INTEGRATED FLAP CONTROL UNIT

Abstract

The present invention relates to an integrated controller unit (10) for controlling at least one engine motor (26) and at least one servo motor (28), comprising a power link section (12) for connecting the controller unit (10) to an external power supply (14) and supplying power to the individual sections of the controller unit (10), a data link section (16) for connecting the controller unit (10) to an external data source, a computing section (18) operatively connected with the power link section (12) and the data link section (16) for receiving data from the external data source, performing computing tasks based on the received data and outputting control commands, an engine interface section (20) for driving the at least one engine motor (26), and a servo interface section (22) for driving the at least one servo motor (28), wherein the engine interface section (20) and the servo interface section (22) are both operatively connected to the computing section (18) and adapted to drive the at least one engine motor (26) and the at least one servo motor (28), respectively, based on control commands output by the computing section (18).

Claims

1. An integrated controller unit for controlling at least one engine motor and at least one servo motor, comprising: a power link section for connecting the controller unit to an external power supply and supplying power to the individual sections of the controller unit; a data link section for connecting the controller unit to an external data source; a computing section operatively connected with the power link section and the data link section for receiving data from the external data source, performing computing tasks based on the received data and outputting control commands; an engine interface section for driving the at least one engine motor; and a servo interface section for driving the at least one servo motor; wherein the engine interface section and the servo interface section are both operatively connected to the computing section and adapted to drive the at least one engine motor and the at least one servo motor, respectively, based on control commands output by the computing section.

2. The integrated controller unit according to claim 1, further comprising: at least one accessory interface section for driving an accessory component, in particular a de-icing system, wherein the accessory interface section is operatively connected to the computing section and adapted to drive the accessory component based on control commands output by the computing section.

3. The integrated controller unit according to claim 1, wherein the computing section is further adapted to receive sensor data from at least one external sensor unit.

4. The integrated controller unit according to claim 1, wherein the computing section comprises a redundant and/or dissimilar architecture capable of dual independent processing of the same data.

5. The integrated controller unit according to claim 1, wherein the power link section is adapted to be supplied with high-voltage direct current, for example at about 500-900 V, and comprises a DC-DC converter with an output voltage of about 24-48 V.

6. The integrated controller unit according to claim 1, wherein the engine interface section and/or the servo interface section comprise at least one gate driver and at least one semiconductor switch, such as a power MOSFET, and at least one sensor unit for monitoring a voltage and/or a current.

7. The integrated controller unit according to claim 1, comprising at least one EMI filter as a part of the power link section, the engine interface section and/or the servo interface section and/or comprising at least one DC link block provided to the power link section, the engine interface section, the servo interface section and/or the accessory interface section.

8. The integrated controller unit according to claim 1, wherein the computing section is further adapted to communicate feedback and/or status information by means of the data link section.

9. An assembly, comprising an integrated controller unit, at least one engine motor and at least one servo motor, wherein the integrated controller unit comprises: a power link section for connecting the controller unit to an external power supply and supplying power to the individual sections of the controller unit; a data link section for connecting the controller unit to an external data source; a computing section operatively connected with the power link section and the data link section for receiving data from the external data source, performing computing tasks based on the received data and outputting control commands; an engine interface section for driving the at least one engine motor; and a servo interface section for driving the at least one servo motor; wherein the engine interface section and the servo interface section are both operatively connected to the computing section and adapted to drive the at least one engine motor and the at least one servo motor, respectively, based on control commands output by the computing section, wherein the at least one engine motor and the at least one servo motor are adapted to be driven by the engine interface section and the servo interface section of the integrated controller unit, respectively.

10. The assembly according to claim 9, further comprising at least one accessory component, in particular a de-icing system, which is adapted to be driven by the accessory interface section of the integrated controller unit.

11. The assembly according to claim 9, wherein the at least one engine motor, the at least one servo motor and/or the at least one accessory component comprises a sensor unit which is adapted to monitor at least one operating parameter thereof and provide respective sensor data to the integrated controller unit.

12. The assembly according to claim 9, wherein the at least one engine motor is part of a the ducted fan und and the integrated controller unit is at least partially installed in a back cone area of the ducted fan.

13. The assembly according to claim 9, wherein at least one of the power link section, the data link section, the computing section, the engine interface section and the servo interface section is positioned in a first installation area and/or on a first circuit board and at least one of said components is positioned in a second installation area and/or on the second circuit board, wherein the first and second installation areas and/or first and second circuit boards are spatially distributed and interconnected by dedicated data and power links.

14. An aircraft comprising at least one pair of wings, a fuselage, at least one assembly according to any claim 9, a central computing unit and a central power supply, wherein the at least one engine motor is mounted to the aircraft in such a manner as to be tiltable relative to the fuselage and/or the at least one pair of wings, wherein the at least one servo motor is arranged to cause said tilting of the at least one engine motor.

15. The aircraft according to claim 14, wherein a plurality of flap elements are provided to the wings in a manner tiltable relative thereto by means of a servo motor, wherein each of the flap elements is further provided with at least one engine motor, wherein the servo motor and the at least one engine motors of the same flap are driven by the same integrated controller unit.

16. The aircraft according to claim 15, wherein to each flap element a single integrated controller unit is assigned and mounted thereon.

Description

[0027] Further features and advantages of the present invention will become even clearer from the following description of embodiments thereof when taken together with the accompanying drawings, which show in particular:

[0028] FIG. 1 a schematic view of an integrated controller unit according to the present invention;

[0029] FIG. 2 a schematic view of a ducted fan in which an assembly according to the present invention is employed; and

[0030] FIG. 3 a schematic view of an aircraft in which a number of ducted fan engines are mounted on flaps.

[0031] In FIG. 1, an integrated controller unit according to the present invention is shown in a schematic manner and generally denoted with the reference numeral 10.

[0032] Said controller unit 10 comprises a power link section 12 for connecting the controller unit to an external power supply 14 and for supplying power to the individual sections of the controller unit 10 discussed below. For said purpose, the power link section 12 comprises two inputs 12a1 and 12a2 as well as four outputs 12b1 to 12b4, respectively.

[0033] Internally, the power link section 12 further comprises an EMI filter unit 12c for reducing noise and interferences as well as a DC-DC converter 12d for converting the input high-voltage direct current to an output low-voltage direct current, wherein the conversion may for example result in a reduction of the voltage from 800 V to 28 V.

[0034] As can be seen in FIG. 1, the reduced voltage of 28 V is only applied to one of the output sockets 12b4, whereas the remaining output sockets 12b1 to 12b3 receive the full input voltage of 800 V. As will be described below, the reduced voltage of 28 V is supplied to low-voltage electronic components, while the high voltage is supplied to high-voltage power components. Additionally, the second input socket 12a2 can be used to directly provide low voltage for the output socket 12d4 and can thus for example be used for testing purposes or as a secondary power input for the low-voltage electronic components. Furthermore, the power link section 12 may comprise a DC link block for providing an energy buffer link from direct current to alternative current.

[0035] Similarly to the power link section 12, which serves to connect the controller unit 10 to an external power source 14, a data link section 16 is provided, which serves as an interface to an external data source. For this purpose, the data link section 16 may comprise a CAN bus interface or an interface for any other suitable communication standard, wherein due to safety concerns wired communication may be preferable over wireless communication. It shall further be noticed that the data link section may be adapted for unidirectional or bidirectional communication, such that the integrated controller unit 10 may in some embodiments also provide data, such as operational or performance data, to at least superordinate entity, which may be identical with or separate from the data source. Furthermore, the data link 16 section may be provided in a redundant and dissimilar manner or may comprise redundant and dissimilar components serving same purposes.

[0036] Connected to both the low voltage output 12b4 of the power link section 12 and the data link section 16 is a computing section 18, which may for example comprise one or more microprocessors or microcontrollers 18a and a storage unit 18b on which data and program code may be stored for performing computing tasks in the context of the operation of the integrated controller unit 10. In particular, the computing section (18) may comprise a redundant and/or dissimilar architecture capable of dual independent processing of the same data.

[0037] The computing section 18 is in turn operatively connected to an engine interface section 20, a servo interface section 22 and an accessory interface section 24, which are supplied with high-voltage direct current by means of the high voltage outputs 12b1 to 12b3 of the power link section 12. Each of the engine interface section 20, the servo interface section 22 and the accessory interface section 24 may be provided with gate drivers 20a, 22a, 24a that are controlled by control commands output by the computing section 18 as well as semiconductor switches 20b, 22b, 24b, such as power MOSFETS, through which power is output to the engine motor 26, the servo motor 28 and the accessory component 30, respectively, wherein the accessory component may for example be embodied by a de-icing system. It shall be noted that in some variations of the present embodiment, at least one of the an engine interface section 20, the servo interface section 22 and the accessory interface section 24 may be comprised of a non-fault-tolerant (e.g. three phase) or multi-phase/fault tolerant architecture, in which the respective component can still be operational, albeit with lower performance, if a single phase or small set of phases should fail.

[0038] In addition to the respective gate drivers 20a, 22a and 24a as well as the semiconductor switches 20b, 22b and 24b, each of the interface sections 20, 22 and 24 may also comprise at least one sensor unit 20c, 22c and 24c, which may for example be adapted to measure currents or voltages or also other operating parameters such as a position of the servo motor, the rpm of the engine motor, a temperature, vibrations or similar quantities.

[0039] During operation of the integrated controller unit 10, it receives high voltage as well as data for its operation via the power link section 12 and the data link section 16 and based on said data as well as the sensor data provided by the sensor units 20c, 22c, 24c as well as possibly additionally external sensors control commands are output for the engine interface section 20, the servo interface section 22 and the accessory interface section 24 based on which the engine motor 26, the servo motor 28 and the accessory component 30 are driven and operated.

[0040] By means of providing the monolithic integrated controller unit 10 of the present invention, an assembly comprising said integrated controller unit 10 as well as the engine motor 26, the servo motor 28 and the accessory component 30 can for example be embodied by or integrated in the electrically driven ducted fan 100 shown in FIG. 2.

[0041] In an alternative embodiment, based on space and geometry constraints present at the installation point of the wings and flap structure, such an integrated controller unit could also be distributed into two main parts, allocating part of the multiple interconnected boards and/or discrete elements of the integrated controller unit also into a second installation area. The two unit parts are then connected by a dedicated communication and power link.

[0042] Therein, within a cylindrical duct 102, a rotatable fan 104 is provided and driven by the engine motor 26. Said motor 26 is integrated in a volume radially inside of a stator 106 with stationary vanes, while the integrated controller unit 10 is integrated at least partially in the back cone area 108, which also furthermore serves as a guiding means for air flowing through the cylindrical duct 102.

[0043] Both power and CAN bus cables are provided in a cable harness 110, which extends along a section of the cylindrical duct 102 and through one of the vanes of the stator 106 and into the back cone area 108, where connection to the integrated controller unit 10 is made. In alternative embodiments, the required cables may also be provided in a plurality of cable harnesses and/or be routed through multiple vanes for providing physical segregation. Also, additional measures for ensuring safe operation thereof may be provided, such as physical barriers between the individual cables.

[0044] Furthermore, an additional cable 112 is shown, by means of which a de-icing system serving as accessory component 30 is supplied with electrical power in order to prevent the formation of an ice layer on the edges of the air inlet of the ducted fan 100.

[0045] The ducted fan 100 itself may be positioned at a portion of a wing or the fuselage of a superordinate aircraft (not shown in FIG. 2) and connected thereto via the servo motor 28, which allows to tilt the cylindrical duct 102 with all components provided thereto and therein with respect to a tilt axis T. Thus, by means of operating the servo motor 28, the angle between the cylindrical duct 102 and thus the thrust vector provided during operation of the engine motor 26 can be adjusted with respect to the wing or the fuselage of the aircraft, such that the ducted fan engine 100 can for example be displaced between a hovering position in which its thrust vector points in a vertical direction and a cruise position in which its thrust vector points substantially horizontally.

[0046] Finally, in FIG. 3, a schematic top view of an aircraft 200 with two pairs of wings 202 and 204 as well as a fuselage 206 is shown, in which at the trailing edges of each of the wings 202 and 204 a number of flaps 210 are provided. Said flaps 210 functionally correspond to the assembly 100 shown in FIG. 2, such that they comprise a base part, which is tiltable with respect to the respective wing 202 or 204 by means of a servo motor, whereas it further carries at least one propulsion engine in form of a ducted fan electrically driven by a drive motor. Typically, three such ducted fans may be provided on each flap, however, embodiments with a higher or smaller number of ducted fans per flap are equally conceivable, while the number of ducted fans may also vary among the flaps 210. Each of said flaps 210 is furthermore provided with an integrated controller unit as shown in FIG. 1, wherein the respective controller units are adapted to drive the servo motor associated with the respective flap 210 as well as the one or more drive motors positioned on the respective flap 210.

[0047] Each of the integrated controller units of the respective flaps 210 are in data connection with a central control unit 212 providing them with control data via a CAN bus system as well as a central power source 214 of the aircraft 200, such as a battery pack, for storing and providing electrical power as discussed in the context of FIG. 1 above.

[0048] By providing a large number of individual flaps, each of which may contribute to the propulsion of the aircraft 200 in a differential manner, the loss of one or more of the flaps 210, for example due to electrical or mechanical failure, can be compensated by the remaining flaps 210 thus providing redundancy on flap level.

[0049] For example if the flap 210a, which is crossed out in FIG. 3, does not work as expected, the central control unit 214 can adjust the operation of the remaining flaps 210 concerning their angle to the respective wing 202, 204 by means of its servo motor as well as concerning the thrust provided by the respective one or more fans as controlled via the respective engine motor in order to compensate for the non-operational flap 210a. For this purpose, each of the flaps 210 by means of their integrated controller unit provides the central control unit 212 with operation and sensor data, such that the central control unit 212 is able to identify the current status of each of the flaps 210 in such a manner that correct operation of the aircraft 200 is guaranteed even if one or more of the flaps 210 are currently non-operational.