Hybrid Pneumatic Valve Control for Precise Airflow Pressure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pressure regulation systems in aircraft bleed systems struggle to independently and accurately regulate airflow pressure, often relying on pneumatic controllers with inherent inaccuracies and limited control over pressure fluctuations.
Innovation Solution
An airflow control system that includes a valve with a rotatable disk and a torque motor-driven valve actuator, coupled with a digital controller and a pneumatic controller. The digital controller independently regulates airflow pressure by adjusting the valve position, while the pneumatic controller maintains pressure within set limits.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a pneumatic controller is used to regulate pressure, then the system can maintain pressure within set limits, but the pressure regulation accuracy is limited due to inherent pneumatic controller inaccuracies
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines pneumatic control and digital control into a hybrid system where the pneumatic controller provides stable pressure maintenance and the digital controller adds precision through electronic sensing and actuation, resolving the contradiction between stability and accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a digital controller as an intermediary between the pneumatic controller and the final control element, which compensates for pneumatic inaccuracies by providing precise electronic control signals to adjust the control valve position
2Device complexity
If a pneumatic controller is used to regulate pressure, then the system structure is simpler, but the control over pressure fluctuations is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from static pneumatic control to dynamic digital control that can actively sense pressure fluctuations and adjust control valve position in real-time, enabling flexible adaptation to varying pressure conditions while maintaining reasonable system complexity
3Measurement precision
If a digital controller is added to independently regulate pressure, then the pressure regulation accuracy is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The digital controller autonomously senses pressure, processes the signal, and adjusts the control valve without requiring complex external control systems, achieving high precision while keeping the overall system architecture relatively simple through self-contained digital control functionality
Data Source
AI summary
An airflow control system includes a valve including a valve disk rotatable within a flow control duct and a valve actuator connected to the valve disk. The valve actuator is operable to adjust a position the valve disk. A pneumatic controller is configured to regulate a pressure within the flow control duct downstream of the valve disk by adjusting the position of the valve disk when the pressure within the flow control duct downstream of the valve disk exceeds a regulation pressure set point. A torque motor is fluidly connected to the valve actuator and a digital controller is operably coupled to the torque motor. The digital controller is configured to regulate the pressure within the flow control duct downstream of the valve disk independently from the pneumatic controller.