Cockpit Lighting Scheme For Cloudy Weather.

2. Field of invention
It is an electrical engineering design used for aircraft Cockpit Lighting.

3. Use of invention
This Cockpit Lighting Scheme finds its applicability in aircrafts to improve the visibility of the legends on panels while flying the aircraft in cloudy weather.

4. Prior art
The current practice is to fly the aircraft without integral lighting and cockpit flood lights during day flight in cloudy weather condition.

5. Draw backs of prior art

i. In the day mode during cloudy weather condition cockpit integral lighting and cockpit flood lights are not available.

ii. While flying the aircraft in the cloudy weather condition the legends on cockpit panels are not visible to the pilot.

iii. Due to poor visibility of legends the pilot may do wrong selection of the switches which may result in catastrophe.

Prior invention Present invention

In the day mode during cloudy weather In the day mode during cloudy weather condition cockpit integral lighting and condition cockpit integral lighting and cockpit flood lights are not available. cockpit flood lights are available.

While flying the aircraft in the cloudy While flying the aircraft in the cloudy weather condition the legends on cockpit weather condition the legends on cockpit panels are not visible to the pilot. panels are visible clearly to the pilot.

7. Aim of the invention

Aim of the invention is to improve the visibility of legends on cockpit panels while flying in the cloudy weather condition.

8. Summary of the present invention

The integral lighting is provided in aircraft to enable visibility of all legends on the cockpit consoles, signs and symbol displays during night flying, with the same comfort level as in day time. A switch in the cockpit is used to select the Day/Night Mode.

In the Day mode all the displays and the indicators are lit with maximum brightness and the integral lighting is not provided as the ambient light is adequate to read the legends. However during night mode the brightness of the avionics displays and the indicators is to be reduced. The integral lighting of the panels is also made available so that the Pilot can fly the aircraft comfortably during night. Presently in the aircraft only two modes (Day/Night) are available. However during Cloudy weather the requirement of the cockpit lighting is different from Day and Night Mode. In the day mode during cloudy weather the pilot will not be able to read the legends of the switches on the panels clearly.

To overcome this problem a simple scheme has been developed to enable the integral lighting and cockpit flood lights in the day mode also, so that the pilot will be able to read the legends on the panels during cloudy weather in day flight. The brightness control of integral lighting and cockpit flood light is provided through a knob in the cockpit.

9. Detailed description of invention

The Day and Night mode selection is done through a switch provided in the cockpit. CIU receives this input and selects the mode accordingly by sending the appropriate signal to a latched relay. Prior to invention the Dimmerstat and inverters were powered only in the Night mode, from 28V DC bus in the aircraft. Therefore cockpit flood lights and integral lighting were not available in the Day mode.

In the new invention the CPFL and Integral lightings are de-linked from Day and Night switch. The Dimmerstat and inverters are powered directly from 28V DC bus in the aircraft irrespective of Day/Night mode. Therefore cockpit flood lights and integral fights are available in both Day and Night modes. The brightness of the cockpit flood light and integral lighting is be varied by changing the input voltage to inverters and Dimmerstat.

Claims

1. Improving the visibility of legends on the panels in cloudy weather during day flight.

2. A simple scheme to enable the integral lighting and cockpit flood light in day mode.

3. Delinking of integral lighting and cockpit flood light from day/night mode.