Method for automatically controlling the operating speed of a helicopter turboshaft engine, corresponding control device and helicopter provided with such a device

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for automatically controlling an operating mode of a turboshaft engine of a helicopter, comprising a step (10) of receiving data (27, 28, 29) that are representative of the flight of the helicopter; a step (11) of selecting the turboshaft engine for which a change of mode would be most relevant; a step (12) of determining an operating mode of said turboshaft engine, known as the selected mode, selected from a plurality of predetermined operating modes; and a step (14) of ordering the operating mode of said turboshaft engine into said selected mode. The invention also relates to a corresponding control device.

Claims

1. A method for automatically controlling the operating mode of a turboshaft engine of a helicopter that is not in a critical flight situation and comprises at least two turboshaft engines, wherein one of said at least two turboshaft engines is not in a critical flight situation, the method comprising: a step of receiving data that are representative of the flight of the helicopter, a step of determining an operating mode of said one turboshaft engine, known as the selected mode, selected from a plurality of predetermined operating modes on the basis of said data that are representative of the flight of the helicopter, a step of ordering the operating mode of said one turboshaft engine into said selected mode, wherein each of said at least two turboshaft engines comprises a combustion chamber and an engine shaft, and said plurality of predetermined operating modes comprises at least the following modes: a standby mode known as normal idling, in which said combustion chamber is ignited and said shaft of the gas generator rotates at a speed of between 60 and 80% of the nominal speed, a standby mode known as normal super-idling, in which said combustion chamber is ignited and said shaft of the gas generator rotates at a speed of between 20 and 60% of the nominal speed, a standby mode known as assisted super-idling, in which said combustion chamber is ignited and said shaft of the gas generator rotates, in a mechanically assisted manner, at a speed of between 20 and 60% of the nominal speed, a standby mode known as banking, in which said combustion chamber is extinguished and said shaft of the gas generator rotates, in a mechanically assisted manner, at a speed of between 5 and 20% of the nominal speed, a standby mode known as stopping, in which said combustion chamber is extinguished and said shaft of the gas generator is completely stopped, an urgent standby-leaving mode, in which the combustion chamber is ignited and the shaft of the gas generator is brought to a speed of between 80 and 105% within a period of less than 10 seconds following an order to leave standby mode, a normal standby-leaving mode, in which the combustion chamber is ignited and the shaft of the gas generator is brought to a speed of between 80 and 105% within a period of between 10 seconds and 1 minute following an order to leave standby mode, a nominal operating mode, in which the combustion chamber is ignited and the shaft of the gas generator is driven at a speed of between 80 and 105%.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said method comprises a step of allocating, to each item of data received, an operating mode, known as the designated mode, that is selected from said plurality of operating modes and depends on the value of said item of data.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein, for each item of data, a designated mode is associated with a range of values of said item of data.

4. The control method according to claim 2, wherein said step of determining a selected mode includes selecting said selected mode from all of said designated modes provided by said allocation step, according to a predetermined order of priority.

5. The control method according to claim 4 each of said at least two turboshaft engines comprises a combustion chamber and an engine shaft, and said plurality of predetermined operating modes comprises at least the following modes: a standby mode known as normal idling, in which said combustion chamber is ignited and said shaft of the gas generator rotates at a speed of between 60 and 80% of the nominal speed, a standby mode known as normal super-idling, in which said combustion chamber is ignited and said shaft of the gas generator rotates at a speed of between 20 and 60% of the nominal speed, a standby mode known as assisted super-idling, in which said combustion chamber is ignited and said shaft of the gas generator rotates, in a mechanically assisted manner, at a speed of between 20 and 60% of the nominal speed, a standby mode known as banking, in which said combustion chamber is extinguished and said shaft of the gas generator rotates, in a mechanically assisted manner, at a speed of between 5 and 20% of the nominal speed, a standby mode known as stopping, in which said combustion chamber is extinguished and said shaft of the gas generator is completely stopped, an urgent standby-leaving mode, in which the combustion chamber is ignited and the shaft of the gas generator is brought to a speed of between 80 and 105% within a period of less than 10 seconds following an order to leave standby mode, a normal standby-leaving mode, in which the combustion chamber is ignited and the shaft of the gas generator is brought to a speed of between 80 and 105% within a period of between 10 seconds and 1 minute following an order to leave standby mode, a nominal operating mode, in which the combustion chamber is ignited and the shaft of the gas generator is driven at a speed of between 80 and 105%, wherein said predetermined order of priority is as follows: nominal operating mode, urgent standby-leaving mode, normal standby-leaving mode, normal idling mode, normal super-idling mode, assisted super-idling mode, banking mode, stopping mode.

6. The control method according to claim 1, wherein said data that are representative of the flight of the helicopter comprise data about the flight conditions of said helicopter and/or data about the environmental conditions of the helicopter and/or data about the state of said one turboshaft engine.

7. The control method according to claim 1, wherein said method further comprises a step of selecting one turboshaft engine from said at least two turboshaft engines of said helicopter for which a change of mode would be most relevant.

8. A control device for automatically controlling an operating mode of a first turboshaft engine of a helicopter that is not in a critical flight situation and said helicopter comprises at least two turboshaft engines, said device comprising: a module for receiving data that are representative of the flight of the helicopter, a module for determining an operating mode of said first turboshaft engine, known as the selected mode, selected from a plurality of predetermined operating modes on the basis of said data that are representative of the flight of the helicopter, a module for ordering said operating mode of said first turboshaft engine into said selected mode, wherein each of said at least two turboshaft engines comprises a combustion chamber and an engine shaft, and said plurality of predetermined operating modes comprises at least the following modes: a standby mode known as normal idling, in which said combustion chamber is ignited and said shaft of the gas generator rotates at a speed of between 60 and 80% of the nominal speed, a standby mode known as normal super-idling, in which said combustion chamber is ignited and said shaft of the gas generator rotates at a speed of between 20 and 60% of the nominal speed, a standby mode known as assisted super-idling, in which said combustion chamber is ignited and said shaft of the gas generator rotates, in a mechanically assisted manner, at a speed of between 20 and 60% of the nominal speed, a standby mode known as banking, in which said combustion chamber is extinguished and said shaft of the gas generator rotates, in a mechanically assisted manner, at a speed of between 5 and 20% of the nominal speed, a standby mode known as stopping, in which said combustion chamber is extinguished and said shaft of the gas generator is completely stopped, an urgent standby-leaving mode, in which the combustion chamber is ignited and the shaft of the gas generator is brought to a speed of between 80 and 105% within a period of less than 10 seconds following an order to leave standby mode, a normal standby-leaving mode, in which the combustion chamber is ignited and the shaft of the gas generator is brought to a speed of between 80 and 105% within a period of between 10 seconds and 1 minute following an order to leave standby mode, a nominal operating mode, in which the combustion chamber is ignited and the shaft of the gas generator is thriven at a speed of between 80 and 105%.

9. The control device according to claim 8, wherein said control device comprises a module for allocating, to each item of data received by said reception module, an operating mode, known as the designated mode, that is selected from said plurality of operating modes and depends on the value of said item of data.

10. The control device according to claim 9, wherein said determination module is designed to select said selected mode from all of said designated modes provided by said allocation module, according to a predetermined order of priority.

11. The control device according to claim 8, wherein said control device further comprises a module for selecting one turboshaft engine from said at least two turboshaft engines of said helicopter for which a change of mode would be most relevant.

12. A helicopter comprising at least two turboshaft engines, each turboshaft engine comprising a gas turbine controlled by a regulating device, wherein said regulating device comprises a control device according to claim 8.

13. A helicopter according to claim 12, wherein said control device is received in said regulating device of each turboshaft engine.

14. A helicopter according to claim 12, wherein said control device communicates, via a wireless connection, with each said regulating device of each said turboshaft engine.

Description

5. LIST OF DRAWINGS

(1) Other aims, features and advantages of the invention will emerge from reading the following description, which is given purely by way of non-limiting example and relates to the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a method for controlling the operating mode of a turboshaft engine according to an embodiment of the invention,

(3) FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the chart required for the step of allocating a designated operating mode to an item of data, on the basis of the value of said item of data, in a method according to an embodiment of the invention,

(4) FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a control device according to an embodiment of the invention,

(5) FIG. 4 is a schematic view of organic architecture of a helicopter according to an embodiment of the invention,

(6) FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a different organic architecture of a helicopter according to an embodiment of the invention,

(7) FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a different organic architecture of a helicopter according to an embodiment of the invention.

6. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

(8) A method according to the invention comprises, as shown in FIG. 1, a step 10 of receiving data that are representative of the flight of the helicopter. According to the embodiment in the drawings, the data received are data 27 about the flight conditions of the helicopter, data 28 about the environmental conditions of the helicopter, and data 29 about the state of the turboshaft engine.

(9) According to the advantageous embodiment in the drawings, the method also comprises a step 11 of selecting the turboshaft engine for which a change of mode would be most relevant. According to the advantageous embodiment of FIG. 1, the method also comprises a step 12 of allocating, to each item of data received, a mode, known as the designated mode that is selected from a plurality of predetermined operating modes on the basis of the value of said item of data. The method also comprises a step 13 of determining an operating mode of the turboshaft engine, known as the selected mode, that is selected from all of the designated modes obtained in the allocation step 12, according to a predetermined order of priority. Finally, the method comprises a step 14 of ordering the operating mode of the turboshaft engine into the selected mode.

(10) FIG. 2 schematically shows the principle of the step 12 of allocating a designated operating mode to each type of data item received.

(11) The first line of the table in FIG. 2 contains all of the predetermined modes, of which there are eight according to this embodiment. However, according to other embodiments, the number of predetermined modes that can be allocated to the data may of course be different.

(12) A predetermined designated mode corresponds to each value range of each item of data. The ranges are limited by connecting and increasing values. For example, the item of data denoted A comprises A2<A3<A4<A5<A6<A7<A8. Thus, a single designated mode corresponds thereto, depending on the value of the item of data.

(13) For example, for the item of data denoted A, the designated operating mode for this item of data A would be mode 4 if the value of A is within the range [A4; A5].

(14) At the end of this allocation step 12, one mode is allocated to each item of data received during the reception step 10.

(15) The example of five types of received data A, B, C, D and E, of which the values lie within the ranges [A4; A5], [B2; B3], [C4; C5], [D5; D6] and [E6; E7] respectively, will now be considered.

(16) At the end of the allocation step 12, the items of data A, B, C, D and E are thus associated with the modes 4; 2; 4; 5 and 6 respectively.

(17) The modes are arranged in a predetermined order of priority.

(18) According to the embodiment in the drawings, the following operating modes are possible and are arranged in the following manner.

(19) The mode having the highest priority is the nominal operating mode, in which the combustion chamber is ignited and the shaft of the gas generator is driven at between 80 and 105%. This mode is denoted as mode 8 in FIG. 2.

(20) The mode having the next highest priority is the urgent standby-leaving mode, in which the combustion chamber must be ignited if it is not already, and the shaft of the gas generator is brought to the nominal speed within a period of less than 10 seconds following an order to leave standby mode. This mode is denoted as mode 7 in FIG. 2.

(21) The mode having the next highest priority is the normal standby-leaving mode, in which the combustion chamber must be ignited if it is not already, and the shaft of the gas generator is brought to the nominal speed within a period of between 10 seconds and 1 minute following an order to leave standby mode. This mode is denoted as mode 6 in FIG. 2.

(22) The mode having the next highest priority is the standby mode known as normal idling, in which said combustion chamber is ignited and said shaft of the gas generator rotates at a speed of between 60 and 80% of the nominal speed. This mode is denoted as mode 5 in FIG. 2.

(23) The mode having the next highest priority is the standby mode known as normal super-idling, in which said combustion chamber is ignited and said shaft of the gas generator rotates at a speed of between 20 and 60% of the nominal speed. This mode is denoted as mode 4 in FIG. 2.

(24) The mode having the next highest priority is the standby mode known as assisted super-idling, in which said combustion chamber is ignited and said shaft of the gas generator rotates, in a mechanically assisted manner, at a speed of between 20 and 60% of the nominal speed. This mode is denoted as mode 3 in FIG. 2.

(25) The mode having the next highest priority is the standby mode known as banking, in which said combustion chamber is extinguished and said shaft of the gas generator rotates, in a mechanically assisted manner, at a speed of between 5 and 20% of the nominal speed. This mode is denoted as mode 2 in FIG. 2.

(26) The mode having the next highest priority is the standby mode known as stopping, in which said combustion chamber is extinguished and said shaft of the gas generator is completely stopped. This mode is denoted as mode 1 in FIG. 2.

(27) Therefore, at the end of the allocation step 12, data items A and C denote the normal super-idling mode. Data item B denotes the banking mode. Data item D denotes the normal idling mode, and data item E denotes the normal standby-leaving mode.

(28) The step 13 of determining the selected mode selects, from all of the designated modes, the mode that has the highest priority. In other words, and in the case of the example, the determination step 13 selects the mode having the highest priority from the set formed of the normal super-idling mode, the banking mode, the normal idling mode and the normal standby-leaving mode.

(29) In the present case, the mode having the highest priority is the normal standby-leaving mode.

(30) Thus, the control step 14 consists in ordering the turboshaft engine, selected in the selection step 11, into the normal standby-leaving mode.

(31) The same process is repeated at regular and predetermined intervals in order to adapt the operating mode of the turboshaft engine to the progression of the data received in the reception step.

(32) FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a control device according to an embodiment of the invention.

(33) The control device comprises a module 20 for receiving data that are representative of the flight of the helicopter, a module 21 for selecting the turboshaft engine for which a change of mode would be most relevant, a module 22 for allocating a designated operating mode to each item of data received by said reception module 20, a module 23 for determining a selected operating mode selected from the plurality of designated operating modes, and a module 24 for ordering the operating mode of the turboshaft engine into the selected mode.

(34) According to the embodiment in the drawings, the data received by the reception module 20 are data 27 about the flight conditions of the helicopter, data 28 about the environmental conditions of the helicopter, and data 29 about the state of the turboshaft engine.

(35) Once the selected mode has been determined by the determination module 23, the control module 24 sends the order to change modes to the electronic regulator of the selected turboshaft engine, i.e. either the electronic regulator 31 of the turboshaft engine that controls the gas turbine 33 of the turboshaft engine, or the electronic regulator 32 of the turboshaft engine that controls the gas turbine 34 of the turboshaft engine. The electronic regulators 31 and 32 are also suitable for operating the non-propulsive parts 36 and 37 of the gas turbines 33 and 34.

(36) According to the embodiment in FIG. 3, the control device controls the operating modes of a helicopter comprising two turboshaft engines, each turboshaft engine comprising a gas turbine 33, 34 that is controlled by an electronic regulator 31, 32 (more commonly known as EECU). Each regulator 31, 32 controls the non-propulsive parts 35, 36 of the gas turbine and of the corresponding gas turbine 33, 34.

(37) According to another embodiment, and as shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, the control device 60 controls the selection of the operating modes of a helicopter comprising three turboshaft engines 40, 41, 42.

(38) According to the embodiment of FIG. 4, the control device 60 is outside the turboshaft engines 40, 41, 42 and communicates via a wireless connection 63 with each regulating device 50, 51, 52 of each turboshaft engine. In FIG. 4, for the purpose of clarity only the connection 63 between the control device 60 and the regulating device 50 of the turboshaft engine 40 is shown. Nonetheless, the control device 60 communicates with each regulating device in order to be able to order a change in the operating mode of the associated turboshaft engine if the data require this.

(39) According to the embodiment of FIG. 5, the control device 60 is divided between the engine computers and the helicopter avionics.

(40) According to the embodiment of FIG. 6, the control device 60 is received in a dedicated housing.

(41) The invention is not limited to just the embodiments described. In particular, other types of architecture are possible for receiving the control device. Moreover, a control method and device according to the invention can be used to control a helicopter comprising a different number of turboshaft engines and/or having a different number of operating modes.