Dual-Channel Flap Slat Lever for Reliable Pilot Force Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing flap slat control lever in aircraft high-lift systems faces challenges in meeting stringent availability requirements, particularly for large dual-channel aircraft, and struggles to provide optimal operating comfort due to inconsistent lifting and friction forces, which can lead to pilot burden or misoperation.
Innovation Solution
The improved flap slat control lever incorporates multiple redundancy measures, including dual displacement sensors and control command modules, with adjustable lifting and friction forces, ensuring reliable operation and comfortable pilot interaction by comparing displacement signals within an error tolerance and adjusting forces dynamically.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a traditional single-channel FSCL architecture is used, then the device complexity is low, but the reliability cannot meet the stringent requirement of failure probability ≤1E-9 for large dual-channel aircraft
Solution Approach 1:
The control lever is divided into two independent channels (Channel 1 and Channel 2), each with separate displacement sensors and control command modules. This segmentation allows independent operation of each channel, ensuring that a failure in one channel does not affect the other, thereby achieving the required failure probability ≤1E-9 while maintaining manageable complexity through modular design
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a standby mechanism where one channel operates normally while the other remains in standby mode. The standby channel is ready to take over immediately if the working channel fails, providing beforehand cushioning against failures and ensuring continuous reliable operation without requiring complex real-time switching mechanisms
2Reliability
If the lifting force and friction force are increased, then the lever can be locked reliably within the slot and provide perceptibility during operation, but the pilot experiences increased operational burden
Solution Approach 1:
The lifting force and friction force are made dynamically adjustable rather than fixed. The system can adapt the force levels based on operational conditions, providing sufficient locking reliability when needed while reducing the force requirements during normal operation to minimize pilot burden, thus resolving the contradiction between reliable locking and ease of operation
3Reliability
If the friction force is increased to provide perceptibility during lever movement, then misoperation is reduced, but the pilot experiences increased operational burden
Solution Approach 1:
The friction force is made dynamically adjustable to provide perceptibility only when necessary for preventing misoperation. During normal precise positioning, the friction force is optimized to provide just enough feedback for accurate control, while during critical operations where misoperation risk is higher, the friction force is increased to enhance perceptibility and prevent errors, thereby balancing operation accuracy with pilot burden
Data Source
AI summary
A flap slat control lever and a method for operating the lever are disclosed. The lever includes: a first displacement sensor to detect a displacement of the flap slat control lever and generate a first displacement detection signal; a second displacement sensor to detect the displacement of the flap slat control lever and generate a second displacement detection signal; a first control command module to receive the first displacement detection signal; and a second control command module to receive the second displacement detection signal, wherein the first control command module is in a standby state and the second control command module is in a working state.