Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Aeronautical vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-18
2003-10-21
Marc-Coleman, Marthe Y. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Aeronautical vehicle
C701S014000, C244S183000, C244S185000, C340S945000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06636786
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to aircraft system control and indication methods and, more particularly, to a display and control method for the management of aircraft energy systems. In general, aircraft energy systems include fuel, propulsion (engines and auxiliary power unit (APU)), electrical, hydraulic, and bleed air systems.
Flight crews on current commercial and military airplanes obtain information on the state of their main airplane power systems, which includes the fuel, propulsion, electrical, hydraulic, and bleed air systems, through various displays and other information sources including control panel switch positions and lights, alert messages from a centralized crew alerting system display, system synoptic displays, and checklists. The engines combust fuel to convert chemical energy to thrust, enabling flight. But the engines also drive accessory components which create electric, hydraulic, and bleed air energy. These downstream energy sources power the various airplane systems, for example, navigational and interior lighting, flight controls, and cabin environmental control. When an energy source fails, for example, by a main engine failure or an APU failure, or when a component in a downstream energy system fails, for example, by an electrical generator failure or a hydraulic or bleed air pump failure, redundancy is lost and capability may be lost. Flight crews must have a clear understanding of the current state of their power systems to support procedures and support critical mission-level decisions.
The various displays and other information sources for the state of the main airplane power systems, including control panel switch positions and lights, alert message display, system synoptic displays, and checklists, are typically dispersed throughout the cockpit and are not integrated. For example,
FIGS. 1A and 1B
show overhead panel
100
, which is currently used in one model of a commercial airliner. As seen in
FIGS. 1A and 1B
, certain indications and controls for the engines are located in area
102
, while certain indications and controls for fuel are located at area
104
.
FIGS. 1A and 1B
also show that certain indications and controls for the APU, which may typically be a gas turbine engine located in the tail of the aircraft, are located in area
106
along with indications and controls for the electrical system. It is also seen in
FIGS. 1A and 1B
that certain indications and controls for the hydraulic system are located at area
108
, and certain indications and controls for pneumatic systems, including pressurization, bleed air, and air conditioning, are located at area
110
.
The status of each system is generally indicated at the detailed component level, such as a hydraulic pump or electrical generator. For example,
FIG. 2
shows a display of hydraulic system synoptic
200
, which is currently used in one model of a commercial airliner. As seen in
FIG. 2
, information is provided by system synoptic
200
at the detailed component level, where, for example, pressure indicators
202
indicate pressure available in hydraulic lines
204
produced by primary pumps
205
, and hydraulic lines
204
are configured to illustrate which system functions
206
, such as left and right thrust reversers
207
and
209
, and flaps
211
, have available pressure supplied by hydraulic lines
204
. Even though the power systems are heavily interdependent, for example, the bleed air system powers the hydraulic pumps, the electrical system powers the engine fuel pumps, and so forth, each system is separately displayed. For example,
FIG. 2
shows system synoptic
200
for the hydraulic system only; there are separate system synoptics for the electric and bleed air systems. The crew must integrate all the information sources to form an accurate mental model of the state of the airplane's main power systems, and more importantly, of the airplane's remaining capabilities. The task of integrating the diverse sources of detailed information to assess the state of the main airplane power systems and the airplane's remaining capabilities can be difficult using current methods, and may lead to crew errors. The combination of detailed and separate system indications and the integration and assessment task require flight crews to undergo extensive training, at great cost to airlines. Also, substantial amounts of display and panel space are dedicated to the separate, diverse, and detailed indications and controls. Display and panel space is expensive, and must be used efficiently because the power system indications must compete with other important flight deck functions for limited display space.
As system technology has evolved to current generation airplanes, the approach of displaying each system separately at the detailed component level using unintegrated indications, including control panel switch positions and lights, crew alert messages, system synoptic displays, and checklists, has become less desirable for a number of reasons. For one, increasing levels of automation have made it possible, in many cases, for systems to be reconfigured without flight crew involvement. The systems could automatically reroute around the failed component to maintain system functionality when it is possible. Also, increasing levels of system complexity and system integration complexity have made it more difficult for a human operator to quickly ascertain how even a single failure affects overall system function. Conclusions of human factors research have emphasized the importance of providing flight crew with information about both physical component status and system overall function. What is most critical is that the flight crew is able to ensure successful operation of the aircraft by knowing the status of system functions and by being able to restore system functions in the event of failure.
As can be seen, there is a need for a more concise and more integrated display method for providing flight crews with information about the power systems, including the fuel, propulsion, electrical, hydraulic, and bleed air systems, on their aircraft. There is also a need for a display and control method for aircraft energy systems management that removes the burden on the flight crew to reason through a collection of individual component failures to determine the implications of the failures on overall system operation. Moreover, there is a need for a display method for providing flight crews with integrated information about aircraft power systems and a control method for aircraft energy systems management that provides an approach to prioritizing failures.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a more concise and more integrated display and control method for providing flight crews with information about aircraft power systems, including the fuel, propulsion, electrical, hydraulic, and bleed air systems. The present invention also provides a display and control method for aircraft energy systems management that removes the burden on the flight crew to reason through a collection of individual component failures to determine the implications of the failures on overall system operation. Moreover, the present invention provides a display method for providing flight crews with integrated information and indications about aircraft power systems and a control method for aircraft energy systems management that provides an approach to prioritizing failures.
In one aspect of the present invention, an energy systems management method, provides a hierarchically arranged, interrelated set of synoptic displays that incorporate controls on the displays. These synoptic displays interface with the controllers of the energy systems to: receive information from and provide command inputs to the energy system; acquire human inputs through the synoptic displays by means of a computer user interface device; and control the energy system by processing the human inputs through the synoptic displays to provide command inputs to the energy
DiPinto & Shimokaji P.C.
Marc-Coleman Marthe Y.
The Boeing Company
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