting of:

motor speed, motor torque, motor temperature, and motor slip.

5. The aircraft of claim 2 wherein said data collector is equipped to measure one or more of the variables selected from the group consisting of:

wheel speed, wheel torque, and wheel temperature, gear ratio.

6. The aircraft of claim 2 wherein said central processing unit comprises a data compare to compare the data from said data collectors with data from other sources, wherein said other sources are selected from the group consisting of:

main gear measured speed, GPS, radar, radio transporters, airport maps, airport lighting, nose wheel steering position, main gear angle, aircraft weight, a speedometer measuring the rotational speed of the main gear, Laser Doppler velocimeters, aircraft position, video cameras, and airspeed.

7. The aircraft of claim 6 herein said 2 wherein said onboard motor housed within the nosegear comprises an independently driven motor housed within each wheel of the nosegear, and wherein said data collector is attached to each of the nose wheels to collect rotational data from both wheels and wherein said data compare comprises:

means to determine the rate of change of the rotational data of each nose wheel, and

means to compare between the rotational data of each nose wheel.

8. The aircraft of claim 6 wherein said guidance system comprises means for guiding operations selected from the group consisting of:

automatic taxi, semi-automatic taxi, manual forward taxi, manual reverse taxi, manual steering taxi, dealing with uneven drive conditions, and pre-rotating wheels prior to landing.

9. The aircraft of claim 6 wherein said guidance system comprises means for guiding ground steering operations within defined safety parameters, wherein said ground steering operations are selected from the group consisting of:

speed of aircraft during turns, angles of turns, and ground positioning of aircraft during turns.

10. The aircraft of claim 2 wherein said guidance system comprises an output selected from the group consisting of:

automatic taxi, semi-automatic taxi, digital display, lights, audible warnings, pilot override, and resetting the range of a pilot input command unit.

11. The aircraft of claim 2 wherein said motors comprise high phase order motors.

12. The aircraft of claim 1 wherein said motor is connected to rotationally drive an axle between two nose wheels, and wherein said axle is connected to drive the two nose wheels.

13. The aircraft of claim 1 further including gearing between the motor and the nose wheels.

14. A method for taxiing an aircraft comprising the steps of:

a. providing an onboard motor to drive the aircraft wheels,

b. measuring rotational data of each of two nose wheels of the aircraft, and

c. providing an output displaying the measured data of each of the two nose wheels

d. providing a user input for selecting a desired path and speeds for the aircraft to follow, and

e. driving the aircraft according to said selected path and speeds with reference to the measured speed and/or torque of the nose wheels, by;

electrically powering the motor to drive the wheels forward for forward taxi, and

steering by providing a speed differential between the nose wheels.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said step of providing a speed differential between the nose wheels comprises the step of braking one of the nose wheels.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein said step of providing an onboard motor comprises the step of providing two motors, each located within one of the two nose wheels, and wherein the step of electrically powering the motor together comprises driving both motors.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said step of providing a speed differential between the nose wheels comprises reducing the speed of one of the motors.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein said step of providing a speed differential between the nose wheels comprises reducing the speed of one of the motors and simultaneously increasing the speed of the other of the motors to maintain a steady aircraft speed throughout whilst steering.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein said step of providing a speed differential between the nose wheels comprises providing a differential between the speed/torque ratios of the motors.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein said step of providing a differential between the speed/torque ratios of the motors comprises the step of varying the harmonic content of the drive waveform of a mesh connected high phase order motor.

21. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of:

comparing the speeds of the nose wheels during taxi with the commanded nose wheel speeds and with the aircraft speed deduced from other sources, and

if said comparison indicates that either nose wheel speed is operating at an incorrect speed, applying a corrective action or halting the aircraft.

22. The method of claim 16 further comprising the steps of:

determining the speed differential between the two nose wheels, and

comparing the speed differential with safe differential limits, and

warning against or preventing the differential limits from being exceeded, whereby protecting the aircraft from tipping.

23. The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of reversing wherein said step of reversing is done by a method selected from the group consisting of:

applying a reversing gear between the motor and the wheel, and supplying the motor with electrical power to turn the wheel in the reverse direction.

24. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

before the aircraft lands, estimating an expected landing speed, and

pre-rotating the wheels towards an estimated landing speed prior to landing.