System and method for determining an axial position of a feedback device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11420772-B2
Application number	US-201916717321-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 17, 2019
Priority date	Dec 17, 2019
Publication date	Aug 23, 2022
Grant date	Aug 23, 2022

Abstract

A sensor signal comprising a first signal pulse having a first voltage amplitude and a second signal pulse having a second voltage amplitude greater than or substantially equal to the first voltage amplitude is obtained from a sensor positioned adjacent a feedback device coupled to rotate with an aircraft-bladed rotor about a longitudinal axis and to move along the axis with adjustment of the rotor's blade pitch angle. The feedback device comprises a reference feature configured to generate the second signal pulse and varying detectable feature(s) configured to generate the first signal pulse and to cause a change in the first voltage amplitude as a function of an axial position of the feedback device along the axis. A voltage ratio is determined based on the first voltage amplitude and the second voltage amplitude, and the axial position of the feedback device is determined from the voltage ratio.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A position detection method for a feedback device, the feedback device providing feedback on a blade angle of rotor blades of a rotor of an aircraft engine, the method comprising:
obtaining, from at least one sensor, a sensor signal in response to the at least one sensor detecting a relative movement between the feedback device and the at least one sensor, the sensor signal comprising a first signal pulse having a first voltage amplitude and a second signal pulse having a second voltage amplitude greater than or substantially equal to the first voltage amplitude, the feedback device comprising at least one varying detectable feature configured to generate the first signal pulse and a reference feature configured to generate the second signal pulse, the at least one varying detectable feature configured to cause a change in the first voltage amplitude as a function of an axial position of the feedback device relative to the at least one sensor;
determining a voltage ratio based on the first voltage amplitude and the second voltage amplitude; and
determining the axial position of the feedback device relative to the at least one sensor from the voltage ratio.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second signal pulse is generated by the reference feature being configured to cause the second voltage amplitude to remain substantially constant regardless of the axial position of the feedback device relative to the at least one sensor.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a difference between the second voltage amplitude and the first voltage amplitude, the voltage ratio determined based on the difference in voltage amplitude.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the difference in voltage amplitude is determined as:
Vdelta=Vpk-pk 2 −Vpk-pk 1 ,
and further wherein the voltage ratio is determined as:
Vratio=Vdelta/Vpk-pk 2 =(Vpk-pk 2 −Vpk-pk 1 )/Vpk-pk 2 ,
where Vdelta is the difference in voltage amplitude, Vpk-pk 2 is the second voltage amplitude, Vpk-pk 1 is the first voltage amplitude, and Vratio is the voltage ratio.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the difference in voltage amplitude is determined as:
Vdelta=Vpk-pk 2 −Vpk-pk 1 ,
and further wherein the voltage ratio is determined as:
Vratio=Vdelta/(Vpk-pk 1 +Vpk-pk 2 )=(Vpk-pk 2 −Vpk-pk 1 )/(Vpk-pk 1 +Vpk-pk 2 ),
where Vdelta is the difference in voltage amplitude, Vpk-pk 2 is the second voltage amplitude, Vpk-pk 1 is the first voltage amplitude, and Vratio is the voltage ratio.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first signal pulse is generated by the at least one varying detectable feature comprising at least one position marker having varying magnetic permeability.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first signal pulse is generated by the at least one varying detectable feature comprising at least one position marker having an axially varying dimension configured for causing the change in the first voltage amplitude as a function of the axial position of the feedback device relative to the at least one sensor.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first signal pulse is generated by the at least one varying detectable feature having a height smaller than a height of the reference feature for causing the second voltage amplitude to be greater than the first voltage amplitude.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the axial position of the feedback device relative to the at least one sensor from the voltage ratio comprises inputting the voltage ratio into a look-up table and outputting the axial position from the look-up table.

10. A position detection system for a feedback device, the feedback device providing feedback on a blade angle of rotor blades of a rotor of an aircraft engine, the system comprising:
at least one varying detectable feature and a reference feature provided on the feedback device;
at least one sensor configured for generating a sensor signal in response to the at least one sensor detecting a relative movement between the feedback device and the at least one sensor, the sensor signal comprising a first signal pulse having a first voltage amplitude and a second signal pulse having a second voltage amplitude greater than or substantially equal to the first voltage amplitude, the first signal pulse generated upon the at least one sensor detecting a movement of the at least one varying detectable feature relative to the at least one sensor and the second signal pulse generated upon the at least one sensor detecting a movement of the reference feature relative to the at least one sensor, the at least one varying detectable feature configured to cause a change in the first voltage amplitude as a function of an axial position of the feedback device relative to the at least one sensor; and
a measuring circuit coupled to the at least one sensor and configured for:
obtaining the sensor signal from the at least one sensor,
determining a voltage ratio based on the first voltage amplitude and the second voltage amplitude, and
determining the axial position of the feedback device relative to the at least one sensor from the voltage ratio.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the reference feature is configured to cause the second voltage amplitude to remain substantially constant regardless of the axial position of the feedback device relative to the at least one sensor.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the measuring circuit is further configured for determining a difference between the second voltage amplitude and the first voltage amplitude, and for determining the voltage ratio based on the difference in voltage amplitude.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the measuring circuit is configured for determining the difference in voltage amplitude as:
Vdelta=Vpk-pk 2 −Vpk-pk 1 ,
and further wherein the measuring circuit is configured for determining the voltage ratio as:
Vratio=Vdelta/Vpk-pk 2 =(Vpk-pk 2 −Vpk-pk 1 )/Vpk-pk 2 ,
where Vdelta is the difference in voltage amplitude, Vpk-pk 2 is the second voltage amplitude, Vpk-pk 1 is the first voltage amplitude, and Vratio is the voltage ratio.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the measuring circuit is configured for determining the difference in voltage amplitude as:
Vdelta=Vpk-pk 2 −Vpk-pk 1 ,
and further wherein the measuring circuit is configured for determining the voltage ratio as:
Vratio=Vdelta/(Vpk-pk 1 +Vpk-pk 2 )=(Vpk-pk 2 −Vpk-pk 1 )/(Vpk-pk 1 +Vpk-pk 2 ),
where Vdelta is the difference in voltage amplitude, Vpk-pk 2 is the second voltage amplitude, Vpk-pk 1 is the first voltage amplitude, and Vratio is the voltage ratio.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one varying detectable feature comprises at least one position marker having varying magnetic permeability.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one varying detectable feature comprises at least one position marker having an axially varying height for causing the change in the first voltage amplitude as a function of the axial position of the feedback device relative to the at least one sensor.

17. The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one varying detectable feature comprises at least one position marker having an axially varying width for causing the change in the first voltage amplitude as a function of the axial position of the feedback device relative to the at least one sensor.

18. The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one varying detectable feature and the reference feature are provided on a same position marker of the feedback device

Assignees

• Pratt & Whitney Canada

Inventors

• Tomescu Dana
• Jarvo James
• Yakobov Ella

Classifications

• B64F5/60 Primary

  Testing or inspecting aircraft components or systems · CPC title

• G01D5/145 Primary

  influenced by the relative movement between the Hall device and magnetic fields (see G01R33/06) · CPC title

• B64C11/301

  characterised by blade position indicating means · CPC title

• G01D5/14

  influencing the magnitude of a current or voltage · CPC title

• B64D31/00

  Power plant control systems; Arrangement of power plant control systems in aircraft · CPC title