Aircraft control system, aircraft, aircraft control program, and method for controlling aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9199723-B2
Application number	US-201214001765-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 8, 2012
Priority date	Mar 14, 2011
Publication date	Dec 1, 2015
Grant date	Dec 1, 2015

Abstract

A control system of an aircraft includes a computer that controls flight based on either a flight control law that controls flight by controlling the deflection angles of control surfaces or a control surface/thrust integrated flight control law that controls flight by controlling the deflection angles of the control surfaces and engine thrust, and a control surface failure/damage detection device. If malfunctioning of the control surface(s) is detected, the deflection angles and the rates of change of the deflection angles of the control surfaces are calculated based on the detection result, and the necessity of switching from the flight control law to the control surface/thrust integrated flight control law is judged by judging whether or not the calculated deflection angles or rates of change of the deflection angles exceed an acceptable range of change.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A aircraft control system comprising:
a control unit that controls flight based on either a first control law or a second control law, the first control law controlling flight by controlling deflection angles of control surfaces and the second controlling law controlling flight by controlling the deflection angles of the control surfaces and engine thrust;
a control surface failure/damage detection unit that detects that at least one of the control surfaces is malfunctioning;
a calculation unit that calculates the deflection angles and rates of change of the deflection angles that are necessary for realization of desired flight characteristics based on a detection result of the control surface failure/damage detection unit if malfunctioning of the control surface(s) is detected by the control surface failure/damage detection unit; and
a judgment unit that judges whether or not switching from the first control law to the second control law is necessary by judging whether or not the deflection angles or the rates of change of the deflection angles that are calculated by the calculation unit exceed an acceptable range of change.

2. The aircraft control system according to claim 1 , wherein if malfunctioning of the control surface(s) is detected by the control surface failure/damage detection unit, if the deflection angles or the rates of change of the deflection angles that are calculated by the calculation unit do not exceed the acceptable range of change, the control unit reconfigures the first control law so as not to use the control surface(s) whose malfunctioning is detected by the control surface failure/damage detection unit, or so as to decrease the extent to which the control surface(s) is used, and if the deflection angles or the rates of change of the deflection angles that are calculated by the calculation unit exceed the acceptable range of change, the control unit switches from the first control law to the second control law.

3. The aircraft control system according to claim 1 , wherein the calculation unit calculates required amounts of change in moment of an aircraft from angular velocity and angular acceleration about a body axis of the aircraft that are calculated based on a response model indicating motion characteristics of the aircraft, and calculates the deflection angles and the rates of change of the deflection angles that satisfy the calculated required amounts of change in moment.

4. The aircraft control system according to claim 3 , wherein the calculation unit calculates the required amount of change in moment of the aircraft taking an effect of a gyroscopic moment of an engine into account.

5. An aircraft comprising the aircraft control system according to claim 1 .

6. A program for controlling an aircraft including a control unit that controls flight based on either a first control law or a second control law, the first control law controlling flight by controlling deflection angles of control surfaces and the second control law controlling flight by controlling the deflection angles of the control surfaces and engine thrust, and a control surface failure/damage detection unit that detects that at least one of the control surfaces is malfunctioning,
the program causing a computer to function as:
a calculation unit that calculates the deflection angles and rates of change of the deflection angles that are necessary for realization of desired flight characteristics based on a detection result of the control surface failure/damage detection unit if malfunctioning of the control surface(s) is detected by the control surface failure/damage detection unit; and
a judgment unit that judges whether or not switching from the first control law to the second control law is necessary by judging whether or not the deflection angles or the rates of change of the deflection angles that are calculated by the calculation unit exceed an acceptable range of change.

7. A method for controlling an aircraft including a control unit that controls flight based on either a first control law or a second control law, the first control law controlling flight by controlling deflection angles of control surfaces and the second control law controlling flight by controlling the deflection angles of the control surfaces and engine thrust, and a control surface failure/damage detection unit that detects that at least one of the control surfaces is malfunctioning,
the method comprising:
a first step of calculating the deflection angles and rates of change of the deflection angles that are necessary for realization of desired flight characteristics based on a detection result of the control surface failure/damage detection unit if malfunctioning of the control surface(s) is detected by the control surface failure/damage detection unit; and
a second step of judging whether or not switching from the first control law to the second control law is necessary by judging whether or not the deflection angles or the rates of change of the deflection angles that are calculated in the first step exceed an acceptable range of change.

8. The aircraft control system according to claim 2 , wherein the calculation unit calculates required amounts of change in moment of an aircraft from angular velocity and angular acceleration about a body axis of the aircraft that are calculated based on a response model indicating motion characteristics of the aircraft, and calculates the deflection angles and the rates of change of the deflection angles that satisfy the calculated required amounts of change in moment.

Assignees

• Yamasaki Koichi
• Mitsubishi Heavy Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Yamasaki Koichi

Classifications

• G05D1/0055 Primary

  with safety arrangements · CPC title

• B64C13/16 Primary

  actuated automatically, e.g. responsive to gust detectors · CPC title