초록 ▼

In a control system having a manipulatable unit, such as an aircraft stick, which is biased toward a neutral position to provide control “feel”, an input which at each instant signifies the position of displacement of the stick from its neutral position is processed to provide an output signifying t

In a control system having a manipulatable unit, such as an aircraft stick, which is biased toward a neutral position to provide control “feel”, an input which at each instant signifies the position of displacement of the stick from its neutral position is processed to provide an output signifying the magnitude of the biasing force to be applied to the stick. In a range of positions spaced to one side of its neutral position (or in such a range at each side of neutral) the output provides for a steep biasing force gradient as the stick is moved through a predetermined distance in either direction from a turning point to which the stick had been brought by movement in the opposite direction. For all other movements of the stick within that range the biasing force has a low gradient. The higher gradient of bias for small trimming movements provides better feel for trimming without requiring stick bias to be unduly stiff during coarser stick displacements.

대표청구항 ▼

A method for a control system comprising a manipulatable control unit displaceable from and toward a null position in increase and decrease directions respectively, a controlled device actuated to move to positions that substantially correspond to the positions of displacement of said control unit,

A method for a control system comprising a manipulatable control unit displaceable from and toward a null position in increase and decrease directions respectively, a controlled device actuated to move to positions that substantially correspond to the positions of displacement of said control unit, and force generating means for imposing a yielding biasing force upon said control unit that urges it in said decrease direction, said method providing for control of the force generating means to cause said biasing force to have a higher gradient for trimming displacements of said control unit than for maneuvering displacements of said control unit, and said method being characterized by: A. generating input signals at regular intervals, each having a magnitude signifying the existing position of displacement of said control unit; B. producing an output signal for each input signal, each output signal having a magnitude which signifies a magnitude of said biasing force; C. defining a pair of sequences of output signal magnitudes (1) the output signal magnitudes of one of said sequences being related to respective input signals that designate positions of said control unit between a first position and a second position spaced from said first position in said increase direction, (2) the output signal magnitudes of the other of said sequences being related to respective input signals that designate positions of said control unit between a third position, intermediate said first and second positions, and a fourth position spaced in said increase direction from the second position, and (3) said output signal magnitudes in each of said sequences having a first substantially low gradient of increase in said increase direction relative to their related input signals but being so related that for a given input signal the output signal magnitude in said one sequence signifies a smaller biasing force than the output signal magnitude in said other sequence; D. defining a set of trim sequences of output signal magnitudes (1) related to respective input signals that designate positions of said control unit between said first and fourth positions, (2) all of said trim sequences having like gradients substantially steeper than said first gradient, (3) there being a trim sequence in said set for each output signal magnitude in each of said one and said other sequences, and (4) each trim sequence including a magnitude that is in said one sequence and a different magnitude that is in said other sequence, each of which magnitudes has a unique relationship to its related input signal whereby the trim sequence is identifiable; E. for each produced output signal, storing information related to (1) the magnitude of that output signal magnitude and (2) the input signal for which it was produced whereby a trim sequence is identifiable; F. for each generated input signal that designates a position of said control unit between said first and said fourth positions, (1) assigning as a presumptive output signal magnitude the magnitude that is related to that input signal in the trim sequence identified by stored information for the last previously produced output signal, (2) comparing said presumptive output signal magnitude with the respective magnitudes in said one sequence and in said other sequence that are related to the generated input signal, and (a) if the presumptive magnitude is equal to or larger than the compared magnitude in said one sequence, producing an output signal having that compared magnitude, (b) if the presumptive magnitude is equal to or smaller than the compared magnitude in said other sequence, producing an output signal having that compared magnitude, and (c) if the presumptive magnitude is larger than the compared magnitude in said other sequence and smaller than the compared magnitude in said one sequence, producing an output signal having said presumptive magnitude as its magnitude; and G. so imposing said output signals upon said force generating means that said biasing force at each instant substantially corresponds to the magnitude of the most recently produced output signal.