Method and a device for determining and optimizing parameters that are characteristic of the operation of a rotary wing aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9536358-B2
Application number	US-201615059440-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 3, 2016
Priority date	Mar 4, 2015
Publication date	Jan 3, 2017
Grant date	Jan 3, 2017

Abstract

A method of determining parameters that are characteristics of the operation of a vehicle having a power plant with at least one engine and mechanical transmission means, sensors, and display means. During the method, various items of information about the aircraft, its state and/or its operation and/or its environment are measured, and then, for at least one parameter P i relating to the state and the operation of the aircraft there are determined a first limit value P i _ lim for the parameter P i , a second value P i _ X for each parameter P i to enable the aircraft to perform a predetermined maneuver X, and an instantaneous third value P i _ inst for each parameter P i . Thereafter, each first, second, and third values P i _ lim, P i _ X, P i _ inst is displayed simultaneously in order to show up the relative position of second and third values P i _ X and P i _ inst relative to a first value P i _ lim for each parameter P i .

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of determining parameters that are characteristic of the operation of a vehicle, the vehicle having a power plant having at least one engine and main gearbox, a control assembly for controlling movements of the vehicle, a plurality of sensors, at least one computer, at least one memory, and at least one display, the method comprising the following steps: measuring various items of information about the environment of the vehicle, and/or the state and the operation of the vehicle and of the power plant, and/or the states of the control assembly, and/or the position and the movements of the vehicle relative to its environment; determining via the at least one computer an available power margin for each engine of the power plant relative to a minimum guaranteed power, the available power margin characterizing an aging state of each engine of the power plant; determining via the at least one computer an available maximum power from each engine of the power plant by taking account of the available power margin; determining via the at least one computer at least one power characteristic of each engine of the power plant corresponding to performing a predetermined maneuver X of the vehicle, determining via the at least one computer at least a first value Pi_lim corresponding to the available maximum power of each engine of the power plant, and a limit value that a parameter Pi must not exceed, Pi being a parameter relative to the state or to the operation of the vehicle, or to the state or the operation of the power plant, or to the states of the control assembly, or to the position or to the movements of the vehicle relative to its environment; determining via the at least one computer at least one second value Pi_X corresponding to a characteristic power of each engine for performing a predetermined maneuver X of the vehicle and to which the parameter Pi must be equal in order to enable the vehicle to perform the predetermined maneuver X; and simultaneously displaying on a common graphics type representation each first value Pi_lim and each second value Pi_X in order to show clearly the relative position between a first value Pi_lim and each second value Pi_X for each parameter Pi.

2. A method according to claim 1 , characterized by the following steps: determining via the at least one computer an instantaneous power Wminst delivered by each engine of the power plant; determining via the at least one computer at least one third value Pi_inst corresponding to the instantaneous power Wminst delivered by each engine and equal to an instantaneous value of each parameter Pi; and displaying each third value Pi_inst on the graphics type representation.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein each second value Pi_X and each third value Pi_inst, if any, is displayed on the at least one display as a percentage relative to the first value Pi_lim corresponding to the parameter Pi.

4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein each first value Pi_lim, each second value Pi_X, and each third value Pi_inst, if any, is displayed on the at least one display as a percentage relative to a reference value of the parameter Pi.

5. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle is a rotary wing aircraft having a main rotor with main blades, the control assembly controlling variation in the collective pitch of the main blades, and values for the collective pitch of the main blades are displayed on the at least one display, which values correspond respectively to each first value Pi_lim, to each second value Pi_X, and to each third value Pi_inst, if any.

6. A method according to claim 2 , wherein each first value P i _ lim, each second value P i _ X, and each third value P i _ inst is displayed on a first limit indicator (FLI) of the vehicle.

7. A method according to claim 1 , wherein an estimated instantaneous mass M inst is determined for the vehicle via the at least one computer in order to determine each characteristic power.

8. A method according to claim 7 , wherein an available maximum total power at the power plant equal to the sum of the available maximum powers of each engine is used by the at least one computer to determine a maximum mass that can be transported by the vehicle, the maximum transportable mass being the difference between the mass of the vehicle for which a total power delivered by the power plant is equal to the available maximum total power in application of performance curves of the vehicle while taking account of the available power margin, and the estimated instantaneous mass M inst of the vehicle.

9. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle is a rotary wing aircraft having a main rotor with main blades, an anti-torque rotor with secondary blades, and the main gearbox drives rotation of the main rotor and the anti-torque rotor when the aircraft is hovering with its horizontal speed Vh and its vertical speed Vz being substantially zero, and the functional characteristics of the aircraft are characterized in particular by a series of first performance curves using a first formula carried out by the at least one computer:

W
σ

·

(

NR
0

NR

)

3

=

k
·

f
1

⁡

[

M
σ

·

(

NR
0

NR

)

2

]

where W is a flight power of the aircraft ( 10 ), σ is a reduction coefficient, k is a coefficient for the influence of the ground on the behavior of the aircraft as a function of the height Hz of the aircraft above the ground, M is the estimated mass of the aircraft, NR 0 is a setpoint for the speed of rotation of the main rotor, NR is the real speed of rotation of the main rotor, and ƒ 1 is a first function represented by a series of first performance curves for the aircraft, the flight power W of the aircraft being equal to the sum of the powers delivered by each engine of the power plant minus accessory power needed for powering equipment on board the aircraft, the method comprising the following steps:
calculating via the at least one computer the reduction coefficient σ such that:

σ
=

(

P
0

T
0

)

Assignees

• Airbus Helicopters

Inventors

• Germanetti Serge

Classifications

• B64C27/04

  Helicopters · CPC title

• G07C5/0825 Primary

  using optical means · CPC title

• B64D43/00 Primary

  Arrangements or adaptations of instruments · CPC title