Modeling and testing of hinged flight control surfaces of aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11526636-B2
Application number	US-201716471879-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2017
Priority date	Dec 21, 2016
Publication date	Dec 13, 2022
Grant date	Dec 13, 2022

Abstract

Methods and systems relating to the design and testing of systems that include hinged flight control surfaces of aircraft are disclosed. The systems and methods disclosed herein make use of a structural model representing a structural environment of the system in a relatively simple manner. In various embodiments, the structural model comprises one or more actuation branches having a common linear actuation direction, a load mass, and a massless connector representative of a hinge line of the flight control surface. The massless connector is connected to and disposed between the one or more actuation branches and the load mass and is movable along the common linear actuation direction so that linear movement of the massless connector is correlated to rotational movement of the hinged flight control surface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for modeling a system including a hinged flight control surface of an aircraft, the apparatus comprising:
one or more processors; and
non-transitory machine-readable memory operatively coupled to the one or more processors, the machine-readable memory comprising:
data representative of a structural model of the system including the hinged flight control surface, the structural model comprising:
one or more actuation branches having a common linear actuation direction, each actuation branch comprising an actuator;
a load mass; and
a massless connector representing a hinge line of the flight control surface, the massless connector being connected to and disposed between the one or more actuation branches and the load mass, the massless connector being movable along the common linear actuation direction so that linear movement of the massless connector is correlated to rotational movement of the hinged flight control surface,
wherein the structural model is configured to be used to fabricate a physical rig using a physical component approximating the massless connector, wherein the physical component has a mass that is less than 10% of the load mass; and

machine-readable instructions executable by the one or more processors and configured to cause the one or more processors to:
using the data representative of the structural model of the system and data representative of an input to the system, generate data representative of a response of the system to the input.

2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the input varies as a function of time.

3. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the input comprises a force representative of an aerodynamic load applied to the massless connector, the force being oriented parallel to the linear actuation direction.

4. The apparatus as defined in claim 3 , wherein a magnitude of the force is dependent upon a position of the massless connector along the linear actuation direction.

5. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the input comprises an actuation distance of the actuator.

6. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the load mass is resiliently connected to the massless connector.

7. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the structural model comprises a load damper disposed between the massless connector and the load mass.

8. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the one or more actuation branches of the structural model each comprises a branch spring.

9. The apparatus as defined in claim 8 , wherein the branch spring defines a backup structure stiffness and a flight control surface stiffness.

10. The apparatus as defined in claim 8 , wherein the branch spring defines an actuator stiffness.

11. The apparatus as defined in claim 8 , wherein the structural model comprises a branch damper coupled in parallel with the branch spring.

12. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more actuation branches comprise a plurality of actuation branches;
the massless connector comprises a first rigid and massless bar extending across the plurality of actuation branches; and
the plurality of actuation branches are connected to a same side of the first rigid and massless bar.

13. The apparatus as defined in claim 12 , wherein the structural model comprises a second rigid and massless bar extending across the plurality of actuation branches, the second rigid and massless bar being connected in series with the plurality of actuation branches and being movable along the linear actuation direction.

14. The apparatus as defined in claim 13 , wherein the second rigid and massless bar is disposed between the first rigid and massless bar and the load mass.

15. The apparatus as defined in claim 14 , wherein the second rigid and massless bar is resiliently connected to the first rigid and massless bar and to the load mass.

16. The apparatus as defined in claim 13 , wherein the second rigid and massless bar is disposed between the plurality of actuation branches and a grounding structure.

17. The apparatus as defined in claim 16 , wherein the second rigid and massless bar is resiliently connected to the grounding structure.

18. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the one or more actuation branches of the structural model each comprises a backup structure stiffness, an actuator stiffness and a flight control surface stiffness.

19. A computer-implemented method for modeling a system including a hinged flight control surface of an aircraft, the method comprising:
receiving data representative of a structural model of the system including the hinged flight control surface, the structural model comprising:
one or more actuation branches having a common linear actuation direction, each actuation branch comprising an actuator;
a load mass; and
a massless connector representative of a hinge line of the flight control surface, the massless connector being connected to and disposed between the one or more actuation branches and the load mass, the massless connector being movable along the common linear actuation direction so that linear movement of the massless connector is correlated to rotational movement of the hinged flight control surface,
wherein the structural model is configured to be used to fabricate a physical rig using a physical component approximating the massless connector, wherein the physical component has a mass that is less than 10% of the load mass;

receiving data representative of an input to the system; and
using the data representative of the structural model of the system and the data representative of the input to the system, generating data representative of a response of the system to the input.

20. A method for fabricating a physical rig for testing a system including a hinged flight control surface of an aircraft, the method comprising:
receiving a medium containing a definition of a structural model of the system including the hinged flight control surface, the structural model comprising:
one or more actuation branches having a common linear actuation direction, each actuation branch comprising an actuator;
a load mass; and
a massless connector representative of a hinge line of the flight control surface, the massless connector being connected to and disposed between the one or more actuation branches and the load mass, the massless connector being movable along the common linear actuation direction so that linear movement of the massless connector is correlated to rotational movement of the hinged flight control surface; and

fabricating the physical rig substantially in accordance with the structural model using a physical component approximating the massless connector, wherein the physical component has a mass that is less than 10% of the load mass.

21. The method as defined in claim 20 , wherein the physical component has a mass that is less than 5% of the load mass.

22. The method as defined in claim 20 , comprising compensating for the mass of the physical component by adjusting one or more parameters of the physical rig.

23. A machine-readable medium useful for modeling or testing a system including a hinged flight control surface of an aircraft, the machine-readable medium comprising:
machine-readable code representative of one or more actuation branches of the system, the one or more actuation branches having a common linear actuation direction and each actuation branch comprising an

Assignees

• Bombardier Inc
• Airbus Canada Lp

Inventors

• Tessier Claude
• Meunier Gabriel

Classifications

• B64F5/60

  Testing or inspecting aircraft components or systems · CPC title

• G06F30/15 Primary

  Vehicle, aircraft or watercraft design · CPC title

• G06F30/20

  Design optimisation, verification or simulation (optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30) · CPC title

• B64C13/00

  Control systems or transmitting systems for actuating flying-control surfaces, lift-increasing flaps, air brakes, or spoilers · CPC title

• G06F2113/28

  Fuselage, exterior or interior · CPC title