System, a method and a computer program product for maneuvering of an air vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9540100-B2
Application number	US-201314415433-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 12, 2013
Priority date	Sep 23, 2012
Publication date	Jan 10, 2017
Grant date	Jan 10, 2017

Abstract

A control system configured to control an acceleration of an air vehicle which comprises a tiltable propulsion unit that is tiltable to provide a thrust whose direction is variable at least between a general vertical thrust vector direction and a general longitudinal thrust vector direction with respect to the air vehicle, the control system comprising: (a) an input interface for receiving information indicative of a monitored airspeed of the air vehicle; and (b) a control unit, configured to issue controlling commands to a controller of the tiltable propulsion unit for controlling the acceleration of the air vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A control system configured to control an acceleration of an air vehicle which comprises a tiltable propulsion unit that is tiltable to provide a thrust whose direction is variable at least between a general vertical thrust vector direction and a general longitudinal thrust vector direction with respect to the air vehicle, the control system comprising:
an input interface for receiving information indicative of a monitored airspeed of the air vehicle; and
a control unit, configured to issue controlling commands to a controller of the tiltable propulsion unit for controlling the acceleration of the air vehicle, wherein the controlling of the acceleration comprises:
in a first part of the acceleration, in which the tiltable propulsion unit provides thrust in the general vertical thrust vector direction: (a) controlling an operation of the at least one tiltable propulsion unit for providing lift to the air vehicle, and (b) controlling a modifying of a tilt angle of the tiltable propulsion unit with respect to a fuselage of the air vehicle, based on: (i) the monitored airspeed and (ii) an airspeed command; and
following a tilting of the at least one tiltable propulsion unit, controlling in a second part of the acceleration an operation of the tiltable propulsion unit to provide thrust in the general longitudinal thrust vector direction for propelling the air vehicle,
wherein the control unit is configured to issue a pitch command based on the monitored airspeed and the airspeed command and to control in the first part of the acceleration a modifying of a pitch angle of the air vehicle based on the pitch command, wherein the controlling of the modifying of the tilt angle is further based on the pitch command.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to control the operation of the tiltable propulsion unit automatically.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to issue a rotor tilt command for lowering a rotor tilt angle as a result of an issue of a pitch command for lowering a pitch angle.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the pitch control module is configured to issue the pitch command further in response to the measured altitude of the air vehicle.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to change a ratio between: (a) a contribution of the tiltable propulsion unit to the modification of the pitch and (b) a contribution of at least one elevator to the modification of the pitch, wherein the changing of the ratio is correlated to the monitored airspeed.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is further configured to control thrust power of the tiltable propulsion unit for reducing a difference between the measured airspeed and a set airspeed, while restricting increasing of the thrust power based on a threshold that is determined in response to the measured airspeed.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit comprises a tilting control module that is configured to determine a timing for tilting of the at least one tiltable propulsion unit between the second and the first parts of the acceleration for minimizing a duration in which the tiltable propulsion unit provides thrust in the general vertical thrust vector direction.

8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the pitch control module is further configured to keep a pitch of the air vehicle during at least a part of the first part of the acceleration within a permitted pitch range that is dynamically determined in response to the measured airspeed of the air vehicle.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to control before the first part of the acceleration a substantially vertical ascent of the air vehicle from the ground, and to control aerodynamic parts of the air vehicle in a first part of the substantially vertical ascent from the ground for minimizing change in pitch angle and roll angle of the air vehicle.

10. The system according to claim 9 , wherein the control unit is configured to issue a positive airspeed command for accelerating the air vehicle if predetermined time elapsed from an initiation of the substantially vertical ascent, regardless of sensors data.

11. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a pitch control module which is configured to control in the first part of the acceleration a modifying of a pitch angle of the air vehicle, wherein the control unit is configured to balance between modifying the tilt angle and modifying the pitch angle for reducing an energy cost of the acceleration of the air vehicle.

12. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a pitch control module which is configured to control in the first part of the acceleration a modifying of a pitch angle of the air vehicle, and to control in the first part of the acceleration a modifying of a pitch angle of the air vehicle, thereby preventing creation of negative lift force by the wing.

13. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a pitch control module which is configured to control in the first part of the acceleration a modifying of a pitch angle of the air vehicle and to limit in the first part of the acceleration lift created by the wing below 80% of maximal lift which may be created by the wing in the monitored airspeed.

14. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to control thrust power of the tiltable propulsion unit for reducing a difference between the measured airspeed and a set airspeed, while restricting reduction of the thrust power based on a lower threshold that is determined in response to a measured airspeed of the air vehicle.

15. The system according to claim 14 , further comprising an altitude control module configured to minimize a vertical deviation of the air vehicle from a set altitude during the first part of the acceleration, wherein the minimizing is restricted at least by the restricting of the reduction of the thrust power based on the lower threshold.

16. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the airspeed command is based on a preplanned acceleration function.

17. An air vehicle system, comprising:
a wing;
a tiltable propulsion unit, tiltable to provide a thrust whose direction is variable at least between a general vertical thrust vector direction and a general longitudinal thrust vector direction with respect to the air vehicle; and
a control unit, configured to issue controlling commands to a controller of the tiltable propulsion unit for controlling the acceleration of the air vehicle, wherein the controlling of the acceleration comprises:
in a first part of the acceleration, in which the tiltable propulsion unit provides thrust in the general vertical thrust vector direction: (a) controlling an operation of the at least one tiltable propulsion unit for providing lift to the air vehicle, and (b) controlling a modifying of a tilt angle of the tiltable propulsion unit with respect to a fuselage of the air vehicle, based on: (i) a monitored airspeed of the air vehicle and (ii) an airspeed command; and
following a tilting of the at least one tiltable propulsion unit, controlling in a second part of the acceleration an operation of the tiltable propulsion unit to provide thrust in the general longitudinal thrust vector direction for propelling the air vehicle,
wherein the control unit is configured to issue a pitch command based on the monitored airspeed and the airspeed command and to control in the first part of the accelera

Assignees

• Israel Aerospace Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Dekel Guy
• Zivan Lior
• Efraty Yoav
• Wolff Amit
• Volovick Avner

Classifications

• B64C29/0033 Primary

  the propellers being tiltable relative to the fuselage · CPC title

• B64C27/52 Primary

  Tilting of rotor bodily relative to fuselage (of see-saw type construction B64C27/43) · CPC title

• B64U70/60

  Take-off or landing of UAVs from a runway using their own power · CPC title

• B64U50/14

  ducted or shrouded · CPC title

• B64C2201/086

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic