Aircraft Ground Lift Dump Auto-Arming Logic
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Solution Overview
Problem
The manual arming of the ground lift dump function in aircraft flight control systems increases pilot workload and risks procedural errors, potentially leading to unsafe spoiler deployment during critical flight phases.
Innovation Solution
A flight control system with arming logic that automatically arms and disarms the ground lift dump function based on aircraft parameters such as altitude, weight on wheels, and wheel speed, ensuring spoilers are deployed correctly during ground operations and retracted during taxi or parking phases.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual arming of ground lift dump function is implemented, then pilot control flexibility is maintained, but pilot workload increases and procedural errors risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flight control system automatically determines whether to arm the ground lift dump function based on flight phase detection, eliminating the need for manual pilot intervention. The system serves itself by monitoring flight conditions and making autonomous decisions about spoiler arming, thereby reducing pilot workload while maintaining safety through automated logic.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors flight phase parameters and uses this feedback to automatically arm or disarm the ground lift dump function. The feedback loop ensures that the spoiler arming status always corresponds to the current flight phase, eliminating procedural errors associated with manual arming decisions.
2Reliability
If automatic arming based on flight phase is implemented, then procedural error risk is reduced, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flight control computer performs multiple functions: it monitors flight phase, determines spoiler arming status, and controls spoiler deployment. By making the flight control computer universal and multi-functional, the patent avoids adding dedicated hardware for arming detection, thereby limiting the increase in system complexity while achieving automatic arming based on flight phase.
3Reliability
If ground lift dump function is always armed, then braking performance is maximized, but unsafe deployment during flight phases may occur
Solution Approach 1:
The arming status of the ground lift dump function is made dynamic rather than static. The system automatically adjusts the arming status based on the detected flight phase, being armed during ground phases for optimal braking performance and disarmed during flight phases to prevent unsafe spoiler deployment. This dynamic adaptation resolves the contradiction between maximizing braking performance and preventing harmful deployment.
Data Source
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AI summary
A flight control system for an aircraft includes at least one flight control computer that carries out a ground lift dump function that selectively extends a spoiler located on a wing of the aircraft into an airflow passing over the wing. The at least one flight control computer includes arming logic that is responsive to an input signal indicative of an aircraft parameter to automatically arm the ground lift dump function during certain phases of operation of the aircraft. The at least one flight control computer includes spoiler deployment logic that is responsive to an arming signal from the aiming logic which indicates that the ground lift function is armed to deploy the spoiler into its extended position within the airflow passing over the wing of the aircraft to assist in stopping the aircraft while the aircraft is on the ground.