EP3963458A1

EP3963458A1 - Method for monitoring an engine control unit

Info

Publication number: EP3963458A1
Application number: EP20732261.1A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Christophe Pierre Georges MARTIN
Original assignee: Safran Aircraft Engines SAS
Current assignee: Safran Aircraft Engines SAS
Priority date: 2019-05-03
Filing date: 2020-04-30
Publication date: 2022-03-09
Also published as: JP2022531597A; CA3137976A1; US12119837B2; US20230036687A1; FR3095705B1; WO2020225507A1; CN113785276A; FR3095705A1; JP7522764B2

Abstract

The invention relates to a method (1, 28) for monitoring an engine control unit (2) having at least two separate paths (4, 6), each of the paths (4, 6) comprising at least: - means for carrying out a given application task AS, the application task AS consisting in part of a plurality of calculations which are performed consecutively and between which there are periods of latency; - a first component (14) capable of performing the calculations; - a second component (16) capable of storing data; the application tasks AS of the paths (4) being capable of communicating, the method comprising the following steps: a) detecting a period of latency; b) performing, during said period of latency, a test of the operational state (26) of at least one of the components (14, 16); c) determining a state of the component (14, 16) corresponding to a failure state or a healthy state.

Description

DESCRIPTION

TITLE: Supervision method of an engine control unit Technical field of the invention

The invention relates to turbomachines, such as a turbojet or an aircraft turboprop, and more particularly the control units of such turbomachines.

State of the prior art

The operation of aircraft turbomachines is controlled by means of control units, capable of piloting and regulating the turbomachines, during the various phases of the aircraft's flight.

These control units include on-board electronic computers, communicating with each other, and performing calculations in parallel, from the same input data, for example from sensors, in order to establish the controls for the various components of the turbomachine.

During a calculation cycle of a computer, three tasks are performed. A first task, called an OS (Operating System) task, consists of starting the operating system, that is to say all the programs managing the use of resources by application tasks. A second so-called application task or AS (acronym from the English Applicative System), consists of performing the calculations necessary to determine the commands for controlling and regulating the turbomachines. The execution time of the AS task represents 80 to 90% of the time required for a calculation cycle. A third task closes the calculation cycle. This is the same OS task as the first task.

These computers, comprising many components, perform self-tests to verify that none of their components presents a major malfunction. These self-tests are performed during OS tasks, that is to say at the start and end of calculation cycles. Figure 1 illustrates the sequencing of tasks and self-tests, as known in the prior art. A single self-test 26 is launched during the OS task at the start of the calculation cycle 24. However, component malfunctions can occur at the level of the components of the computers during the application tasks. Such malfunctions can thus be the source of disturbances in the engine control unit. It is possible by a post-processing analysis, from the disturbances, to go back to the faulty component and therefore to the faulty computer. This then makes it possible to isolate the faulty computer.

It is necessary that this isolation be carried out as quickly as possible, in order to reduce the impact of the malfunction on the control and regulation of the turbomachines. The invention aims in particular to provide a simple, efficient and economical solution to the drawbacks of the current technique described above.

Summary of the invention

To this end, a method is proposed for supervising an engine control unit with at least two distinct channels each comprising a computer, each of said two channels comprising at least:

- Means for executing a given application task, the application task consisting in part of a plurality of calculations executed successively between which periods of latency elapse;

- a first component capable of performing the calculations of said application task, from input data;

a second component able to store data;

the application task executed by the first channel and the application task executed by the second channel being able to communicate with each other, the method comprising the following steps during a current execution cycle j of the application task in each channel: a) Detect a latency period;

b) Perform, during this latency period, a health test of at least one of the first and second components;

c) determining a state of said component corresponding to a failure state or a healthy state.

Such a method thus enables each computer to perform self-tests during application tasks, in particular during latency periods, so as to be able to determine, without waiting for the end of a calculation cycle, the state of the various components included. in the calculator. Thus, thanks to such a method, it is possible to detect a faulty computer without waiting for the end of a calculation cycle, and to isolate it suitably at the end of the cycle.

This also makes it possible to carry out a diagnosis for maintenance by increasing the number of self-tests, to subsequently facilitate maintenance operations on the ground.

The given application task can be the application task executed by the first channel and the application task executed by the second channel. Thus, the first and second channels can execute the same given application task.

Also, steps a) to c) can be carried out following the following step:

Detect a symptom resulting from a failure of at least one of the components of the two channels.

Thus, the supervision method makes it possible to trigger self-tests of components as soon as a symptom, resulting from a failure of components, is detected. Thus, the self-tests are triggered as needed, on the appearance of symptoms identified in advance and resulting from component failures in the ECU computers.

The invention therefore makes it possible to link component failures to unwanted events and / or behaviors of an engine control unit. This thus makes it possible to obtain a correspondence table linking symptoms to failures of the on-board electronic equipment, in other words of the components.

During each cycle, the symptoms detected (as well as the resulting failures) are recorded in a non-volatile memory, as well as various environmental information, for example thermal and / or vibratory, so as to facilitate maintenance operations.

In addition, the symptom may be a difference in signature between the two channels and / or a loss of communication between the two computers.

This is to identify the symptoms of a failure affecting the computers. These symptoms may be linked to a difference in the signature between the two channels executing the same application task, that is to say to a difference between the results of calculations carried out by each of the computers of the first channel and of the second channel on the end of the application task, or possibly linked to data that has not arrived, thus preventing calculations of the application task from being performed on at least one of the channels.

The two channels can each be made up of a computer

In addition, if the symptom detected is a signature difference between the two channels then the detection can be carried out during an execution cycle j-1 which precedes a current execution cycle j. The run cycle d-1 is called the "previous run cycle" or "previous cycle".

The difference in signature may consist in comparing, at the end of cycle j and in parallel on the two channels, the sum of the calculations of the application task which are carried out during the current execution cycle j.

If the symptom detected is a loss of communication between the computers, then the detection can be performed during the current execution cycle j.

According to another feature, instructions for performing the test in step b) can be sent by the application task.

Thus, the application task initiates the operating status tests at the correct frequency and during the latency period so that the operating status of the components can be established regularly, without impacting the calculations of the application task.

According to another characteristic, the first component can be a reprogrammable integrated circuit or FPGA.

In addition, the second component can be dynamic random access memory. Brief description of the figures

[Fig. 1] represents the sequencing of tasks and operating state tests during a calculation cycle according to the prior art;

[Fig. 2] represents a simplified flowchart of the method according to the invention;

[Fig. 3] shows a hardware architecture of an example of an engine control unit with two separate channels;

[Fig. 4] illustrates the sequencing of tasks and operating state tests during a calculation cycle according to the method according to the invention;

[Fig. 5] illustrates a flowchart of an embodiment of the method according to the invention.

Detailed description of the invention

The supervision method 1, the flowchart of which is illustrated in FIG. 2, aims to supervise an engine control unit 2 with at least two distinct channels 4, 6, an example of the architecture of which is illustrated in FIG. 3.

A two-channel engine control unit 2 4, 6 thus comprises, as can be seen in FIG. 3, two channels 4, 6, that is to say two computers. This redundancy of the computers 4, 6 makes it possible to ensure resistance to a possible failure that could affect one of the computers 4, 6. Although the two computers 4, 6 perform in parallel, the same calculations from the same data. inputs (that is to say, execute the same application task), only one of the computers 4 controls and regulates the turbomachine by calculating the commands. Thus, the redundant computer 6, also qualified as passive, does not send any command to the components of the turbomachine.

The computers 4, 6 of the engine control unit 2 shown have the same architecture.

First, each computer 4, 6 includes means for executing a given application task. These means are distributed in the digital heart 8 of the computer and the communication card 10.

The digital core 8 comprises, among other things, a microprocessor 12. The communication card 10, participating in the inter-computer communication, comprises a first and a second component 14, 16. The first component 14, capable of performing the calculations of said application task. from input data is in this example an FPGA, but can also be a reprogrammable integrated circuit. The second component 16, suitable for storing data, is a memory, preferably a dynamic random access memory.

The first component 14, in the example an FPGA (in English Field-Programmable Gâte Array), makes it possible to clock the exchanges between the two computers 4, 6. The second component 16, preferably a DPRAM (in English Dual Ported Random Access Memory meaning dual access random access memory), receives signals from the first component 14 and stores data such as, for example, input data coming from sensors, as well as intermediate results of calculations.

The application task AS, consisting in part of a plurality of calculations executed successively between which periods of latency elapse, makes it possible in particular to calculate, from input data originating from sensors for example, the control currents intended for 'actuators of mobile components constituting the turbomachine. Such actuators include, for example, electro-hydraulic servo valves associated with jacks or other devices. The AS application task is thus executed simultaneously in parallel on each of the computers 4, 6 of the engine control unit 2. The AS application task executed on the first channel 4 and the AS application task executed on the second channel 6 are able to communicating with each other, through a first 18, second 20 and third 22 bus. The first bus 18 is used to exchange addresses of data memories to be recovered. The second bus 20 allows data to be exchanged, such as, for example, input data from a sensor. These may, for example, be measurements such as acquisitions of engine temperature values. The results of the intermediate and final calculations pass through the second bus 20, from the digital core 8, carrying out the calculations, to the communication card 10, emitting the calculated currents for example. The third bus is used to exchange commands calculated from the input data. This is a so-called control bus making it possible to control the read and write authorizations on the first bus 18 and the second bus 20 and that for each of the computers 4, 6. This control bus thus makes it possible to sequence the exchanges and manage the priorities of read, write and exchange operations.

The supervision method 1 is executed at each execution cycle 24 on each of the channels, as illustrated in Figure 4.

The first step A of method 1 consists in detecting a symptom resulting from a failure of at least one of the components 14, 16 of the two channels 4, 6.

Symptoms of component 14, 16 failure on one of the two channels 4, 6 are as follows:

- Data not arrived: the AS application task awaiting input data (from a previous calculation or from a sensor) does not receive the data to carry out the rest of the calculations.

- Erroneous data: the AS application task awaiting input data (resulting from a previous calculation or from a sensor) receives erroneous data to carry out the rest of the calculations, leading to erroneous calculations. - Data stored at the wrong address: on receipt of a piece of data, it is stored at an address of the second component 16, a dynamic random access memory.

When the address at which the data is stored is incorrect, there can be two consequences:

- data not arrived: at the address at which the data was to be stored, there is no data that can be used for the calculations of the AS application task.

- erroneous data: at the address at which the data was to be stored, a

data which was previously stored there is then used for the rest of the calculations of the application task AS.

These symptoms can have two consequences. The first consequence is that the failure observed corresponds to a signature difference on the two channels 4, 6, that is to say that for a given AS application task, the calculations carried out on each of the computers 4, 6 result in different results. The second consequence is that the observed failure consists of a disruption of inter-computer communication (the data exchanged is erroneous or missing).

Thus, the detection of these symptoms reflects the failure of at least one component 14, 16 of at least one of the computers 4, 6.

The second step B of the method then consists in detecting a latency period of the application task AS. This is because the AS application task consists of a plurality of calculations from several input data, there are latency periods between the calculations during which the AS application task is waiting for data to perform the next calculation. During these latency periods, the resources of channels 4, 6, that is, the first 4 and second 6 components, are not used. These latency periods can thus be exploited to perform operating condition tests to determine which of the first 14 and second 16 components of the first 4 and second 6 computer is faulty and is the cause of the identified symptom (s).

The third step C of method 1 then consists in performing, during this latency period, an operating state test of at least one of the first 14 and second 16 components. This operating condition test is preferably carried out on each of the components 14, 16 in parallel on the two channels 4, 6, that is to say for the two computers. The sequencing of the operating state tests is moreover visible in FIG. 4. Thus, several operating tests are triggered during the latency times of the application task, in addition to that triggered at the start of the cycle during the OS task.

Self-tests are so-called March type tests. Self-tests are used to test the write and read capacity of each component. To do this, a message of type AAAA then 5555 is written successively in hexadecimal respectively to addresses of type 5555 then AAAA in hexadecimal. Writing content to these two addresses automatically triggers read tests.

These self-tests are carried out during latency times (ie free time) and almost simultaneously with each exchange on the bus.

Thus, the application task AS sends instructions, respectively to each of the components 14, 16, for an operating state test 26 to be carried out. In other words, the health tests 26 are called by the application task AS so as to be executed during the latency times. Thus, the tests performed do not impact the calculation time of the AS application task.

The fourth step D of method 1 consists in determining a state of the component (s) 14, 16 for which an operating state test 26 has been carried out. The state can be either a failed state or a healthy state. Thus, if, during the same cycle or two consecutive cycles, a symptom is observed and a failed state of one of the components 14, 16 is found, then a correlation between the symptom (s) detected and the failure (s) of the / of the identified components is made.

In order to limit the impact of the identified faulty component, the computer comprising the faulty component is isolated. In other words, following an operating status test or self-test 26, which is started by the application task AS, the computer comprising a detected and proven fault no longer executes the application task AS during the following cycles and does not therefore no longer communicates with the computer considered healthy. The engine control unit 2 then becomes single-channel, the AS application task being executed only on a single computer considered to be healthy.

Following this isolation, to avoid engine shutdowns in flight (in English In Flight Shutdown - IFSD), when one of the two channels 4, 6 is isolated, the launch of the self-tests 26 by the application task AS is suspended. Thus, no self-test 26 is performed on the remaining computer, apart from the self-tests 26 performed by the OS task at the start and at the end of the cycle.

FIG. 5 illustrates, by means of a flowchart, another example of the method 28 according to the invention. The overall strategy of the system is to trigger self-tests 26 on the appearance of a symptom of the control unit 2. The first step consists in detecting, as detailed previously, a following failure symptom during cycle j. Symptoms may be:

- Data not arrived: when the application task AS is actively waiting for data, during a latency period, data that has not arrived is detected when the waiting time for the data by the application task exceeds a time d maximum wait. The maximum wait time is at least 3 ms.

- Signature difference between the first channel 4 and the second channel 6: at the end of the AS application task, to compare the sum of the results of the calculations performed by the AS application task on the two channels 4, 6. This makes it possible to verify that the two channels 4, 6 perform the same calculations. If the sum is different on the two channels 4, 6, this means that there is, on at least one of the two channels 4, 6, a use of an erroneous calculation input datum. Given that the sum is carried out at the end of the application task AS, that is to say of a cycle, the detection of this symptom is carried out during the previous cycle j-1, so that the self-tests 26 are launched during cycle j. In other words, the signature difference consists in comparing, at the end of the previous cycle j-1 and in parallel on the two channels 4, 6, the sum of the calculations of the application task AS carried out during the previous cycle j -1. In the case of a signature deviation detection during the previous cycle j-1, steps B to D of method 1 (of the flowchart of FIG. 2) are carried out during the current cycle j.

When any of the above symptoms are identified, the AS application task increases the number of autotest launches 26 during latency periods in order to identify component failures that may be causing the symptom. The self-tests 26 are thus launched until the end of the current execution cycle j.

Thus, by increasing the number of self-tests and distributing them during the latency periods of the calculation cycle, the coverage of the self-tests consequently increased.

The possible failures of the first component 14, the FPGA, are as follows:

Microcrack in one of the welds of one of the 16 branches of component 14: some microcracks may be non-impacting, except when the microcrack impacts the weld of a corresponding low-weight bit branch;

Data not updated;

Failures when accessing read and / or write memory.

The possible failures of the second component 16, the DPRAM, are as follows:

Storing data at the wrong memory address;

Non-storage of data;

Internal memory fault which can be of the following three types: short circuit, coupling fault and sticking fault.

As soon as a failure is identified by means of the self-tests 26, the channel on which the failure is observed is secured, in other words the channel is isolated. Also, the failure, as well as contextual information relating to the state of the control unit such as for example the temperature, the vibratory state, the engine speeds, the attitudes of the airplane, the state of health of the engine, flight number and date of failure, are recorded in a non-volatile memory to facilitate maintenance operations. In the event that no component failure is identified, a safety lock is provided for by the supervision method 28. The safety of a computer consists in ensuring that than :

the OS task no longer calls the AS application task,

the control currents are no longer calculated and therefore no longer emitted by this computer. Redundancy is then lost.

Claims

1. Method (1, 28) for supervising an engine control unit (2) with at least two distinct channels (4, 6) each comprising a computer, each of said two channels (4, 6) comprising at least:

- Means for executing a given application task (AS), the application task (AS) consisting in part of a plurality of calculations executed successively between which periods of latency elapse;

- a first component (14) capable of performing the calculations of said application task (AS), from input data;

- a second component (16) capable of storing data;

the application task (AS) executed by the first channel (4) and the application task (AS) executed by the second channel (6) being able to communicate with each other, the method comprising the following steps during a current execution cycle (j) of the application task (AS) for each channel (4, 6):

a) Detect a latency period;

b) Perform, during this latency period, a health test (26) of at least one of the first (14) and second (16) components;

c) determining a state of said component (14, 16) corresponding to a failure state or a healthy state.

2. Method (1, 28) according to claim 1, wherein steps a) to c) are carried out following the following step:

- Detect a symptom resulting from a failure of at least one of the components (14, 16) of the two channels (4, 6).

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the symptom is a difference in signature between the two channels and / or a loss of communication between the two computers (4, 6).

4. Method according to claim 3, in which, if the symptom detected is a difference in signature between the two channels (4, 6), the detection is carried out during a preceding execution cycle (j-1) which precedes. the current execution cycle (j).

5. The method of claim 3 or 4, wherein the signature difference consists in comparing, at the end of the current execution cycle (j) and in parallel on the two channels (4, 6), the sum of the calculations. of the application task (AS) performed during the current execution cycle (j).

6. Method according to claim 3, wherein, if the symptom detected is a loss of communication between the two computers (4, 6), the detection is carried out during the current execution cycle (j).

7. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein instructions for performing the test in step b) are sent by the application task (AS).

8. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the first component (14) is a reprogrammable integrated circuit or FPGA.

9. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the second component

(16) is dynamic random access memory.