Swantech, L.l.c.

Dme Corporation

Craig E Hughes

David B Board

Michael Caulfield

Sylvia Andrews

An improved LED current regulation circuit for providing continuous electrical current to one or more Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) in an aircraft illumination system, in particular, an aircraft emergency evacuation system, through a varying voltage source. The circuit comprises a DC voltage source and a current regulation circuit electrically coupled to the one or more light sources, preferably, LEDS. The current regulation circuit comprises a transistor, a collector of which is electrically coupled to the one or more light sources, a zener diode electrically coupled to a base of the transistor, an emitter resistor having a first terminal electrically coupled to an emitter of the transistor and a second terminal electrically coupled to ground, the emitter resistor in parallel connection with the zener diode, wherein the current through each LED is maintained at a constant predetermined level based upon the summation of voltage drops across the zener diode, the transistor and the emitter resistor. In this fashion, each LED will illuminate a desired area on an aircraft despite wide fluctuations in input voltage.

LED current regulation circuit for aircraft lighting system

A Foreign Object Damage (FOD) detection system is disclosed for detecting and analyzing ultrasound or stress waves emitted when an object enters the intake of a turbine engine and impacts one or more of the blades in the engine. Upon detection the FOD detection system can immediately inform the operator, inform another electronic device (computer, etc.) and/or latch the event for review by maintenance personnel. The detection system generally consists of one or more stress wave sensors and an electronic assembly to process the stress wave signal received from the sensor(s). The electronic assembly is in communication with the sensor(s) via conventional cabling.

Turbine engine foreign object damage detection system

A distributed stress wave analysis system is disclosed for detecting structure borne sounds cause by friction. The detected information is processed using feature extraction and neural network artificial intelligence software. The system consists of stress wave sensors, interconnect cables, and preferably three modules: (1) distributed processing units, (2) maintenance advisory panel, and (3) laptop computer. A derived stress wave pulse train which is independent of background levels of vibration and audible noise is used to extract signature features, which when processed by neural networks of polynomial equations, characterize the mechanical health of the monitored components. The system includes an adjustable data fusion architecture to optimize indication thresholds, maximize fault detection probability, and minimize false alarms.

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Oviedo, FL, United States of America

Craig E Hughes