Landing gear drive system flexible interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10676178-B2
Application number	US-201414916579-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 5, 2014
Priority date	Sep 5, 2013
Publication date	Jun 9, 2020
Grant date	Jun 9, 2020

Abstract

A drive system for an aircraft landing gear, the drive system comprising: a pinion gear; a drive shaft arranged to rotate the pinion gear about a drive axis; a driven gear arranged to mesh with the pinion gear to be rotatable by the pinion gear, the driven gear being connectable to a wheel of the landing gear to be capable of rotating the wheel about a wheel axis; and a flexible interface comprising a crowned spline joint between the drive shaft and the pinion gear. The crowned spline joint is arranged to permit tilting of the pinion gear relative to the drive axis. In some embodiments a first spline joint between the drive shaft and the pinion gear is arranged to permit tilting of the pinion gear relative to the drive axis; and a second spline joint is arranged to permit translation of the pinion gear along the drive axis relative to the drive shaft.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A drive system for an aircraft landing gear, the drive system comprising:
a pinion gear;
a drive shaft arranged to rotate the pinion gear about a drive axis;
a driven gear arranged to mesh with the pinion gear to be rotatable by the pinion gear, the driven gear being connectable to a wheel of the landing gear to be capable of rotating the wheel about a wheel axis; and
a flexible interface comprising a crowned spline joint having an outer diameter which varies along the length of the spline, wherein the crowned spline joint is between the drive shaft and the pinion gear to permit tilting of the pinion gear relative to the drive axis,
wherein the pinion gear is slidably mounted on the drive shaft via a coupling member to permit translation of the pinion gear relative to the drive shaft along the rotation axis of the drive shaft.

2. A drive system according to claim 1 , wherein the coupling member comprises the crowned spline joint arranged to permit translation of the pinion gear along the drive axis.

3. A drive system according to claim 2 , wherein the crowned spline joint is slidably mounted on the drive shaft to permit relative translation between the pinion gear and the drive shaft.

4. A drive system according to claim 3 , wherein the crowned spline joint is slidably mounted on the drive shaft to permit relative translation between the pinion gear and the drive shaft along the drive axis.

5. A drive system according to claim 1 , wherein the flexible interface is arranged to permit relative translation between the pinion gear and the drive shaft along the drive axis.

6. A drive system according to claim 1 , wherein the crowned spline joint comprises a plurality of ball splines each formed by a respective line of balls, and each line of balls is received in a respective crowned groove.

7. A drive system according to claim 1 , wherein the crowned spline joint comprises a plurality of crowned splines, and each crowned spline comprises a crowned roller.

8. A drive system according to claim 1 , wherein the crowned spline joint comprises a spherical bearing which is arranged to permit tilting of the pinion gear relative to the drive axis.

9. A drive system according to claim 1 , wherein the crowned spline joint comprises a plurality of splines received within a corresponding plurality of grooves; each spline has an opposed pair of sides, an opposed pair of ends, and a top which runs along a length of the spline between its opposed pair of ends and provides an outer diameter of the spline; and each spline is crowned along the length of the spline so that the outer diameter of the spline reaches a maximum outer diameter at or near its center and gradually decreases either side of the maximum outer diameter towards its opposed ends.

10. An aircraft landing gear comprising a landing gear wheel; and a drive system according to claim 1 with its driven gear connected to the landing gear wheel.

11. A drive system for an aircraft landing gear, the drive system comprising:
a pinion gear;
a drive shaft arranged to rotate the pinion gear about a drive axis;
a driven gear arranged to mesh with the pinion gear to be rotatable by the pinion gear, the driven gear being connectable to a wheel of the landing gear to be capable of rotating the wheel about a wheel axis;
a flexible interface comprising a spline joint, wherein the spline joint is between the drive shaft and the pinion gear to permit tilting of the pinion gear relative to the drive axis, and,
wherein the flexible interface further comprises a second spline joint arranged to permit translation of the pinion gear along the rotation axis of the drive shaft relative to the drive shaft.

12. A drive system according to claim 11 , wherein the second spline joint comprises a plurality of splines received within a corresponding plurality of grooves, and the splines can move along the grooves (or vice versa) to permit translation of the pinion gear along the drive axis relative to the drive shaft.

13. A drive system according to claim 11 , wherein the crowned spline joint comprises a plurality of external splines received within a corresponding plurality of internal grooves in the pinion gear, the internal grooves can tilt relative to the external splines to permit tilting of the pinion gear relative to the drive axis, the second spline joint comprises a plurality of internal splines received within a corresponding plurality of external grooves in the drive shaft, and the internal splines can move along the external grooves to permit translation of the pinion gear along the drive axis relative to the drive shaft.

14. A drive system according to claim 13 , wherein the external splines and internal splines are formed in a single coupling member which transmits torque from the drive shaft to the pinion gear.

15. A drive system according to claim 14 , wherein the coupling member is arranged to transmit torque from the drive shaft to the pinion gear via the crowned spline joint and the second spline joint.

16. A drive system according to claim 15 wherein the coupling member is arranged to transmit the torque to the pinion gear via the crowned spline joint and to receive the torque from the drive shaft via the second spline joint.

17. A drive system according to claim 11 , wherein the second spline joint comprises a ball spline joint.

18. A drive system for an aircraft landing gear, the drive system comprising:
a pinion gear;
a drive shaft arranged to rotate the pinion gear about a drive axis;
a driven gear arranged to mesh with the pinion gear to be rotatable by the pinion gear, the driven gear being connectable to a wheel of the landing gear to be capable of rotating the wheel about a wheel axis;
a first spline joint between the drive shaft and the pinion gear arranged to permit tilting of the pinion gear relative to the drive axis;
a second spline joint between the drive shaft and the pinion gear arranged to permit translation of the pinion gear along the drive axis relative to the drive shaft; and,
wherein the pinion gear is slidably mounted on the drive shaft via a coupling member to permit translation of the pinion gear relative to the drive shaft along the rotation axis of the drive shaft.

19. A drive system according to claim 18 , wherein the first spline joint comprises a crowned spline joint, a ball joint or a roller joint.

20. A drive system according to claim 18 , wherein the second spline joint comprises a ball spline joint.

21. A drive system according to claim 18 , wherein the coupling member is arranged to transmit torque from the drive shaft to the pinion gear via the first and second spline joints.

22. A drive system according to claim 21 wherein the coupling member is arranged to transmit the torque to the pinion gear via the first spline joint and to receive the torque from the drive shaft via the second spline joint.

23. An aircraft landing gear comprising a landing gear wheel; and a drive system according to claim 18 with its driven gear connected to the landing gear wheel.

24. A drive system for an aircraft landing gear, the drive system comprising:
a pinion gear;
a drive shaft arranged to rotate the pinion gear about a drive axis;
a driven gear arranged to mesh with the pinion gear to be rotatable by the pinion gear, the driven gear being connectable to a wheel of the landing gear to be capable of rotating the wheel about a wheel axis; and
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Assignees

• Airbus Operations Ltd

Inventors

• Didey Arnaud
• Wilson Fraser

Classifications

• F16D3/065

  by means of rolling elements · CPC title

• B64C25/405 Primary

  Powered wheels, e.g. for taxing · CPC title

• F16D3/185

  radial teeth connecting concentric inner and outer coupling parts · CPC title

• Y02T50/823

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• F16D3/223

  the rolling members being guided in grooves in both coupling parts · CPC title