Patents by Inventor Ian C. Martindale

Ian C. Martindale has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10864994
    Abstract: An example method includes: determining a throttle command for a servomotor configured to control a position of a throttle lever, where the position of the throttle lever indicates a commanded thrust for the first engine of the aircraft; determining a trim command for the first engine to equalize the thrust of the first engine with the respective thrust of the second engine; determining that a magnitude of the throttle command is less than a magnitude of a threshold throttle command indicative of a dead zone of the servomotor, where the servomotor is irresponsive to a given throttle command within the dead zone; modifying the trim command based on the throttle command to generate a modified trim command that compensates for irresponsiveness of the servomotor to the throttle command; and changing the thrust generated by the first engine based on the modified trim command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2020
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: John W. Alaimo, Jr., Ian C. Martindale
  • Publication number: 20200002018
    Abstract: An example method includes: determining a throttle command for a servomotor configured to control a position of a throttle lever, where the position of the throttle lever indicates a commanded thrust for the first engine of the aircraft; determining a trim command for the first engine to equalize the thrust of the first engine with the respective thrust of the second engine; determining that a magnitude of the throttle command is less than a magnitude of a threshold throttle command indicative of a dead zone of the servomotor, where the servomotor is irresponsive to a given throttle command within the dead zone; modifying the trim command based on the throttle command to generate a modified trim command that compensates for irresponsiveness of the servomotor to the throttle command; and changing the thrust generated by the first engine based on the modified trim command.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2018
    Publication date: January 2, 2020
    Inventors: John W. Alaimo, JR., Ian C. Martindale
  • Patent number: 5893040
    Abstract: An avionic system (102) in which engine thrust rating data is transmitted from electronic engine controllers (108a and 108b) to flight management computer/thrust management computers (120a and 120b) via digital data buses (110a, 110c, and 114) is disclosed. The flight management computer/thrust management computers (120a and 120b) select the proper data set for the specified engine thrust rating upon power-up. If the thrust rating changes, the flight management computer/thrust management computers (120a and 120b) select a new data set corresponding to the new thrust rating as received over the digital data bus (110a, 110c, and 114). This is accomplished without the need to change aircraft wiring. The flight management computer/thrust management computers (120a and 120b) store the thrust rating in nonvolatile memory (126), allowing the flight management computer/thrust management computers (120a and 120b) to use the stored value to initialize relevant settings according to current engine thrust rating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 1996
    Date of Patent: April 6, 1999
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Peter D. Gunn, Richard Allen Herald, Ian C. Martindale, Clement Val Paulson