Aircraft having at least one control device for controlling inflation of an inflatable safety bag, and an associated method of controlling inflation of an inflatable safety bag

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10040572-B2
Application number	US-201615204140-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 7, 2016
Priority date	Jul 8, 2015
Publication date	Aug 7, 2018
Grant date	Aug 7, 2018

Abstract

A control device including at least one control member for measuring an acceleration of an aircraft, for generating an inflation order, and for transmitting the inflation order to an inflation member, the inflation member serving to inflate at least one inflatable safety bag, the control device, the inflation member and the inflatable bag being arranged together on a single seat of the aircraft. Such a control device includes at least one readying system connected to the at least one control member, the readying system comprising: at least a first sensor suitable for continuously measuring a first current acceleration of the aircraft relative to at least one axis; and at least one switch that is controllable as a function of the first current acceleration of the aircraft as measured by the first sensor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An aircraft having at least one control device with at least one control member for measuring an acceleration of the aircraft, for generating an inflation order, and for transmitting the inflation order to an inflation member, the inflation member serving to inflate at least one inflatable safety bag, the control device together with the inflation member and the inflatable safety bag being arranged together on a single seat of the aircraft, the control device including at least one readying system connected to the at least one control member, the at least one readying system comprising:
at least one first sensor continuously measuring a first current acceleration (A C1 ) of the aircraft relative to at least one axis (X, Y, Z), the at least one control member providing a measurement of the acceleration of the aircraft that is independent of the first current acceleration (A C1 ) of the aircraft as measured by the first sensor; and
at least one controllable switch that is controllable as a function of the first current acceleration (A C1 ) of the aircraft as measured by the first sensor, the controllable switch serving to activate and deactivate at least one control member by electrically connecting and disconnecting a source of electricity to the control member, the control member including at least one second sensor suitable for measuring, at least temporarily, a second current acceleration (A C2 ) of the aircraft relative to at least one axis;
wherein the control member includes at least one computer for comparing the absolute value of the second current acceleration (A C2 ) of the aircraft with a third acceleration threshold (S 3 ) and for causing the controllable switch to open in order to disconnect the source of electricity from the control member when the absolute value of the second current acceleration (A C2 ) of the aircraft is less than the third acceleration threshold (S 3 ) for a predetermined number of comparison iterations (I 1 ) performed by the at least one computer between the absolute value of the second current acceleration (A C2 ) of the aircraft and the third acceleration threshold (S 3 ).

2. The aircraft according to claim 1 , wherein the controllable switch connects a source of electricity to the control member when the absolute value of the first current acceleration (A C1 ) of the aircraft becomes greater than a first acceleration threshold (S 1 ).

3. The aircraft according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one readying system includes damper means for damping the first current acceleration (A C1 ) of the aircraft as measured by the first sensor, the damper means serving to filter a measurement (V 1 ) of the first current acceleration (A C1 ) of the aircraft, the controllable switch connecting the source of electricity to the control member when the measurement (V 1 ) of the first current acceleration (A C1 ) of the aircraft is greater in absolute value than the first acceleration threshold (S 1 ).

4. The aircraft according to claim 1 , wherein the controllable switch disconnects the source of electricity from the control member when the absolute value of the first current acceleration (A C1 ) of the aircraft is less than a second acceleration threshold (S 2 ) for a predetermined duration (T 1 ).

5. The aircraft according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one computer compares the absolute value of the second current acceleration (A C2 ) of the aircraft with a fourth acceleration threshold (S 4 ) and compares the mean value (A C2M ) of the second current acceleration (A C2 ) of the aircraft over a predetermined time interval with a fifth acceleration threshold (S 5 ), the computer generates the inflation order and then transfers the inflation order to the inflation member when, firstly, the absolute value of the second current acceleration (A C2 ) of the aircraft is greater than the fourth acceleration threshold (S 4 ), and, secondly, the mean value (A C2M ) of the second current acceleration (A C2 ) of the aircraft over the predetermined time interval is greater than the fifth acceleration threshold (S 5 ).

6. The aircraft according to claim 5 , wherein the control member includes at least one memory serving to store at least data representative of the third, fourth and fifth acceleration thresholds (S 3 , S 4 , S 5 ).

7. The aircraft according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one first sensor is formed by a mechanical sensor suitable for measuring an acceleration relative to at least one axis.

8. The aircraft according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one first sensor and the at least one second sensor are selected from the group consisting of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and nano-electromechanical systems (NEMS) suitable for measuring acceleration relative to at least one axis (X, Y, Z).

9. The aircraft according to claim 5 wherein the at least one second sensor is saturated so as to measure an acceleration relative to at least one axis (X, Y, Z) solely below a sixth acceleration threshold (S 6 ) that is selected to be greater than or equal to the fourth acceleration threshold (S 4 ).

10. A control method for controlling inflation of at least one inflatable safety bag arranged on an aircraft seat in an aircraft, the control method including at least a measurement step consisting of measuring an acceleration of the aircraft and a step of generating an inflation order and of transmitting the inflation order to an inflation member enabling the at least one inflatable safety bag to be inflated, the control method comprising:
a preliminary measurement step performed by at least one first sensor, the preliminary measurement step consisting in continuously measuring a first current acceleration (A C1 ) of the aircraft relative to at least one axis (X, Y, Z), the measurement step providing a measurement of the acceleration of the aircraft independent of the first current acceleration (A C1 ) of the aircraft; and
an activation step and a deactivation step for activating and deactivating a control member enabling the step to be performed that consists of generating an inflation order and in transmitting the inflation order to the inflation member for inflating the at least one inflatable safety bag, the activation step and the deactivation step being performed by electrically connecting and disconnecting a source of electricity relative to the control member;
the measurement step being performed via the control member and serving, at least temporarily, to measure a second current acceleration (A C2 ) of the aircraft relative to at least one axis, wherein the absolute value of the second current acceleration (A C2 ) of the aircraft is compared with a third acceleration threshold (S 3 ) ands a controllable switch is caused to open so as to disconnect the source of electricity from the control member when the absolute value of the second current acceleration (A C2 ) of the aircraft is less than the third acceleration threshold (S 3 ) for a predetermined number of comparison iterations (I 1 ) between the absolute value of the second current acceleration (A C2 ) of the aircraft and the third acceleration threshold (S 3 ).

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the absolute value of the first current acceleration (A C1 ) of the aircraft is compared with a first acceleration threshold (S 1 ), and the source of electricity is connected to the control member when the absolute value of the first current acceleration (A C1 ) of the aircraft is greater than the first acceleration threshold (S 1 ).

12. The method according to claim 10 , wherein a measurement (V 1 ) of the first current acceleration (A C1 ) of the aircraft is filtered, the measurem

Assignees

• Airbus Helicopters

Inventors

• Santana-Gallego Tomas

Classifications

• B64D2201/00

  Airbags mounted in aircraft for any use · CPC title

• B64D25/04

  Seat modifications · CPC title

• B64D11/0621 Primary

  Airbag initiation or activation means · CPC title

• B64D25/06

  Harnessing · CPC title

• B64D45/00 Primary

  Aircraft indicators or protectors not otherwise provided for · CPC title