U.S. patent application number 12/123958 was filed with the patent office on 2010-03-25 for landing gear casing provided with a box structure.
This patent application is currently assigned to AIRBUS FRANCE. Invention is credited to Paul De Ruffray, Rodolphe Morel.
Application Number | 20100072319 12/123958 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 36803463 |
Filed Date | 2010-03-25 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100072319 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
De Ruffray; Paul ; et
al. |
March 25, 2010 |
LANDING GEAR CASING PROVIDED WITH A BOX STRUCTURE
Abstract
A reduced-volume landing gear casing for the landing gear of an
aircraft including a box structure to which the landing gear is
fixed and which takes up the toads acting thereon. The box
structure can include, in particular, means for receiving the
fixing bearings of the landing gear.
Inventors: |
De Ruffray; Paul; (Toulouse,
FR) ; Morel; Rodolphe; (Toulouse, FR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Perman & Green, LLP
99 Hawley Lane
Stratford
CT
06614
US
|
Assignee: |
AIRBUS FRANCE
Toulouse
FR
|
Family ID: |
36803463 |
Appl. No.: |
12/123958 |
Filed: |
May 20, 2008 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
244/102SS ;
244/119 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B64C 25/14 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
244/102SS ;
244/119 |
International
Class: |
B64C 1/00 20060101
B64C001/00; B64C 25/10 20060101 B64C025/10 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Nov 21, 2005 |
FR |
0553536 |
Oct 27, 2006 |
EP |
PCT/EP2006/067849 |
Claims
1. A reduced-volume landing gear bay for the landing gear of an
aircraft, comprising a box-section structure to which the landing
gear is attached and which reacts the loads to which the landing
gear is subjected.
2. The landing gear bay as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
box-section structure comprises means for housing bearings for
attaching the landing gear.
3. The landing gear bay as claimed in claim 2, wherein, with the
landing gear comprises at least one telescopic strut, and the
box-section structure comprises means for housing bearings of said
strut near the skin of the fuselage.
4. The landing gear bay as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
box-section structure comprises a front box section that forms a
front cross-member of the landing gear bay.
5. The landing gear bay as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
box-section structure comprises lateral box sections that form the
lateral sides of the landing gear bay.
6. The landing gear bay as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
box-section structure comprises a rear box section that forms a
rear cross-member of the landing gear bay.
7. The landing gear bay as claimed in claim 3, wherein said strut
is a rear strut and in that the rear box section has a housing to
house this rear strut.
8. The landing gear bay as claimed in 3, wherein the landing gear
comprises two telescopic front struts each provided with a bearing
housed in a lateral box section.
9. The landing gear bay as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
box-section structure is made of composite materials by draping
composite fabric over supports that act as stiffeners.
10. The landing gear bay as claimed in claim 1, herein the
box-section structure constitutes the framework of a frame for
attaching and reacting the loads of the landing gear and which
forms the structural part of the landing gear bay, an envelope
structure, added over the frame, constituting a part that protects
the structure and reacts the pressurization loadings.
11. An aircraft equipped with a landing gear bay as claimed in
claim 1.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is the National Stage of International
Application No. PCT/EP2006/067849, International Filing Date, 27
Oct. 2006, which designated the United States of America, and which
International Application was published under PCT Article 21 (2) as
WO Publication No. W02007/057288 and which claims priority from
French Application No. 0553536, filed on 21 Nov. 2005, the
disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their
entireties.
BACKGROUND
[0002] 1. Field
[0003] The disclosed embodiments relate to a landing gear casing or
bay with a structure made up of box sections for the retracting
landing gear of an aircraft.
[0004] 2. Brief Description of Related Developments
[0005] Aircraft landing gear bays are designed to house the landing
gear and to partition the often pressurized internal volume of the
aircraft from the outside.
[0006] Because of the loadings to which they are subjected, these
being ground loadings transmitted through the landing gear during
landing and compressive loadings due to internal pressurization,
and because they have to house the landing gear when the gear is
up, landing gear bays of the prior art comprise reinforcing frames
in the form of arches, extending the fuselage frame elements
distributed longitudinally along the bay and surrounding the
landing gear bay. The reinforcing frames stiffen the landing gear
bay panels in such a way as to form stiffened flat panels.
[0007] These panels of the prior art house the landing gear
bearings and seal the landing gear bay region. This construction
makes the landing gear bay bulky and heavy.
SUMMARY
[0008] It is an aspect of the disclosed embodiments to produce a
landing gear bay of reduced volume, optimized such that it can
withstand the two types of loads, ground loadings and
pressurization loadings, and in order to do this the disclosed
embodiments propose a reduced-volume landing gear bay for the
landing gear of an aircraft, which has a box-section structure to
which the landing gear is attached and which reacts the loads to
which the landing gear is subjected.
[0009] Advantageously, the landing gear bay comprises an envelope
structure added over the box-section structure in order to react
the pressurization loadings.
[0010] The box sections that make up the box-section structure are
as far as possible concentrated around the edges of the doors.
[0011] In this respect, the disclosed embodiments are particularly
well suited to landing gears the bearings of which are located as
close as possible to the skin of the fuselage.
[0012] In the case of such landing gears, the box-section structure
enables a significant saving in terms of volume. In particular, in
the case of front landing gear with telescopic struts, the fact
that the landing gear bearings are positioned near the skin of the
fuselage limits the volume occupied by the landing gear when the
gear is up.
[0013] Further features and advantages of the disclosed embodiments
will be better understood by reading the following description of
some non-limiting exemplary embodiments with reference to the
figures which depict:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] FIG. 1: an aircraft nose section viewed in
perspective-section and equipped with a landing gear bay according
to the disclosed embodiments;
[0015] FIG. 2: a sectioned side view of the landing gear bay of
FIG. 1;
[0016] FIG. 3: a perspective front view of an alternative
embodiment of a landing gear bay according to the disclosed
embodiments;
[0017] FIG. 4: a sectioned side view of the landing gear bay of
FIG. 1, adapted to suit the landing gear of FIG. 3;
[0018] FIG. 5: a cross section through a detail of embodiment of a
means of housing a bearing according to the disclosed
embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0019] The landing gear bay 1 according to the disclosed
embodiments and depicted in FIG. 1 is a reduced-volume landing gear
bay housing the landing gear 20 of an aircraft 100.
[0020] The landing gear depicted is front landing gear housed under
the nose of the aircraft 100, that is to say in a part of the
aircraft that is of small size and contains numerous pieces of
equipment.
[0021] It is particularly advantageous to reduce the volume and
mass of the landing gear bay in this part of the aircraft as
permitted by the disclosed embodiments which proposes a low-volume
landing gear box structure.
[0022] The aircraft the nose of which is equipped with a landing
gear bay according to the disclosed embodiments may, in particular,
house additional equipment, this equipment furthermore being easier
to arrange and to access.
[0023] As depicted in FIG. 1, the landing gear bay of the disclosed
embodiments has a structure in the form of box sections 2, 3, 4,
5.
[0024] The landing gear 20 is attached to this structure which
reacts the loads to which the landing gear is subjected.
[0025] The box-section structure comprises a front box section 2,
one portion of which is depicted in FIG. 1, that forms a front
cross-member of the landing gear bay 1, lateral box sections 3, 5
that form the lateral sides of the landing gear bay 1, and a rear
box section 4 that forms a rear cross-member of the landing gear
bay 1.
[0026] The box sections 2, 3, 4, 5 are profiled in such a way as to
achieve a gradual transition to the structure of the fuselage and
to increase their rigidity.
[0027] These box sections may be made of lightweight material such
as aluminum for assembled stiffened panels or, for preference, in
the case of an aircraft of composite structure, the box sections of
the box-section structure may be made of composite materials,
particularly by draping composite fabric 32 over supports 33 that
act as stiffeners.
[0028] The box-section structure of the disclosed embodiments are
particularly well suited to placing the landing gear attachment
bearings as close as possible to the skin 19 of the aircraft in
order further to reduce the volume occupied by the landing gear bay
in the aircraft in the heightwise direction.
[0029] To attach the landing gear 20, the box-section structure
comprises means for housing the bearings 10, 11 for attaching the
landing gear.
[0030] FIG. 5 provides an exemplary embodiment of such a means
consisting, for example, of an insert 7 fixed to the lateral box
section 3, 5 and housing a rolling bearing or a ring 24 for a
landing gear bearing 10, 11.
[0031] Furthermore, the landing gear bay according to the disclosed
embodiments is particularly well suited to use in combination with
a landing gear 20 comprising at least one telescopic strut 15, 151,
152, the box-section structure comprising means for housing
bearings 13, 14 of said strut near the skin of the fuselage, it
being possible for these means to be identical to the means housing
the landing gear bearings.
[0032] In particular, in the case of a telescopic rear strut 15,
according to the example of FIGS. 1 and 2, the rear box section 4
is provided with a housing 30 in which the strut 15 is deployed,
the side walls of this housing 30 housing one or two bearings of
the strut 15.
[0033] According to the examples of FIGS. 3 and 4, the landing gear
comprises two telescopic front struts 151, 152 positioned
diagonally with respect to the landing gear and connected to
reinforcing bars 31, 32 of the landing gear.
[0034] These diagonal struts are each provided with a bearing 13,
14, the bearings of these struts being, like the landing gear
bearings, housed in the lateral box sections 3, 5.
[0035] The landing gear bay according to the disclosed embodiments
advantageously comprises an envelope structure 6 added onto the
box-section structure, to react the pressurization loadings.
[0036] This envelope 6 is, in particular, a hood of rounded shape
designed to react such loadings.
[0037] Thus, the landing gear bay of the disclosed embodiments are
provided with a structure that is split between a structural part
and a part that protects the internal space of the aircraft.
[0038] The box sections positioned around the space housing the
landing gear constitute the structural part of the landing gear bay
by forming the framework of a frame for attaching and reacting the
loads of the landing gear, while the envelope structure 6, added
over the frame, constitutes the part that protects the structure
and reacts the pressurization loadings.
[0039] The disclosed embodiments are not restricted to the examples
depicted and, in particular, the box sections may be assembled in
the form of a complete frame before they are installed in the
structure of the aircraft and may also contain the mechanisms for
opening and closing the loading gear bay.
* * * * *