882results about "Aircraft power plants" patented technology

A safe, quiet, easy to control, efficient, and compact aircraft configuration is enabled through the combination of multiple vertical lift rotors, tandem wings, and forward thrust propellers. The vertical lift rotors, in combination with a front and rear wing, permits a balancing of the center of lift with the center of gravity for both vertical and horizontal flight. This wing and multiple rotor system has the ability to tolerate a relatively large variation of the payload weight for hover, transition, or cruise flight while also providing vertical thrust redundancy. The propulsion system uses multiple lift rotors and forward thrust propellers of a small enough size to be shielded from potential blade strike and provide increased perceived and real safety to the passengers. Using multiple independent rotors provides redundancy and the elimination of single point failure modes that can make the vehicle non-operable in flight.

The present invention provides methods and apparatus for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with improved reliability. According to one aspect of the invention, interference experienced by onboard sensors from onboard electrical components is reduced. According to another aspect of the invention, user-configuration or assembly of electrical components is minimized to reduce user errors.

A digital engine controller compatible with multiple variants of gas turbine engine is programmed to receive identification of a variant of gas turbine engine coupled to the digital controller and thereafter to automatically determine and adjust inputs to the engine, according to the received identification of engine variant, to meet user-specified output.

Embodiments of a drone for inspection and a method of use are depicted wherein the drone is utilized in an enclosed space and is capable of being controlled with or without line of sight to the aircraft. The drone may land on generally horizontal or vertical surfaces. A method of use is taught as well.

An automatic takeoff thrust management system can be used in an aircraft with at least two engines. The management system comprises an aircraft status sensor or set of sensors capable of detecting establishment of takeoff climb conditions, and engine failure detectors respectively coupled to the at least two engines and capable of detecting engine failure. The management system further comprises thrust control modules respectively coupled to the at least two engines and capable of controlling the thrust of the engines, and a controller coupled to the aircraft status sensors, the engine failure detectors, and the thrust control modules. The controller reduces thrust by a selected amount upon detecting establishment of takeoff climb conditions and, if engine failure is detected, restoring thrust to an initial or a higher schedule.

A rotorcraft including a fuselage, one or more motor-driven rotors for vertical flight, and a control system. The motors drive the one or more rotors in either of two directions of rotation to provide for flight in either an upright or an inverted orientation. An orientation sensor is used to control the primary direction of thrust, and operational instructions and gathered information are automatically adapted based on the orientation of the fuselage with respect to gravity. The rotors are configured with blades that invert to conform to the direction of rotation.

The invention relates to a three-layer airborne flight control device for a micro four-rotor aerial vehicle, and belongs to the technical field of micro aerial vehicles. A navigation control layer consists of a navigation controller, an inertial measurement unit, a micro laser distance measuring sensor, a micro vision sensor and a wireless fidelity (WiFi) wireless network; an attitude control layer consists of an attitude controller, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a pressure sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a remote controller and receiver unit and a ZigBee wireless communication unit; and a motor speed regulation control layer consists of four brushless motor speed regulators and four actuator units. The attitude controller is added, so that the whole flight device becomes intelligent, can perform autonomous navigation positioning, can avoid obstacles, is independent of manual operation of a remote controller, and becomes an intelligent robot in the real sense.

Water is generated onboard of a craft such as an aircraft or in a self-contained stationary system by partially or completely integrating a water generating unit into a power plant of the craft or system. The water generating unit includes one or more high temperature fuel cells which partially or completely replace the combustion chamber or chambers of the power plant. A reformer process is integrated into the high temperature fuel cell which is arranged between, on the one hand, a fan (30) and power plant compressor stages (31, 32) and, on the other hand, power plant turbine stages (33, 34). These power plant stages may be provided in such redundant numbers that safety and redundancy requirements are satisfied.

The present invention provides a vehicle with redundant systems to increase the overall safety of the vehicle. In other aspects, the present invention provides a method for learning control of non-linear motion systems through combined learning of state value and action-value functions.

The invention discloses a low-altitude autonomous navigation system for a rotary-wing unmanned plane. The low-altitude autonomous navigation system is composed of a data acquisition device, a data preprocessing module, a data fusion module, a guidance control loop module and an attitude control loop module. The data preprocessing module is used for carrying out sampling filtering and error compensation on current location data information collected by the data acquisition device; the data fusion module is used for carrying out fusion and updating and obtaining a current position and speed of the rotary-wing unmanned plane; the guidance control loop module is used for calculating an expected attitude angle and an expected height value; and the attitude control loop module is used for generating a controlled quantity. According to the technical scheme, a problem of poor attitude estimation precision of the conventional navigation system can be solved; and requirements of high-precision heading attitude calculation and position and speed fusion of the rotary-wing unmanned plane can be met. High-precision filtering of the system is realized. On the basis of the analysis and calculation of the autonomous navigation system, the flight route and height can be corrected and the flight attitude can be adjusted autonomously; and the autonomous flight of the unmanned plane can be realized.

A method of developing a flight path for precision flying over an area of interest, the method including, in an electronic processing device, determining coordinate and elevation data relating to an area of interest, using the coordinate and elevation data to determine a flight path including precision paths corresponding to precision flying trajectories and non-precision paths interconnecting at least some of the precision paths, and generating path data at least partially indicative of the flight path, the path data being useable in generating control signals for at least partially controlling operation of the aircraft, in use.

A system and method for controlling the operation of a gas turbine engine supplying power to an aircraft. The engine is controlled according to a reading of an amount of power drawn from the supplied power. The reading is fed directly to a control system, which issues commands for controlling engine parameters comprising an acceleration reference signal, load shedding, variable geometry positioning, and fuel flow. The control system may further issue commands for controlling the amount of power drawn. The control system may further use the reading to monitor the engine's condition.

Methods for controlling an aircraft turbofan engine during icing of a temperature probe and devices for carrying out such methods are described. The methods may comprise: using one or more signals representative of temperature received from a heated temperature probe to generate one or more control signals for use in controlling the engine; determining that an icing condition associated with the probe exists; and using data representing one or more substitute signals in place of signals representative of temperature received from the heated temperature probe to generate the one or more control signals for use in controlling the engine.

Embodiments of the present invention automatically compensate control of an aircraft for an environmental condition, such as turbulence or wind shear. A sensor is configured to sense speed of air relative to an aircraft at a predetermined distance in front of the aircraft. A processor is coupled to receive the sensed speed of air from the sensor. The processor includes a first component configured to determine whether the speed of the air at the predetermined distance is indicative of an environmental condition, such as turbulence or wind shear. A second component is configured to automatically generate control signals for controlling the aircraft such that the environmental condition is automatically compensated by a time the aircraft enters the environmental condition.

A long-distance drone is disclosed having a canard body style with a main body, a left main wing, a right main wing, a left forewing, and a right forewing. The left forewing is attached to the main body forward of the left main wing, and the right forewing is attached to the main body forward of the right main wing. There is a left linear support connecting the left forewing to the left main wing, and a right linear support connecting the right forewing to the right main wing. A plurality of propellers are disposed on the left and the right linear supports.

An engine starting system for a rotary wing aircraft includes a controller that receives a signal indicative of a start command for an engine, a transmission input module that is mechanically coupled to a transmission system and an accessory gearbox and a starter motor that is mechanically coupled to a compressor drive shaft of the engine. Also, a method for restarting an engine in flight includes receiving by a controller a signal indicative of a start command for the engine, determining by the controller that an overrunning clutch is coupled to the engine, transmitting by a transmission system motive power to the engine in response to the determining that the overrunning clutch is coupled to the engine and driving via a compressor drive shaft a compressor section of the engine according to a design speed.

An actuator controller with a power supply that steps down a high voltage for use by remote auxiliary loads in an aircraft is provided. A high voltage power bus running through the aircraft may use high gage or smaller diameter wiring, resulting in weight savings in the power bus. A control network running through the aircraft may use fiber optic cabling, providing further weight reductions. An actuator controller may receive the high voltage from the power bus and provide a lower voltage to a remote device. The actuator controller may facilitate communication between the control network and the remote device. The integration of control and power supply may enhance endurance, reliability, and enable localized calibration of the remote device. Modular wing components may include interface controllers, high and low power busswork, and remote devices. The modular wing components may include power and control interconnections.

The invention relates to an automatic landing system and method of a rotor aircraft. The system comprises a controller, a laser generator, a camera, an electronic speed regulator and a motor for driving a propeller of the rotor aircraft to rotate; the laser generator and the camera are located at the bottom of a fuselage of the rotor aircraft; the laser generator is provided with two emission heads; laser beams emitted by the two emission heads are axially symmetrically distributed by taking the central axis of the fuselage as the symmetrical axis; the central axis is vertical to the horizontal plane of the ground; and an included angle formed between the laser beams and the central axis is an acute angle. According to the automatic landing system and method of the rotor aircraft, the laser generator, the camera and the controller are matched, so that the flying speed and the displacement of the rotor aircraft can be controlled, and the automatic landing effect is realized.

A reverse thrust detent system for an aircraft includes a throttle quadrant having an intermediate reverse thrust detent position, a reverse thrust scheduling system interfacing with the throttle quadrant, at least one aircraft engine interfacing with the reverse thrust scheduling system and a programmable input interfacing with the reverse thrust scheduling system and adapted to receive an engine reverse thrust setting. The reverse thrust scheduling system is adapted to operate the at least one aircraft engine according to the engine reverse thrust setting responsive to actuation of the intermediate reverse thrust detent position of the throttle quadrant. A reverse thrust detent method for an aircraft is also disclosed.

Disclosed is a drone. The present invention includes a plurality of propellers creating a lift to prevent inclination and overturn of the drone due to a lift difference generated from uneven ground, a power driving unit providing a rotation power to each of a plurality of the propellers, a ground sensing unit measuring a distance to a first region of the ground and a shape of the first region, and a controller controlling the power driving unit to differentiate rotation ratios of a plurality of the propellers based on the measured distance and shape if receiving an input signal for landing at the first region.

An electric taxi system (ETS) for an aircraft may include a ground speed sensor, a speed selection unit and a speed computer coupled to the ground speed sensor and to the speed selection unit. The speed computer may produce a speed error signal. A motor controller coupled to a wheel motor may control speed of the wheel motor responsively to the speed error signal.

A geometry-based flight control system is disclosed. The geometry-based flight control system receives a set of inputs associated with a requested set of forces and moments to be applied to the aircraft and computes an optimal mix of actuators and associated actuator parameters to achieve to an extent practical the requested forces and moments. Computing the optimal mix of actuators and associated actuator parameters includes taking into consideration dynamically varying effectiveness of one or more actuators based on a dynamic state of the aircraft. For example, the dynamic state may comprise an angle of a tiltwing of the aircraft or an angle of a tilt rotor of the aircraft.

A starter-generator system may be used to supply sufficient starting torque to start an aircraft main engine. The main starter-generator stator winding may be connected to a constant frequency (CF) power source to create a rotating field in the main starter-generator air gap. This rotating field, in turn, may induce current on the main rotor winding, which may be a closed circuit formed by main rotor field winding and exciter armature winding. The interaction between the main rotor current and the air gap flux may give rise to the starting torque to start the main engine. Adjusting the voltage supplied to the exciter stator field winding can modify the induced voltage and current on the rotor circuit to control the rotor current and starting torque. The starter-generator system may also be used to start an aircraft main engine by directly connecting the main stator winding to a power source without powering the exciter stator.