Automatic Rotor Tilt Control for Stable Tiltrotor Conversion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Manual operation of rotor tilt angle controllers in tiltrotor aircraft increases pilot workload due to the need for leveling the flight deck during hover, accelerating through conversion corridors, capturing specific tilt angles, and adjusting rotor speed during cruise modes.
Innovation Solution
An aircraft flight control system with flight control computers that automatically calculate and control rotor tilt angles based on airspeed, acceleration, pitch attitude, and pilot commands, reducing pilot workload by autonomously managing rotor tilt rates and angles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual operation of rotor tilt angle controller is used, then pilot has direct control over rotor tilt, but pilot workload increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The flight control computer automatically calculates and commands rotor tilt angle based on flight conditions (airspeed, acceleration, pitch attitude) without requiring pilot intervention. The system serves itself by autonomously managing rotor tilt control, eliminating the need for manual pilot operations while maintaining precise control.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical control operations with an automated flight control computer system that uses sensors and computational algorithms to determine and execute rotor tilt commands, substituting human physical manipulation with electronic automation.
Data Source
AI summary
A flight control computer (FCC) may implement automatic rotor tilt control by gathering or receiving, as inputs, airspeed or a commanded airspeed for the aircraft, acceleration or a commanded acceleration for the aircraft, pitch attitude of the aircraft and pilot pitch bias commands for the aircraft, a rotor tilt angle, and/or the like. The FCC calculates, from the airspeed, the commanded airspeed, the acceleration, the commanded acceleration, the pitch attitude, the pilot pitch bias commands, and/or the like, a commanded rotor tilt angle for the aircraft. From the aircraft rotor tilt angle and the commanded rotor tilt angle, the FCC calculates a rotor tilt angle error for the aircraft, and from the rotor tilt angle error, calculates a rotor tilt rate command for the aircraft. The FCC outputs the resulting rotor tilt rate command to (an) aircraft flight control element actuator(s) to tilt the aircraft rotor.