Automated flight throttle control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9828108-B2
Application number	US-201615066929-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2016
Priority date	Mar 10, 2016
Publication date	Nov 28, 2017
Grant date	Nov 28, 2017

Abstract

Automated throttle control is described herein. One disclosed example method includes calculating, using a processor, a thrust resolver angle based on a flight condition of an aircraft, and controlling a throttle from moving past at least one of the thrust resolver angle or a range defined by the thrust resolver angle to maintain the aircraft in a preferred flight mode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
calculating, using a processor, a thrust resolver angle based on a flight condition of an aircraft; and
controlling a throttle from moving past at least one of the thrust resolver angle or a range defined by the thrust resolver angle to maintain the aircraft in a preferred flight mode, wherein controlling the throttle includes preventing an autothrottle system from being put into a hold mode that overrides the autothrottle system when the aircraft trends away from the preferred flight mode.

2. The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein calculating the thrust resolver angle is further based on a selected automated mode of the aircraft.

3. The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the flight condition includes at least one of velocity, pitch, yaw, roll, or altitude of the aircraft.

4. The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein calculating the thrust resolver angle is based on a region defined by velocity and thrust ranges.

5. The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein controlling the throttle includes restricting a range of movement of a throttle lever.

6. The method as defined in claim 5 , wherein restricting the throttle includes electromechanical restriction of the throttle lever.

7. The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the preferred flight mode includes maintaining the aircraft at a speed exceeding a stick shaker velocity of the aircraft.

8. A method for controlling an autothrottle control of an aircraft comprising:
analyzing, using a processor, a received flight input and at least one flight condition to determine whether the flight input will place the aircraft in a state different from a preferred flight state;
upon determining that the flight input will not place the aircraft in the state different from the preferred flight state, enabling the autothrottle control to be placed into a hold mode that overrides the autothrottle control; and
automatically preventing the autothrottle control from entering the hold mode when the aircraft trends away from the preferred flight state.

9. The method as defined in claim 8 , further including upon determining that the flight input will place the aircraft in the state different from the preferred flight state, automatically changing a mode of the autothrottle control.

10. The method as defined in claim 8 , further including controlling a throttle level above a thrust resolver angle, wherein the thrust resolver angle is based on a region defined by velocity and thrust ranges.

11. The method as defined in claim 8 , wherein the preferred flight state includes a velocity greater than a stick shaker velocity of the aircraft.

12. A tangible machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed, cause a processor to:
determine that a flight input of an aircraft will cause the aircraft to be in a non-preferred flight condition; and
based on the determination, prevent an autothrottle mode of the aircraft from entering a hold mode that overrides the autothrottle mode to maintain the aircraft in a preferred flight condition.

13. The machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon as defined in claim 12 , which when executed, further cause the processor to calculate at least one of an allowable throttle limit or throttle range.

14. The machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon as defined in claim 13 , which when executed, further cause the processor to direct an electromechanical system to inhibit motion of a throttle lever beyond the at least one of the allowable throttle limit or throttle range.

15. The machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon as defined in claim 12 , wherein the flight input includes a command to perform an automated flight program.

16. The machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon as defined in claim 12 , wherein the flight input includes a manual input.

17. The machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon as defined in claim 12 , wherein the processor determines that the aircraft is trending away from the preferred flight condition to determine that the flight input will cause the aircraft to be in the non-preferred flight condition.

18. An apparatus comprising:
a sensor of an aircraft to determine a flight condition of the aircraft;
a processor to calculate at least one of a throttle limit or a throttle range based on the flight condition and a flight input to maintain the aircraft in a preferred flight condition, wherein the processor is to prevent an automated throttle control system of the aircraft from entering a hold mode that overrides the automated throttle control system based on the flight input trending the aircraft away from the preferred flight condition; and
an electromechanical mechanism to control a throttle lever from moving beyond the at least one of the throttle limit or the throttle range.

19. The apparatus as defined in claim 18 , wherein the processor is to calculate the at least one of the throttle limit or the throttle range by comparing an airspeed of the aircraft to a region defined by velocity and thrust ranges.

20. The apparatus as defined in claim 18 , wherein the processor is to calculate the at least one of the throttle limit or the throttle range further based on the flight input.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Martindale Ian Carey

Classifications

• B64D31/06 Primary

  actuated automatically · CPC title

• B64D31/08 Primary

  for keeping cruising speed constant · CPC title

• G05B13/027 Primary

  using neural networks only · CPC title

• B64D43/02

  for indicating aircraft speed or stalling conditions · CPC title

• G05D1/82

  Limited authority control, e.g. enforcing a flight envelope (limitation of acceleration or structural stress G05D1/83) · CPC title