Vertical Gust Suppression via Active Control Surfaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aircraft encounter difficulties in detecting and avoiding atmospheric turbulence, leading to reduced ride quality, passenger discomfort, and potential hazards due to the unpredictable nature of vertical gusts of wind, which conventional methods struggle to mitigate effectively.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a system that senses turbulence using sensors and air data, generates commands to actuate direct lift and pitch control surfaces to reduce vertical acceleration, pitch upset, and structural loads, thereby mitigating the effects of vertical gusts through feed-forward control and feedback mechanisms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If pilots rely on conventional detection methods (naked eye or conventional radar), then the detection capability is limited, but turbulence hazards cannot be effectively avoided
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces conventional mechanical detection methods (naked eye, conventional radar) with advanced sensor systems including accelerometers, gyroscopes, and other inertial sensors to detect turbulence. This substitution enables more accurate and reliable turbulence detection, directly resolving the contradiction between detection capability and hazard avoidance reliability.
2Ease of operation
If aircraft fly through turbulent conditions, then ride quality and passenger comfort deteriorate, but avoidance maneuvers increase flight time and fuel consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of turbulence conditions using sensor arrays and processing systems. By detecting turbulence ahead of time and predicting its intensity, the system can prepare appropriate response strategies, allowing the aircraft to maintain smoother flight through turbulent regions without excessive avoidance maneuvers, thus balancing passenger comfort with flight efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where sensor data about turbulence is continuously monitored and fed back to the flight control system. This feedback enables real-time adjustments to flight controls to mitigate turbulence effects, improving passenger comfort while minimizing the need for large avoidance maneuvers that would increase flight time.
3Device complexity
If no active suppression system is used, then the system complexity remains low, but structural loads and motion sickness risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The suppression system is divided into separate functional modules: sensor arrays for turbulence detection, processing systems for data analysis, and flight control actuators for response. This segmentation allows the system to provide active suppression of structural loads and motion sickness risks while maintaining manageable complexity through modular architecture, where each component can be independently optimized and maintained.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for vertical gust suppression due to turbulence for an aircraft having at least one of direct lift control surfaces or pitch control surfaces. The method includes sensing atmospheric turbulence, measuring the sensed atmospheric turbulence to generate turbulence data, generating a command based on the turbulence data, and applying the command to aircraft controls to actuate the direct lift control surfaces or the pitch control surfaces based on the turbulence data. Therefore, an aircraft response to the actuation of the direct lift control surfaces or the pitch control surfaces reduces a vertical acceleration, a pitch acceleration, a pitch rate, a pitch attitude or a structural load of the aircraft due to the turbulence. Thus, the method reduces the effects of vertical gusts of wind on the aircraft, improves the comfort level for aircraft passengers and crew, and reduces diversions the aircraft may take to avoid the turbulence.