Aircraft sidestick priority and dual input control logic

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016109882-A1
Application number	US-201414896940-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 9, 2014
Priority date	Jun 14, 2013
Publication date	Apr 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present invention relates to a fly-by-wire type of aircraft flight control system having a pair of sidesticks for pilot and co-pilot input, respectively, and having logic that controls the priority of input as between the two sidesticks in certain aircraft flight situations. It allows either the pilot or co-pilot to ensure that his/her sidestick is the only one issuing flight control commands at any one moment in time by first pressing a simple latch button located, for example, on the glareshield in the cockpit and then maneuvering the sidestick in the desired manner to effectuate flight control, e.g., pitch and/or roll, of the aircraft.

First claim

1 . A flight control system for an aircraft, comprising:
a processor that processes a plurality of inputs from the aircraft, that contains a plurality of control laws that control operation of the aircraft, and that provides a plurality of outputs that control a plurality of devices located on the aircraft; a pair of first input devices, a first one of the first input devices controlled by a pilot of the aircraft, a second one of the first input devices controlled by a co-pilot of the aircraft, each one of the first input devices being operable to input a first control signal to the processor to cause the aircraft to be in a first priority control condition; and a pair of second input devices located apart from the pair of first input devices, a first one of the second input devices controlled by a pilot of the aircraft, a second one of the second input devices controlled by a co-pilot of the aircraft, each one of the second input devices being operable to input a second control signal to the processor to cause the aircraft to be in a second priority control condition.

2 . The flight control system of claim 1 , wherein each one of the pair of first input devices comprises a sidestick controller.

3 . The flight control system of claim 2 , wherein each sidestick controller includes a momentary priority switch that, when activated by the pilot or co-pilot, is operable to input the first priority control signal to the processor.

4 . The flight control system of claim 3 , wherein the first priority control signal comprises a momentary priority control signal that indicates which one of the pilot or co-pilot has current momentary control of the aircraft.

5 . The flight control system of claim 4 , wherein when the pilot or co-pilot has current momentary control of the aircraft, the other one of the pilot or co-pilot can take over current momentary control of the aircraft by activating the momentary priority switch on the corresponding sidestick controller.

6 . The flight control system of claim 4 , wherein visual and/or aural awareness cues are provided to announce to the pilot and co-pilot which one of the pilot or co-pilot has current momentary control of the aircraft.

7 . The flight control system of claim 1 , wherein each one of the pair of second input devices comprises a push button annunciator.

8 . The flight control system of claim 7 , wherein each push button annunciator includes a permanent priority switch that, when activated by the pilot or co-pilot, is operable to input the second priority control signal to the processor.

9 . The flight control system of claim 8 , wherein the second priority control signal comprises a permanent priority control signal that indicates which one of the pilot or co-pilot has current permanent control of the aircraft.

10 . The flight control system of claim 8 , wherein when the pilot or co-pilot has current permanent control of the aircraft, the other one of the pilot or co-pilot can take over current permanent control of the aircraft by activating the corresponding push button annunciator.

11 . The flight control system of claim 7 , wherein each one of the push button annunciators is located on a glareshield within a cockpit of the aircraft.

12 . The flight control system of claim 7 , wherein the glareshield includes a visual cue that announces to the pilot and co-pilot which one of the pilot or co-pilot has current permanent control of the aircraft.

13 . The flight control system of claim 8 , wherein visual and/or aural awareness cues are provided to announce to the pilot and co-pilot which one of the pilot or co-pilot has current permanent control of the aircraft.

14 . The flight control system of claim 1 , wherein each one of the pair of first input devices comprises a sidestick controller, each sidestick controller being movable by the corresponding pilot and co-pilot to issue a plurality of control commands to the processor.

15 . The flight control system of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of control commands include aircraft pitch and roll commands.

16 . The flight control system of claim 14 , wherein when the pilot and co-pilot simultaneously issue the plurality of commands to the processor, a dual input condition occurs.

17 . The flight control system of claim 16 , wherein when the dual input condition occurs, both visual and aural awareness cues relating to the existence of the dual input condition are provided to the pilot and co-pilot.

18 . The flight control system of claim 1 , wherein the flight control system comprises a fly-by-wire type of aircraft control system.

19 . The flight control system of claim 1 , wherein the pair of first input devices comprises at least one yoke.

20 . A method for controlling a priority of input to an aircraft flight control system as between a pilot and a co-pilot each using two input devices associated with the pilot and the co-pilot, respectively, the method comprising the steps of:
checking first if both the pilot and the co-pilot have simultaneously issued an input command to the flight control system using a first one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot; if both the pilot and the co-pilot have simultaneously issued an input command to the flight control system, checking if either the pilot or the co-pilot has requested temporary priority of input to the flight control system using the first one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot; if neither the pilot nor the co-pilot has requested temporary priority of input to the flight control system, checking if either the pilot or the co-pilot has requested permanent priority of input to the flight control system using a second one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot, the second one of the two input devices being located apart from the first one of the two input devices; if neither the pilot nor the co-pilot has requested permanent priority of input to the flight control system, checking second if both the pilot and the co-pilot have simultaneously issued an input command to the flight control system using the first one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot; if either the pilot or the co-pilot has requested temporary priority of input to the flight control system using the first one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot, assigning temporary priority of input to the flight control system to the one of the pilot or the co-pilot that requested temporary priority of input; and if either the pilot or the co-pilot has requested permanent priority of input to the flight control system using the second one of the two input devices associated with either the pilot or the co-pilot, assigning permanent priority of input to the flight control system to the one of the pilot or the co-pilot that requested permanent priority of input.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein:
if one of the pilot or the co-pilot has been assigned temporary priority of input to the flight control system, checking if the other one of the pilot and co-pilot not assigned temporary priority of input to the flight control system has requested temporary priority of input to the flight control system; and if the other one of the pilot and co-pilot not assigned temporary priority of input to the flight control system has requested temporary priority of input to the flight control system, assigning temporary prior

Assignees

• Bombardier Inc

Inventors

• Ouellette Benoit
• Duchesne Sophie
• Lecoq Frederic

Classifications

• B64C13/0427

  for actuating trim · CPC title

• B64C13/0421

  control sticks for primary flight controls · CPC title

• B64C13/0423

  yokes or steering wheels for primary flight controls · CPC title

• G05D1/0077

  using redundant signals or controls · CPC title

• G05D1/0061 Primary

  for transition from automatic pilot to manual pilot and vice versa · CPC title