Aircraft Electric Brake Power Interrupt Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aircraft electric brake systems experience discontinuous control and noticeable braking issues due to brief power interrupts, leading to potential lurching or overbraking conditions when power resumes.
Innovation Solution
The electric brake system monitors power status signals to detect power interrupts and controls the brake actuators to provide seamless braking by discarding pre-interrupt values during pedal braking and refreshing them upon power resumption, ensuring smooth brake application.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the electric brake system saves pre-interrupt values of actuator control signals during power interrupts, then the system maintains control continuity, but upon power resumption the saved values may not accurately reflect current brake pedal deflection causing inaccurate brake application
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the state of the actuator control signal by discarding saved pre-interrupt values and refreshing them with current values upon power resumption. This parameter change ensures that the control signal accurately reflects the current brake pedal deflection rather than using potentially outdated saved values.
2Reliability
If the electric brake system attempts to increase clamping force to compensate for perceived lack of deceleration during power interrupts, then the system maintains deceleration control, but upon power resumption the current state of actuators results in overbraking condition
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by detecting the power interrupt condition and discarding saved actuator control signal values before power resumption occurs. This preliminary action prevents the harmful overbraking effect by ensuring that when power returns, the control signal is refreshed to accurately reflect current pedal position rather than using outdated saved values that led to compensating increases in clamping force.
3Measurement precision
If the electric brake system continuously monitors and controls brake actuators during power interrupts, then the system maintains braking precision, but power interrupts cause discontinuous control resulting in noticeable lurching to passengers
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the control signal parameter by discarding saved values and refreshing them upon power resumption. This ensures that the brake actuator receives accurate control signals based on current pedal position, preventing the discontinuous control and lurching that would otherwise occur when power is restored after an interrupt.
Data Source
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AI summary
An electric brake system (100) for an aircraft as described herein electrically actuates brake mechanisms (108) in a seamless manner when a power interrupt condition is experienced. While operating in a pedal braking mode and in response to a power interrupt condition, the electric brake system (100) discards the last brake actuation command generated from brake pedal interaction. After normal operating power is re-established, the brake pedal data is refreshed to generate a new brake actuation command. These procedures reduce lurching and unexpected brake actuation levels following a power interrupt in the electric brake system.