Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Aeronautical vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-27
2003-12-30
Nguyen, Tan Q. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Aeronautical vehicle
C701S016000, C244S175000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06671588
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a method for controlling traveling direction of an aircraft. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and a method for controlling traveling direction of an aircraft, in which traveling direction control of an aircraft in flight is easily performed, and in which operations for directional change of an aircraft on the ground can easily be performed.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, the following controls are performed when steering an aircraft. That is, referring to
FIG. 15
, a pilot performs pitching control of the aircraft by operating an elevator
91
mounted to a horizontal tail in accordance with moving a control stick
90
in a cockpit in a direction toward the front or rear of the airframe, to thereby nose up or nose down. A pilot performs rolling control of the aircraft in right and left directions by operating right and left ailerons
92
mounted to main wings in accordance with moving the control stick
90
in a cockpit in a direction toward the right or left of the airframe. Furthermore, a pilot performs yawing control of the aircraft in a rotational direction by operating a ruder
95
mounted a vertical tail by stepping on a pair of right and left rudder pedals
93
and
94
using their foot in a cockpit.
When the aircraft has landed, the pilot puts the brakes on the aircraft by actuating brakes
96
and
97
for braking landing gear wheels, which is effected by stepping on the rudder pedals
93
and
94
, similar to operating a brake pedal in an automobile, thereby slows down the aircraft.
In this case, once the aircraft has been decelerated to a predetermined speed after it has landed, it is necessary to change the direction of travel of the aircraft when moving it to a necessary location within an airport for parking or the like. Here, the pilot applies braking to either the left or the right wheels by stepping on either the rudder pedal
93
or
94
, and the aircraft thus turns toward the direction in which braking is applied, thereby changing the direction of travel of the aircraft.
In all present-day aircraft, regardless of whether they are large size aircraft such as a long-range jet, fighter, or small size aircraft such as a Cessna, either one of the pair of right and left rudder pedals is operated by stepping on it as stated above when it becomes necessary to change the direction of the aircraft that is moving at a predetermined speed on the ground after landing or before takeoff. Directional changes of the aircraft are performed when moving on the ground before takeoff or after landing by thus performing braking operations to either the right or left side wheels. The workload required by the pilot in steering can be reduced, if such aircraft direction change operation can be performed without using the pair of right and left rudder pedals.
Furthermore, autopilot systems are installed in large size aircraft such as a long-range jet. The autopilot system is one in which control of traveling direction of the aircraft in flight is performed automatically by an apparatus, including yawing control performed by an auto rudder mechanism that automatically performs the aforementioned rudder operations. This type of autopilot system has not yet become popular for small aircraft such as a Cessna, and therefore it is necessary for the pilot to manually perform yawing control by operating the rudder pedals in flight.
This type of yawing control of the aircraft effected by operating the rudder pedals
93
and
94
prevents the altitude from dropping while the aircraft slips in a horizontal direction when the airframe is turning or when it is tilted due to a strong wind, so-called “side slip”, for example. Thus the aircraft is turned in a stable state. And the traveling direction control of the aircraft is performed to ensure a correct traveling direction by suitably moving the rudders. These are essential operations in controlling the direction of travel of the aircraft.
However, the sensibility as a human of a pilot with respect to such sideslip of aircraft is very delicate. An extremely large amount of time is required during training in mastering this as a pilot, and it is necessary to perform rudder operations based upon this delicate sensibility by stepping on the rudder pedals
93
and
94
. Yawing control operations using the rudders are therefore extremely complex for the pilot.
Consequently, it has long been desired to lower the load placed upon the pilot during control by automating such yawing control of the aircraft that uses rudder operations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to reduce the workload of a pilot relating to aircraft control.
Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to perform automatic braking and directional change of an aircraft after landing and before takeoff, thereby reducing the workload on a pilot relating to aircraft steering after landing and before takeoff.
In addition, another object of the present invention is to prevent malfunction of a braking mechanism when changing the direction of an aircraft after landing and before takeoff, thus performing braking and directional change of aircraft safely and surely.
Another object of the present invention is to reduce the workload of a pilot on an aircraft, in particular a small aircraft, which is required for yawing control in steering in flight, and by combining this with each of the aforementioned objects, reducing the workload on a pilot for controlling an aircraft by using his or her feet.
In order to accomplish these objectives, the present invention is structured such that control of traveling direction is performed automatically using a yaw damper mechanism in flight, and when braking of an aircraft in motion on the ground is performed, that braking is performed by operating one—single brake pedal provided in cockpit and capable of controlling the braking of the aircraft. Further, control of traveling direction of an aircraft is performed by automatically generating a larger braking force for landing gear wheels on a side toward which the aircraft will change direction as compared with that applied to landing gear wheels on the other side, when performing directional change of an aircraft on the ground.
The present invention is structured such that braking control is automatically performed when an aircraft is traveling at a speed equal to or greater than a predetermined speed after an aircraft has landed. And thus if the speed of the aircraft has been reduced to less than the predetermined speed, then a braking force is generated to landing gear wheels on a side toward which the aircraft will change direction, which is larger than the braking force generated to landing gear wheels on the other side. Control of traveling direction of the aircraft is thus performed.
In addition, the present invention is structured such that the speed of the aircraft is increased during directional change of the aircraft by automatically generating engine thrust, thus making directional change possible in a short time, for cases in which, as described above, control of traveling direction is performed by generating a braking force for landing gear wheels on a side toward which the aircraft will change direction which is larger than the braking force acting on the landing gear wheels on the other side.
In view of the above, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for controlling traveling direction of an aircraft that is installed with a pair of landing gear on right and left sides of its air frame. When operating a control stick in right or left directions of the airframe, a larger braking force is applied to landing gear wheels mounted on a side toward which a control stick is operated, as compared with a braking force acting on landing gear wheels mounted on the other side.
Therefore, according to the present invention, if the control stick is operated to either the right or left side d
Arakawa Kazuya
Otake Yukio
Nguyen Tan Q.
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
Toyota Jidosha & Kabushiki Kaisha
Tran Dalena
LandOfFree
System and method for controlling traveling direction of... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with System and method for controlling traveling direction of..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and System and method for controlling traveling direction of... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3112674