Ballonet measurement system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9611024-B2
Application number	US-201113197713-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 3, 2011
Priority date	Aug 3, 2011
Publication date	Apr 4, 2017
Grant date	Apr 4, 2017

Abstract

Systems and methods for measuring a volume of a ballonet are provided. In some aspects, the system may include a plurality of sensors configured to transmit a plurality of signals toward an interior surface of the ballonet and to receive the plurality of signals reflected off of the interior surface of the ballonet, a distance calculating module configured to calculate a plurality of distances from the plurality of sensors to the interior surface of the ballonet using the received plurality of signals, and a mapping module configured to create a three-dimensional surface using the calculated plurality of distances. The system may further include a measurement module configured to calculate the volume of the ballonet using the three-dimensional surface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for measuring a volume of a ballonet, the system comprising:
a plurality of reflectors arranged in a grid pattern along a non-rigid interior surface of the ballonet and configured to reflect a plurality of signals directed at the plurality of reflectors;
a plurality of sensors mounted on a rigid interior surface of the ballonet and configured to transmit the plurality of signals toward the non-rigid interior surface of the ballonet and to receive the plurality of signals reflected off of the plurality of reflectors while the ballonet is not fully pressurized and comprises a folded, wrinkled or creased portion of the non-rigid interior surface of the ballonet; and
one or more processors configured to:
calculate, while the ballonet is not fully pressurized and comprises the folded, wrinkled or creased portion of the non-rigid interior surface of the ballonet, a plurality of distances from the plurality of sensors to the plurality of reflectors using the received-plurality of signals;
create a three-dimensional surface using the calculated plurality of distances; and
calculate the volume of the ballonet using the three-dimensional surface.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors comprise laser based sensors.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors comprise radio frequency based sensors.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors comprise sonic based sensors.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
detect the folded, wrinkled or creased portion of the non-rigid interior surface of the ballonet based on comparing data received for the portion by a first sensor of the plurality of sensors with data received for the portion by a second sensor of the plurality of sensors; and
exclude erroneous distances corresponding to the folded, wrinkled or creased portion from the calculated plurality of distances.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to calculate the volume of the ballonet in real time.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to calculate the volume of the ballonet in a time increment of one second or more.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to calculate the volume of the ballonet within 1% of a total volume of the ballonet.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine the orientation of the ballonet relative to a plane using the three-dimensional surface and orientation data from gyro instrumentation.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to calculate the center of gravity of the ballonet using the three-dimensional surface and the determined orientation of the ballonet.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to calculate a leakage rate of the ballonet by predicting the volume of the ballonet and determining a difference between the predicted volume of the ballonet and the calculated volume of the ballonet.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform statistical checks to determine the reliability of the calculated volume of the ballonet.

13. A method for measuring a volume of a ballonet, the method comprising:
transmitting, by a plurality of sensors mounted on a rigid interior surface of the ballonet, a plurality of signals toward a plurality of reflectors arranged in a grid pattern along a non-rigid interior surface of the ballonet;
receiving the plurality of signals reflected off of the plurality of reflectors while the ballonet is not fully pressurized and comprises a folded, wrinkled or creased portion of the non-rigid interior surface of the ballonet;
calculating, while the ballonet is not fully pressurized and comprises the folded, wrinkled or creased portion of the non-rigid interior surface of the ballonet, a plurality of distances from the plurality of sensors to the plurality of reflectors using the received plurality of signals;
creating a three-dimensional surface using the calculated plurality of distances; and
calculating the volume of the ballonet using the three-dimensional surface.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of signals comprise light beams.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of signals comprise radio waves.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of signals comprise sound waves.

17. The method of claim 13 , further comprising, after calculating a plurality of distances:
detecting the folded, wrinkled or creased portion of the non-rigid interior surface of the ballonet based on comparing data received for the portion by a first sensor of the plurality of sensors with data received for the portion by a second sensor of the plurality of sensors; and
excluding erroneous distances corresponding to the folded, wrinkled or creased portion from the calculated plurality of distances.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the calculating the volume of the ballonet comprises calculating the volume of the ballonet in real time.

19. The method of claim 13 , wherein the calculating the volume of the ballonet comprises calculating the volume of the ballonet in time increments of one second or more.

20. The method of claim 13 , further comprising determining the orientation of the ballonet relative to a plane using the three-dimensional surface and orientation data from gyro instrumentation.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising calculating the center of gravity of the ballonet using the three-dimensional surface and the determined orientation of the ballonet.

22. The method of claim 13 , further comprising calculating a leakage rate of the ballonet by predicting the volume of the ballonet and determining a difference between the predicted volume of the ballonet and the calculated volume of the ballonet.

23. The method of claim 13 , further comprising performing statistical checks to determine the reliability of the calculated volume of the ballonet.

24. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processing system to perform a method for measuring a volume of a ballonet, the instructions comprising code for:
transmitting, by a plurality of sensors mounted on a rigid interior surface of the ballonet, a plurality of signals toward a plurality of reflectors arranged in a grid pattern along a non-rigid interior surface of the ballonet;
receiving the plurality of signals reflected off of the plurality of reflectors while the ballonet is not fully pressurized and comprises a folded, wrinkled or creased portion of the non-rigid interior surface of the ballonet;
calculating, while the ballonet is not fully pressurized and comprises the folded, wrinkled or creased portion of the non-rigid interior surface of the ballonet, a plurality of distances from the plurality of sensors to the plurality of reflectors using the received plurality of signals;
creating a three-dimensional surface using the calculated plurality of distances; and
calculating the volume of the ballonet using the three-dimensional surface.

25. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 24 , further comprising code for:
detecting the folded, wri

Assignees

• Greiner Douglas H
• Holm-Hansen Brian T
• Morehead John P
• Lockheed Corp

Inventors

• Greiner Douglas H
• Holm-Hansen Brian T
• Morehead John P

Classifications

• G01F17/00

  Methods or apparatus for determining the capacity of containers or cavities, or the volume of solid bodies (measuring linear dimensions to determine volume G01B) · CPC title

• B64B1/00 Primary

  Lighter-than-air aircraft · CPC title