IP Library Granted Patent US 8,417,995
Granted Patent B2
US 8,417,995 · App. 12/666,917 · Granted Apr 9, 2013

Method and system for managing electrical power supply outages on board an aircraft

View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,417,995
App. No.
12/666,917
Granted
Apr 9, 2013
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method of managing an electrical power supply outage on board an aircraft, including the following operations: —detection of an electrical power supply outage, —measurement of a duration of the power supply outage by measuring a discharge time of a capacitor and comparing this measured duration with a threshold duration, —saving a long outage indication when the duration of the outage is greater than a threshold duration. The disclosed embodiments also relates to a system implementing this method and including: —a circuit for detecting an electrical power supply outage, —a circuit for measuring a duration of the power supply outage, and—a circuit for managing indications able to manage emissions of signals according to the measured duration of the power supply outage.

Claims (20)

1. A process for managing an electric power failure onboard an aircraft, the process comprising:

detecting an electric power failure,

measuring the length of the power failure by measuring the discharge time of a condenser and comparing the time measured with a threshold time,

saving information on a long power failure when the length of the failure is longer than a threshold time.

2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the condenser is recharged as soon as an active switching signal is received at the input of a switch connected in series to the condenser.

3. The process according to claim 2 , wherein the active switching signal is sent when the length of the failure is shorter than the threshold time.

4. The process according to claim 2 , wherein when the length of the failure is longer than the threshold time, the active switching signal is sent upon receipt of an end-of-save signal.

5. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the discharge time is measured by comparing a voltage value at the condenser terminals to the reference voltage value (Vref).

6. A system of managing an electric power failure onboard an aircraft, the system comprising:

a detection circuit for detecting an electric power failure,

a measurement circuit for measuring the length of a power failure that can measure the discharge time for a condenser and compare the time measured with a threshold time, and

a management circuit for managing information that can manage the sending of signals so that long power-failure information is saved when the failure time is longer than the threshold time.

7. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the measurement circuit has a condenser connected, on one hand, to an input of a comparator and, on the other hand, to a power source via a switch.

8. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the management circuit has a programmable component capable of:

receiving output information from the measurement circuit,

sending a save signal to a central processing unit,

receiving an end-of-save signal from the central processing unit, and

sending a switching signal to the measurement circuit, with the signals sent depending on the signals received.

9. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the measurement circuit and the management circuit are mounted on an electric power card of an onboard computer, and the management circuit can communicate with a central processing unit.

10. An aircraft, comprising the system for managing an electric power failure according to claim 6 .

Assignments (2)
MERGER Recorded May 18, 2011
From: AIRBUS FRANCE
To: AIRBUS OPERATIONS SAS
Reel/Frame 026298/0269 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 10, 2010
From: DAVY, ARNAUD; PEYRAS, LAURENT; ROUSSET, DAVID
To: AIRBUS OPERATIONS (SOCIETE PAR ACTIONS SIMPLIFIEE)
Reel/Frame 024966/0989 →