Fluid Level Sensor Fusion for Aircraft Fuel Orientation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for determining fluid quantities in moveable platforms, such as aircraft, face challenges due to sensor errors and fluid sloshing, leading to inaccurate measurements and difficulties in identifying faulty sensors, which affects the reliability of fluid orientation and mass calculations.
Innovation Solution
A method that combines measurements from multiple fluid level sensors in independent compartments using a processor to calculate unified fluid related quantities, including fluid orientation and height estimates, while rejecting outlier data to improve accuracy and robustness, utilizing a least squares technique to exploit redundancy and enhance sensor health characterization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple fluid level sensors are deployed in independent compartments, then measurement redundancy is increased, but sensor error and fluid sloshing cause measurement accuracy to deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines measurements from multiple fluid level sensors across independent compartments through a unified calculation process. The processor integrates data from all sensors to compute common fluid orientation parameters and individual compartment fluid height estimates, thereby leveraging redundancy to improve overall measurement reliability while maintaining precision through coordinated processing.
2Measurement precision
If sensor measurements are combined from multiple compartments, then fluid orientation and mass estimation accuracy is improved, but difficulty in identifying and excluding faulty sensors increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where the unified calculation results provide information about individual sensor performance. By comparing each sensor's contribution to the overall calculation, the system can identify outliers and faulty sensors, enabling quality control and exclusion of problematic measurements while maintaining the benefits of combined data processing.
3Reliability
If a unified calculation process is used to combine measurements, then computational complexity increases, but measurement error reduction and quality improvement are achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The unified calculation process is segmented into distinct computational stages: first determining common fluid orientation parameters from all sensors, then calculating individual compartment fluid height estimates. This segmentation reduces computational complexity by breaking down the unified calculation into manageable steps while maintaining the integrity and quality improvements of the combined measurement approach.
Data Source
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AI summary
Estimating fluid related quantities of a first fluid compartment and a second fluid compartment disposed in or connected to a moveable platform. Measurements from the first fluid level sensor, the second fluid level sensor, the third fluid level sensor, the fourth fluid level sensor are combined into a unified calculation. The fluid related quantities are calculated from the unified calculation, the fluid related quantities comprising all of: (1) a fluid orientation estimate which is common to both the first fluid compartment and the second fluid compartment, (2) a first fluid height estimate for the first fluid compartment, and (3) a second fluid height estimate for the second fluid compartment, whereby (1), (2), and (3) form a set of results.