METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CIRCUIT BREAKER CONTROL IN AN AIR VEHICLE

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for simplified, more efficient and more reliable aircraft control. In particular, the present disclosure relates to more efficient use of display capabilities, in particular, of interactive displays in monitoring, control, and operation of aircraft systems. According to a particular aspect, a common operation of groups of circuit breakers in an aircraft electrical system, preferably by means of an interactive display, is provided. The interactive display may be hierarchically organized into plural levels of display windows showing different levels of detail. In accordance with another particular aspect, a general synoptics summary display showing a status overview of all aircraft systems on a single display window is provided.

Claims

1. A method of controlling circuit breakers of an electrical system of an aircraft, comprising the step of controlling a group of a plurality of circuit breakers, so as to switch them in the “on”-state or the “off”-state together, with a single operation, wherein: the operation is implemented via a touchscreen displaying a representation of a group of circuit breakers to be operated by single action, by pointing to the representation on the touchscreen.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the group includes a plurality of circuit breakers that are to be switched on or off together in flight operation.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of switching to a display screen indicating representations of individual circuit breakers, so as to be individually operated, if desired.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the touchscreen is configured to display hierarchically organized display screens, wherein on a first level display screen operable representations of aircraft sub-systems each having one or more groups of circuit breakers is indicated, and on a second level display screen an operable representation of each of the groups of circuit breakers belonging to one of the aircraft sub-systems is indicated.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising the steps of: switching the display screen from the first to the second level by operating the representation of a respective aircraft sub-system, and switching the display screen from the second level back to the first level by a dedicated screen operation.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the hierarchically organized display screens comprise a third level display screen indicating operable representations of individual circuit breakers of one or more groups.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising the step of switching between the second and third level display screen upon dedicated screen operations.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the representations of the groups including an indication of status information of the respective group.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the status information including an indication if at least one of the circuit breakers of the group has a different state than the others.

10. An aircraft operation system being configured to control circuit breakers of an electrical system of an aircraft, the system being configured to control a group of a plurality of circuit breakers, so as to switch them in the “on”-state or the “off”-state together, with a single operation, the system comprising a touchscreen displaying a representation of a group of circuit breakers to be operated in a single action, wherein the operation is implemented via pointing to the representation on the touchscreen.

11. A system according to claim 10, wherein the touchscreen is configured to display hierarchically organized display screens, wherein on a first level display screen operable representations of aircraft sub-systems each having one or more groups of circuit breakers is indicated, and on a second level display screen an operable representation of each of the groups of circuit breakers belonging to one of the aircraft sub-systems is indicated.

12. A system according to claim 11, wherein the hierarchically organized display screens comprise a third level display screen indicating operable representations of individual circuit breakers of one or more groups.

13. A system according to claim 12, wherein the representations of the groups including an indication of status information of the respective group.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] Additional features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent in the following and more particular description as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0032] FIG. 1 shows an example of an aircraft summary page for monitoring all relevant aircraft systems in a single display window of a graphical interface during a pre-flight ground phase;

[0033] FIG. 2 shows an example of an aircraft summary page for monitoring all relevant aircraft systems in a single display window of a graphical interface during a flight phase of climbing;

[0034] FIG. 3 is a high level overview screen of an interactive system for controlling circuit breakers of an aircraft according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0035] FIG. 4 is an operation screen for controlling groups of circuit breakers according to embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0036] FIG. 5 shows an exemplary screen for operating individual circuit breakers according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] The following description of particular embodiments serves for a more detailed explanation of the principles underlying the present disclosure. However, any details provided in the detailed description serve for illustration by means of example only and are not intended to limit the present disclosure that is defined by the appended claims.

[0038] The present disclosure generally relates to methods and systems for improving operation of aircraft systems during flight of an aircraft and, in the pre-flight phase, such as when performing checklist operation and more efficiently using an aircraft's display capabilities, in particular of interactive displays.

[0039] An exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure provides all necessary information for monitoring all aircraft (sub-) systems relevant for a particular operation phase such as performing pre-flight checklist or in a particular flight phase in a single display window of a graphical user interface. Thereby the need to switch between various pages to gather the same information, is eliminated. Hence, pilot actions during the respective operation phase are reduced. In various embodiments, a summary window can be constantly displayed or can be displayed upon request once the pilot needs to understand the overview situation at a glance.

[0040] Examples of such summary windows (“Aircraft Summary Pages”) are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The windows will display normal and abnormal statuses and selections of the relevant aircraft systems. The systems and their relevant statuses will adjust for the specific flight phase according to what is important for the pilot to see or operate in each step.

[0041] Starting from the display in the summary window, a selection of a particular (sub-)system that is required to be shown in more detail can be made, upon what a respective detailed page (not shown in the drawings) of the (sub-) system can be displayed, as required by the pilot.

[0042] The idea behind this exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure can be summarized as follows.

[0043] Each aircraft (sub-)system traditionally is capable of displaying a dedicated synoptics page containing all relevant information of the system—both of high and low importance. For the pilot to understand the entire aircraft systems configuration relevant for a specific stage, such as pre-flight checklist operation or landing, the pilot has to know what he is looking for in the specific stage, that is, go over each of the synoptic pages and search for the relevant information. This action consumes a lot of time and produces cognitive load that is especially valuable in time critical situations such as takeoff, landing, emergencies. Lack of accessible information on critical phases can lead to wrong situation awareness of aircraft configuration and incorrect decision-making. In addition, the conventional solution forces the pilot to operate the displays to reach each page just to gather information (for example: check statuses as part of normal checklist procedure). During this process, the pilot's hand must be removed from aircraft controls leading to a reduction in safety and situational awareness.

[0044] Additionally, some operational scenarios require concurrent display of the data of two or more (sub-)systems of the overall aircraft. In conventional aircraft monitoring and operation systems, the necessary display of the individual synoptic s pages of two or more aircraft systems requires using and occupying two displays, which limits the available number of displays left for other flight data required by the pilot. Accordingly, it becomes necessary to use larger displays or a larger number of displays in order to accommodate the operational needs in such cases. On the other hand, the data display is, in conventional systems, not adjusted to the particular required data on each flight stage.

[0045] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a single synoptic s page, such as the ones shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, is capable of showing a considerable portion of the information necessary for operating the aircraft in the respective operation phase/flight phase (here: Ground Phase in FIG. 1 and Flight Phase of Climbing in FIG. 2). For instance, in examples, the single synoptic s display page is capable of showing up to 80% of the information related to various aircraft sub-systems.

[0046] Hence, the consolidated monitoring view (synoptics summary) aspect of the present disclosure provides a pilot with the capability to perform checklist and monitoring tasks with less operation of the display system. This eliminates the need to go over multiple pages and relevant statuses just to find the appropriate one. Additionally, the system will change the displayed data according to the required phase. In other words, in each flight phase an automatic filtering is performed to display only the required data to the pilot. As a consequence, the pilot receives only the required set of parameters in a very simple way. With the introduction of one centralized place for all aircraft systems' statuses, the pilot's situational awareness of the aircraft configuration is enhanced.

[0047] This leads to an overall reduction of the required screen size and consequently to the required number of screens and/or required amount of display windows needed to allow the pilot to monitor and gather information of the aircraft systems.

[0048] The reduction of the number of displays required to be installed in the cockpit to perform pilot duties is particularly beneficial for electric air vehicles such as EVTOL (electrical vertical takeoff and landing) where weight and size are a major consideration.

[0049] Specifically, FIG. 1 shows an exemplary Aircraft Summary Page that provides a consolidated monitoring view during a pre-flight ground phase, i.e., for example, when a pre-flight checklist operation is made. Although the particular situation shown includes some specifics of electrically propelled air vehicles, the present disclosure is not generally limited to those. Preferably, the view is provided on an interactive display (touchscreen) T. Information about plural sub-systems relevant in this phase is symbolically shown (window heat, door, charge port, engines). Some sub-systems (land lights, standby, boarding, taxi, A/C (anti-collision) lights) are indicated by means of respective buttons (softkeys) B. An operation (touching) thereof may switch the display to a detailed view of a respective sub system (not shown) or trigger an operation of the sub-system that is most common in a current flight situation. In addition, basic information can be shown directly on the button, such as by means of the bar like symbol on each of the buttons B that may change color or by showing symbols or short text messages (not shown in the drawing) on a button. In addition, some further relevant information can be shown as text messages on the page such as the remaining time until finishing the charging procedure or the indication of the minimum charge level for the planned flight (in the “notes” section on the bottom of the window). In the illustrated view, a warning is shown indicating that the temperature of one engine (engine 6) is high, which is accompanied by a color change of the respective engine. A skilled person is aware of the fact that the indicated information, symbols, exemplary sub-systems are merely exemplary and for illustration and can vary according to the circumstances such as type and size of aircraft and others. Also, the display itself is preferably a color display having sophisticated options for symbolizing status information by means of color that is not reflected in the black and white drawings of this disclosure.

[0050] In a similar manner, FIG. 2 shows an exemplary Aircraft Summary Page displayed during a flight phase of climbing, i.e., before the aircraft has reached the intended flight altitude. Generally, the same symbols represent same information as in FIG. 1 and the detailed description thereof is not repeated. In view of the operation phase being different, some other status information is now symbolized as compared to FIG. 1 (in particular: cabin altitude and seat belt status instead of door and charging port status). A cabin altitude of 1000′ (feet) means that the pressure in the pressurized cabin corresponds to that on an altitude level of 1000′ in reality. Exemplary buttons (soft keys) B are shown in FIG. 2 for the sub systems of seat belt lights, climb checklist, land lights, TCAS (Travel Collision Avoidance System; TCAS UP means to avoid collisions with vehicles on upper levels during the climbing), and passenger announcements. Again an operation (touching) of a button B may either switch to a detailed view (not shown) or trigger a most common operation for the respective sub system in the current operation phase. For example, an operation of the “seat belt light” button may switch the seat belt indicators near the passengers' seats off, which is typically done toward the end of the climbing phase. Further information indicated by means of messages in FIG. 1 concern the remaining time until reaching the desired altitude (“top of climb”), here: in half a minute and, in the “notes” field near the bottom, an altitude traffic restriction and a limitation of the indicated airspeed (IAS) to 170 k (knots). Again, neither the exemplary sub systems nor the kind and contents of indicated messages are limiting for the disclosure. For instance, a warning message if landing is required as soon as possible may be displayed, preferably in a respective warning color in an emergency situation on the Summary Page during each flight phase, either in a “notes” section or in any other suitable position.

[0051] Summarizing this aspect, the synoptics summary page summarizes the relevant systems' statuses as required to the specific flight phase (opposed to a constant amount of data displayed in a traditional synoptics page display for a particular aircraft (sub-)system). Links to specific synoptics pages (also called aircraft summary pages or consolidated monitoring views) and required actions can be achieved through the same page in a simple graphical way. Operating the aircraft using a consolidated system status is beneficial over the conventional way, since it saves pilot time and effort in going through individual synoptic pages what requires the pilot to search for the information instead of receiving the relevant information from the system.

[0052] In accordance with another particular aspect of the present disclosure, a more efficient use of available display capabilities (display space) is specifically applied to monitoring and operating of circuit breakers.

[0053] As indicated above, circuit breakers (CBs) play a significant role in aircraft systems for controlling and switching power supply in individual sub-systems. Their monitoring and control, in particular, switching control, is therefore an important task to be performed at any stage of aircraft operation, including normal flight operation as well as in abnormal (emergency) situations.

[0054] As indicated above, conventionally circuit breaker control is done through a dedicated display with a long list of all available circuit breakers. For operation, each of the circuit breakers to be operated must be individually searched for in the list, addressed, and operated.

[0055] The present disclosure provides a method for controlling circuit breakers of aircraft systems in a simplified and quick way by controlling entire groups of circuit breakers together instead of controlling individual circuit breakers.

[0056] Generally, aircraft electrical systems of any sub-systems of an overall aircraft system are often organized in a modular structure including so-called LRUs (Line Replaceable Unit). A Line Replaceable Unit comprises a plurality of components that are closely related to each other in functionality and are designed so as to be easily replaced together, as a whole module, in maintenance operations.

[0057] A possible example for a group of circuit breakers to be controlled and/or operated together is therefore a LRU. However, a group of CBs to be operated together in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure is not limited to LRUs. Aircraft system components, including the respective circuit breakers are grouped into LRUs specifically for easy replacement during maintenance procedures, whereas the operation systems and methods provided by the present disclosure are foreseen for controlling an operation in all operational phases such as during flight as well as pre-flight and after landing operations. Hence, a group of circuit breakers to be operated together in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure may be any group of circuit breakers, however, preferably those that have a specific functional and/or structural relation with each other that makes their operation in a single step beneficial or even desirable.

[0058] For instance, some system components of an aircraft must not be operated separately, i.e., switched to the “on” state or the “off” state individually, with a considerable delay between the individual operations, because this may lead to certain systems being operated under partial power supply, which may damage some system components. The present disclosure provides for a simple means for avoiding a situation, which may damage system components in this way, because the respective circuit breakers can be grouped together on a natural basis to form a group that is always operated together.

[0059] A respective operation of circuit breakers in groups rather than operating individual circuit breakers drastically reduces a pilot's workload by avoiding the need for recognizing and addressing all relevant CBs for the specific action and reducing the number of steps required to perform a procedure. Since pilot operation is highly sensitive to the workload he/she can handle, a consequence such as the decision of adding an additional pilot to the cockpit due to excessive workload can be avoided by the present disclosure.

[0060] Additionally, as indicated, this aspect reduces the amount of dedicated screen space required for CB control since the number of groups to be controlled together is significantly lower than the quantity of individual CBs. The reduced amount of displayed information allows for implementing a simplified graphical interface and search capability.

[0061] Nevertheless, the concept is, of course, not preventing display of data regarding individual CBs. If deemed necessary, a display on the basis of individual circuit breakers can still be provided to the pilot to allow complete situational awareness.

[0062] For example, for maintenance operation, additional information and control can be provided to allow maintenance activities requiring resolutions of any single CB for its operation.

[0063] Grouping circuit breakers together for operation and providing a respective operation interface such as an interactive display thus reduces time and cognitive load requirements to the pilot for accomplishing a procedure involving circuit breaker control. This enhances situational awareness, and flight safety. This holds, in particular, in emergency situations where CB control is required to be done as part of other emergency related actions, when the conventional approach produces the risk of delaying other time critical actions due to the delay in operating the CB s individually. An additional effect arises in situations where CB control is the only way to stop a process that jeopardizes the safety of flight (e.g., smoke/fire from electrical equipment that has to be disconnected as quickly as possible). Moreover, CB operation errors can be reduced since the error prone entering of long numbers for addressing individual CBs is reduced.

[0064] Hence, the present disclosure provides for electrical system interfaces concentrating CB control on a very limited display space. Additionally the approach takes into account limited pilot resources.

[0065] By controlling power of high level components by means of groups of circuit breakers rather than individual circuit breakers, a significant reduction of the display page size for circuit breaker operation and its complexity can be achieved. This leads to a simpler and more intuitive display. On the other hand, the required workload in the event that a control over multiple circuit breakers is required, is reduced considerably.

[0066] Individual examples of display pages, preferably interactive display pages, for circuit breaker monitoring and control will be explained below with reference to the drawings of FIGS. 3 to 5.

[0067] FIG. 3 shows a general power page illustrating a simple system view and status of disconnected circuit breaker groups (for example: LRUs) in each of them.

[0068] The illustrated display screen has a plurality of tabs 10. In the given example, there are a Charge State, a HV (high-voltage) Distribution, and a CB control tab, respectively. However, the particular design and number of tabs in the present drawing are exemplary only and the present disclosure is not limited to them.

[0069] In any case, in accordance with embodiments allowing circuit breaker control, a respective display of CB related information should be made available. In the present example, a respective window 10A corresponding to the CB control tab 7 is in the active state. The indicated view corresponds to a first level display screen 1 of hierarchically organized display screens according to embodiments of the present disclosure. In the present example, the display screen is intended to be shown on a touch screen T. On the screen, there are plural buttons (soft keys) 20 (system buttons) corresponding to individual systems of the aircraft. In the example, system buttons for the aircraft sub-systems “avionics,” “propulsion,” “thermal,” “interiors” and “lights” are given. However, the number and meaning of these buttons is not limited to the given example. As indicated, proximate to any of the system buttons 20, a summary of disconnected equipment (such as particular LRUs) can be shown. For instance, in the given example, the general CB control page 10A indicates, within the avionics sub-system, satellite communication and FDR (Flight Data Recorder) to be disconnected, within the thermal sub-system fan and cabin temperature sensor, and within the “interiors” subsystem, the infotainment system. In addition, one or more buttons (soft keys) for other operations (only a single one is shown for simplicity) may be provided, such as for switching to a still higher level such as the above discussed Aircraft Summary page.

[0070] Pressing on an individual system button 20 (required system button) switches the display to a control page that allows high-level control over aircraft systems power, which will allow to operate all relevant CB s grouped together.

[0071] A respective example of such a control page is shown in FIG. 4. The shown display page corresponds to a second level display screen 2 of hierarchically organized display screens according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0072] In the given example, the page for grouped circuit breaker control for the avionics sub-system is shown. More specifically, in the given example, there are eight buttons (soft keys) 30 corresponding to eight groups of circuit breakers that are to be operated together in operation. In other words, the buttons 30 are operable representations of individual groups of circuit breakers (for simplicity of representation, the reference numeral 30 is shown only once). In the given example, there are shown buttons 30 for the groups of FDR, COM (communication, in particular, satellite communication), IRS (Inertial Reference System), INS (Inertial Navigation System), FCS (Flight Control System), pump, display, and radio. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this example, neither in number nor in meaning of the operable buttons 30. While depressed, the respective group of circuit breakers associated with powering the shown type of equipment will be operated together. A current status of each of the groups of circuit breakers is preferably indicated in association with the respective button 30. In the given example, this is done, in particular, by a bar-like display element within each button that may change color in accordance with the status of the respective group of circuit breakers. In the given example, a black bar element means that the respective CB group is in the “off” state, i.e., the associated components are disconnected, whereas a white bar element means that the respective CB group is in the “on” state so that the associated components are connected. However, neither the way of display of the status, nor the colors that have been chosen for simplicity of drawing are limited to those. For instance, in a real system an “on” state and an “off” state may be associated with green and red colors, respectively. Preferably, a status information is additionally provided indicating if at least one of the circuit breakers of the group is a different state to the others (for instance, tripped, locked, or out). In the particular example given, there is at least one tripped circuit breaker in the “pump” and “IRS” groups and there is at least one circuit breaker in locked state in the “FDR” and “Radio” groups. That means that the respective circuit breaker cannot be operated, at current. Of course, there may also be a specific indication such as by a predefined color of the button, in case a circuit breaker group as a whole is in “locked” state, i.e., is currently not operable.

[0073] As indicated, operation (“pressing,” i.e., touch operation) of a particular button 30 means status switch of the respective circuit breaker group between “on” and “off.” The display screen further provides for additional navigation elements to switch to other views on the screen of the (interactive) display. In particular, there is an “x” symbol in the upper right portion of the screen that corresponds to the operation of “closing” the respective window, i.e., returning to the next higher level display screen 1 showing a general page such as page 10A of FIG. 3. On the other hand, there is also navigation button 50 that is foreseen to switching to another display. In the given example, button 50 is foreseen to switch to a view (display screen) allowing for individual circuit breaker control. An example of such a screen is given in the following drawing of FIG. 5.

[0074] FIG. 5 shows an example of a display screen of an interactive display allowing for individual control of single circuit breakers. The indicated display corresponds to a third level display screen 3 of hierarchically organized display screens in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0075] In the present example, individual circuit breakers of several groups of circuit breakers are represented by buttons (soft keys) 40 (each of which represents an “operable representation” of the respective circuit breaker). Again, for simplicity of illustration, a respective reference numeral 40 is shown only for a single one out of the buttons.

[0076] In the example, representations of individual circuit breakers out of several groups of the grouped circuit breaker control window 2 of FIG. 4 are shown. More specifically, single circuit control breaker window 3 of FIG. 5 shows individual circuit breakers of four (out of eight) circuit breaker groups illustrated in FIG. 4, namely circuit breaker groups “FDR” (three circuit breakers), “COM” (two circuit breakers), “IRS” (two circuit breakers) and “FCS” (one circuit breaker). However, this number in particular arrangement is an example only and, of course, the present disclosure is not limited to this. For instance, there may be a situation, wherein a single CB control page shows individual circuit breakers belonging to a single CB group only. In any case, additional navigation elements (not shown) may be provided to switch between individual single CB control screens, as desired. Also, in the grouped CB control window 2, there may be several navigation elements such as provided close to a particular CB group or several CB groups, in order to switch to a different signal CB control windows for the respective group groups.

[0077] It is worth noticing that, generally speaking, in accordance with a preferred embodiment, the operation is implemented by means of touch operations on a touchscreen, by providing respective softkeys. However, the present disclosure is not generally limited to this implementation and may be implemented by means of associating respective hardware keys with the individual operations.

[0078] In the given example, operation (touch operation) of a particular one of the indicated buttons (softkeys) 40 means triggering a status switch (“on” to “off” or vice versa) of the respective circuit breaker, depending on its current status. Again, the current status of the circuit breakers indicated in association with the respective representation of the circuit breaker (in the present case, again, by means of a white or black bar-like symbol directly on the respective button). In addition, further information about the respective circuit breaker such as “locked” or “tripped” may be indicated in association therewith, as shown, in the present case for the first circuit breaker of the FDR group, which is indicated locked in “off” state and the two circuit breakers of the IRS group that are in the tripped state. In addition, button 60 allows for switching back to the grouped circuit breaker control window 2. The same may be accomplished by operating the “x” symbol in the upper right area of the drawing.

[0079] Summarizing, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for simplified, more efficient and more reliable aircraft control. In particular, the present disclosure relates to more efficient use of display capabilities, in particular, of interactive displays in monitoring, control, and operation of aircraft systems. According to a particular aspect, a common operation of groups of circuit breakers in an aircraft electrical system, preferably by means of an interactive display, is provided. The interactive display may be hierarchically organized into plural levels of display windows showing different levels of detail. In accordance with another particular aspect, a general synoptics summary display showing a status overview of all aircraft systems on a single display window is provided.