In-flight Stabilization for Electric Aircraft
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electrically propelled aircraft, such as eVTOLs, face challenges in maintaining stability and safety during flight due to potential component malfunctions, which can lead to catastrophic failures and loss of control or airframe breakup, with existing solutions like ballistic parachutes and redundancy systems being inadequate.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for in-flight stabilization that includes mechanically coupled flight components, sensors, and a vehicle controller to detect failures and initiate automatic responses, such as autorotation actions, to ensure safe landing by generating failure notifications and commanding mitigating responses based on detected failure data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If redundancy systems and ballistic parachutes are used to ensure safety, then reliability improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by continuously monitoring flight components for failures and pre-calculating mitigating responses before actual failures occur. The vehicle controller is configured to detect failure events and initiate automated mitigation sequences in advance, reducing the need for complex post-failure intervention systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The aircraft system serves itself by automatically detecting component failures and executing pre-programmed mitigating responses without external intervention. The vehicle controller autonomously monitors flight components and implements stabilization actions, reducing reliance on complex manual backup systems.
2Ease of operation
If manual intervention is used to handle flight failures, then ease of operation improves, but loss of time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system establishes continuous feedback loops where sensors monitor flight component status and immediately feed this information to the vehicle controller. When failures are detected, the controller automatically executes pre-calculated mitigating responses, creating a rapid closed-loop control system that eliminates manual response delays.
Solution Approach 2:
Mitigating responses are pre-calculated and prepared in advance based on potential failure scenarios. When a failure occurs, the system executes these pre-prepared actions immediately without requiring manual analysis or decision-making, significantly reducing response time while maintaining operational simplicity.
3Reliability
If comprehensive failure detection and automatic response systems are implemented, then reliability improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The vehicle controller is designed as a multi-functional system that performs both normal flight control and failure detection and mitigation functions. By integrating multiple functions into a single controller, the system achieves comprehensive safety monitoring without proportionally increasing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-calculates and stores multiple mitigating responses for various failure scenarios. This preliminary preparation allows the controller to handle diverse failure modes with pre-programmed solutions, reducing the need for complex real-time decision algorithms and simplifying the overall system architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for in-flight stabilization including a plurality of flight components mechanically coupled to an aircraft, wherein the plurality of flight components includes a first flight component and a second flight component opposing the first flight component. The system further comprises a sensor mechanically coupled to the aircraft, wherein the sensor is configured to detect a failure event of a first flight component. The system comprises a vehicle controller communicatively connected to the sensor and is configured to receive the failure datum of the first flight component from the sensor, generate a failure notification configured to indicate that the vehicle controller received the failure datum from the sensor, and initiate an automatic response as a function of the failure datum. Initiating the automatic response further includes determining an autorotation inducement action for the second flight component to perform and commanding the second flight component to perform the autorotation inducement action.