Flight control system and method for an aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12469919-B2
Application number	US-202318097035-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 13, 2023
Priority date	Aug 17, 2021
Publication date	Nov 11, 2025
Grant date	Nov 11, 2025

Abstract

A system and method for flight control of an aircraft, the flight control system including a plurality of flight components coupled to an aircraft, wherein the plurality of flight components includes a plurality of redundant control surfaces, a plurality of redundant low voltage buses communicatively connected to the plurality of flight components, wherein a failure in a redundant low voltage bus of the plurality of redundant low voltage busses does not impact the operability of the aircraft.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A flight control system for an aircraft, the flight control system comprising:
a plurality of flight components coupled to an aircraft, wherein the plurality of flight components comprises a plurality of redundant control surfaces; and a plurality of redundant low voltage buses communicatively connected to the plurality of flight components, wherein the plurality of redundant control surfaces include:
a first aileron located on a first fixed wing of the aircraft that is connected to a first redundant low voltage bus;
a second aileron located on the first fixed wing of the aircraft that is connected to a second redundant low voltage bus;
a third aileron located on a second fixed wing of the aircraft that is connected to a third redundant low voltage bus; and
a fourth aileron located on the second fixed wing of the aircraft that is connected to a fourth redundant low voltage bus, wherein the first aileron, the second aileron, the third aileron, and the fourth aileron are each independently electronically controllable; and
a plurality of booms, the plurality of booms including:
a first boom coupled to a first vertical take-off propulsor and a second vertical take-off propulsor, the first boom being perpendicularly coupled to the first fixed wing; and
a second boom coupled to a third vertical take-off propulsor and a fourth vertical take-off propulsor, the second boom being perpendicularly coupled to the second fixed wing.

2 . The flight control system of claim 1 , further comprising a flight controller communicatively connected to the plurality of redundant control surfaces and configured to control the plurality of redundant control surfaces.

3 . The flight control system of claim 1 , further comprising a pilot control communicatively connected to a flight controller, wherein the pilot control is configured to transmit at least a pilot input to the flight controller.

4 . The flight control system of claim 1 , further comprising a sensor communicatively connected to a pilot control, wherein the sensor is configured to detect a pilot input of the pilot control and transmit the pilot input to a flight controller.

5 . The flight control system of claim 4 , wherein a control set of a plurality of control sets comprises at least two component groups.

6 . The flight control system of claim 5 , wherein a component group of the at least two component groups comprises a group of components used in flight control of an aircraft part of a plurality of redundant components in a control set.

7 . The flight control system of claim 1 , wherein a redundant control surface of the plurality of redundant control surfaces comprises at least two elevators located on one side of the aircraft.

8 . The flight control system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of flight components and the plurality of redundant low voltage buses are categorized into a plurality of control sets.

9 . The flight control system of claim 8 , wherein a control set of the plurality of control sets is located on each wing of the aircraft.

10 . The flight control system of claim 1 , wherein a pilot control is configured to control a pitch, roll, and yaw of the aircraft.

11 . The flight control system of claim 1 , wherein a pilot input further comprises an attitude command describing a transition from vertical flight to horizontal flight of the aircraft.

12 . The flight control system of claim 1 , wherein a sensor is further configured to: detect an attitude command from a pilot control;
determine that a flight component of the plurality of flight components is disabled; and generate a failure datum corresponding to a disablement of the flight component.

13 . The flight control system of claim 12 , wherein the pilot control is configured to receive the failure datum from the sensor and, subsequently, generate an attitude command to a second flight component of the plurality of flight components.

14 . The flight control system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of redundant control surfaces include:
a first elevator located on a first side of the aircraft that is connected to a fifth redundant low voltage bus; a second elevator located on the first side of the aircraft that is connected to a sixth redundant low voltage bus; a third elevator located on a second side of the aircraft that is connected to a seventh redundant low voltage bus; and a fourth elevator located on the second side of the aircraft that is connected to an eighth redundant low voltage bus.

15 . A method for flight control of an aircraft, the method comprising:
detecting, by a sensor, pilot input of a pilot control, wherein the pilot input is transmitted to a flight controller of an aircraft, wherein the aircraft comprises:
a plurality of flight components coupled to an aircraft, wherein the plurality of flight components comprises a plurality of redundant control surfaces; and
a plurality of redundant low voltage buses communicatively connected to the plurality of flight components, wherein a failure in a redundant low voltage bus of the plurality of redundant low voltage buses does not impact operability of the aircraft; and
a plurality of booms, the plurality of booms including:
a first boom coupled to a first vertical take-off propulsor and a second vertical take-off propulsor, the first boom being perpendicularly coupled to a first fixed wing; and
a second boom coupled to a third vertical take-off propulsor and a fourth vertical take-off propulsor, the second boom being perpendicularly coupled to a second fixed wing; and

generating a failure datum corresponding to a disablement of a flight component of the plurality of flight components, wherein the plurality of redundant control surfaces include:
a first elevator located on a first side of the aircraft that is connected to a first redundant low voltage bus;
a second elevator located on the first side of the aircraft that is connected to a second redundant low voltage bus;
a third elevator located on a second side of the aircraft that is connected to a third redundant low voltage bus; and
a fourth elevator located on the second side of the aircraft that is connected to a fourth redundant low voltage bus, wherein the first elevator, the second elevator, the third elevator, and the fourth elevator are each independently electronically controllable.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein a redundant control surface of the plurality of redundant control surfaces comprises at least two ailerons located on a fixed wing of the aircraft.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the pilot control is configured to control a pitch, roll, and yaw of the aircraft.

18 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the pilot input further comprises an attitude command describing a transition from vertical flight to horizontal flight of the aircraft.

19 . The method of claim 15 , wherein generating the failure datum comprises, receiving, by the pilot control, the failure datum from the sensor and, subsequently, generating an attitude command to a second flight component of the plurality of flight components.

20 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of redundant control surfaces include:
a first aileron located on a first fixed wing of the aircraft that is connected to a fifth redundant low voltage bus; a second aileron located on the first fixed wing of the aircraft that is connected to a sixth redundant low voltage bus; a third aileron located on a second fixed wing of th

Assignees

• Beta Air Llc

Inventors

• Auerbach Joshua E
• Giroux Andrew
• Richter Timothy Gerard
• Wiegman Herman

Classifications

• H01M10/48

  Accumulators combined with arrangements for measuring, testing or indicating the condition of cells, e.g. the level or density of the electrolyte (constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals, H01M50/569) · CPC title

• B60L50/66

  Arrangements of batteries · CPC title

• B60L3/0046

  relating to electric energy storage systems, e.g. batteries or capacitors · CPC title

• H01M2220/20

  Batteries in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane · CPC title

• B60L50/64

  Constructional details of batteries specially adapted for electric vehicles · CPC title