Method and device for automatically estimating parameters relating to a flight of an aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9945664-B2
Application number	US-201514658594-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 16, 2015
Priority date	Mar 18, 2014
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

The estimation device comprises an estimation assembly for determining a corrected estimated incidence, with the aid of an estimated incidence which is computed on the basis of aerodynamic parameters and of inertial parameters related to the aircraft and of a measured incidence which is determined on the basis of measurements carried out on the aircraft by at least one incidence probe. This estimation device thus makes it possible to obtain estimations of the speed of the aircraft, of its incidence and of the total temperature, on the basis of aerodynamic and inertial parameters.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for automatically estimating at least one parameter related to a flight of an aircraft comprising:
a first series of successively-repeated steps performed in a first estimation assembly of a processing unit onboard the aircraft for automatically determining a corrected estimated incidence value, each of said first series of successively-repeated steps comprising, in an automatic and iterative manner:
a) computing an estimated incidence α of the aircraft in a first computational unit of the first estimation assembly with the aid of the following expression:
α=(θ−γ)/cos φ

in which:
θ is an angle of longitudinal inclination of the aircraft;
cos φ is the cosine of an angle of roll of the aircraft; and
γ is an air slope of the aircraft;
b) receiving a measured incidence of the aircraft from a data system onboard the aircraft and in communication with the processing unit;
c) verifying whether the measured incidence is considered to be consistent in a verification unit of the first estimation assembly each time the measured incidence is received from the data system;
d) as a function of the verification carried out in step c):
adding a computed correction value to said estimated incidence α in a second computational unit of the first estimation assembly in communication with the first computational unit and the verification unit to obtain the corrected estimated incidence value when the measured incidence is considered to be consistent; and
adding a first corrective value to said estimated incidence α in the second computational unit to obtain the corrected estimated incidence value when the measured incidence is not considered to be consistent, wherein the first corrective value is based on a previously-computed correction value when the measured incidence was considered to be consistent; and
a second series of successively repeated steps, performed in a second estimation assembly of the processing unit in communication with the first estimation unit, the second estimation assembly comprising a third computational unit in communication with the second computational unit and configured to automatically determine an estimated air speed of the aircraft using the corrected estimated incident value to calculate an aerodynamic speed when a conventional speed of the aircraft is determined to be invalid.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising computing the air slope γ in the first computational unit with the aid of the following expression:
γ=Vzbi/Vtas

in which:
Vzbi is a vertical speed determined on the basis of inertial data of the aircraft; and
Vtas is a true speed, which corresponds to an estimated true speed at least in the absence of any true speed value provided by an air data computer.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein automatically estimating the at least one parameter related to a flight of the aircraft further comprises computing an estimated true speed Vtas1 in a fourth computational unit of the processing unit with the aid of the following expression:
Vtas1=k1*√{square root over ((γ*R*TAT)/(1+k2*M1 2 ))}*M1

in which:
γ is the air slope of the aircraft;
k1, k2 and R are predetermined values;
TAT is a measured total temperature; and
M1 is an estimated Mach number.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein automatically estimating the at least one parameter related to the flight of the aircraft further comprises computing an estimated total temperature TAT1 in a fourth computational unit of the processing unit with the aid of the following expression:
TAT1=(k3+ΔISA1−k4*Zp)*(1+k5*M1 2 )

in which:
k3 to k5 are predetermined values;
Zp is an altitude of the aircraft;
M1 is an estimated Mach number; and
ΔISA1=((TAT/(1+k6*s))*(1/(1+K7*M1 2 )))−k8+k9*Zp

in which:
TAT is a measured total temperature;
the expression (TAT/(1+k6*s)) corresponds to the value TAT filtered by a first-order filter, with time constant k6; and
k6 to k9 are predetermined values.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein automatically estimating the at least one parameter related to the flight of the aircraft further comprises computing an estimated Mach number M1 in a fourth computational unit of the processing unit with the aid of the following expressions:
when an altitude Zp of the aircraft lies between the ground and a first predetermined value:
M1=(Vc1/k10)*(1+k11*Zp) 4

when the altitude Zp of the aircraft lies between said first value and a second predetermined value greater than said first value:
M1=(Vc1/k10)*(1+k11*Zp=k12*(Zp−k13)) 4

in which:
Vc1 is an estimated air speed;
Zp is the altitude of the aircraft lying between the ground and said second value; and
k10 to k13 are predetermined parameters.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein in step c), the measured incidence is not considered to be consistent when one of the following conditions is fulfilled:
the difference between the estimated incidence a and the measured incidence is greater than a predetermined threshold value for a predetermined duration; and
the measured incidence is considered to be inconsistent with the flight of an aircraft.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , which comprises a step of monitoring at least one measured total temperature to detect possible icing of a total temperature probe.

8. A method for automatically estimating at least one parameter related to a flight of an aircraft comprising:
a first series of successively-repeated steps performed in a first estimation assembly of a processing unit onboard the aircraft for automatically determining a corrected estimated incidence value, each of said first series of successively-repeated steps comprising in an automatic and iterative manner:
a) computing an estimated incidence α of the aircraft in a first computational unit of the first estimation assembly on the basis of aerodynamic parameters and of inertial parameters related to the aircraft;
b) receiving a measured incidence α of the aircraft from a data system onboard the aircraft and in communication with the processing unit;
c) verifying whether the measured incidence is considered to be consistent in a verification unit of the first estimation assembly each time the measured incidence is received from the data system;
d) as a function of the verification carried out in step c):
adding a computed correction value to said estimated incidence α in a second computational unit of the first estimation assembly in communication with the first computation unit and the verification unit to obtain the corrected estimated incidence value when the measured incidence is considered to be consistent; and
adding a first corrective value to said estimated incidence α in the second computational unit to obtain the corrected estimated incidence value when the measured incidence is not considered to be consistent, wherein the first corrective value is based on a previously-computed correction value when the measured incidence was considered to be consistent; and
a second series of successively-repeated steps performed in a second estimation assembly of the processing unit in communication with the first estimation assembly for automatically determining an estimated air speed of the aircraft using the corrected estimated incident value to calculate an aerodynamic speed when a current conventional speed of the aircraft is determined to be invalid, each of said second series of successively-repeated steps comprising, in an automatic and iterative manner:
A/ computing an air speed termed the aerodynamic speed in a third computational unit in the second estimation assembly, on the basis of current va

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Sas
• Airbus Operations Sas

Inventors

• Walter Stéphane

Classifications

• G01P21/00

  Testing or calibrating of apparatus or devices covered by the preceding groups · CPC title

• G01P13/025 Primary

  indicating air data, i.e. flight variables of an aircraft, e.g. angle of attack, side slip, shear, yaw · CPC title

• G01C1/00 Primary

  Measuring angles · CPC title

• G01B21/22 Primary

  for measuring angles or tapers; for testing the alignment of axes · CPC title

• B64D43/00

  Arrangements or adaptations of instruments · CPC title