Aircraft assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10683085-B2
Application number	US-201615284751-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 4, 2016
Priority date	Oct 6, 2015
Publication date	Jun 16, 2020
Grant date	Jun 16, 2020

Abstract

An aircraft assembly having a first body connected to a second body via a flexible coupling arranged to limit separation of the bearing faces while permitting relative rotational movement between the bodies in a movement plane so as to define a joint between the bodies.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An aircraft landing gear assembly comprising:
a first body having a respective first side, a respective second side and a respective bearing face extending between the respective first side and the respective second side;
a second body having, at a first end thereof, a respective first side, a respective second side and a respective bearing face extending between the respective first side and the respective second side, the second body being positioned relative to the first body such that the respective bearing faces are adjacent to one another and the respective first side of each body is closer to the respective first side of the other body than it is to the respective second side of the other body; and
a flexible coupling arranged to limit separation of the bearing faces while permitting relative rotational movement between the bodies in a movement plane so as to define a joint between the first body and the second body, the flexible coupling comprising:
one or more first flexible straps arranged in a first configuration in which the first flexible straps are coupled to the first side of the first body and coupled to the second side of the second body; and
one or more second flexible straps arranged in a second configuration in which the second flexible straps are coupled to the second side of the first body and coupled to the first side of the second body, the first flexible straps and the second flexible straps being arranged in parallel across the joint;

wherein each bearing face has a respective planar central portion that is flanked on either side by a respective curved end region that extends away from the opposite body to define a respective convex outer rolling surface, and the joint is configured such that:
the respective planar central portions contact one another when the first body and the second body are aligned to support compressive loads along the first body and the second body,
the respective convex outer rolling surfaces of the first body react loads applied to them by the second body during the rotational movement between the bodies in the movement plane, and
the respective convex outer rolling surfaces of the second body react loads applied to them by the first body during the rotational movement between the bodies in the movement plane,
such that a point of contact between the first body and the second body moves along curves of the respective curved end regions during the rotational movement between the bodies in the movement plane.

2. The aircraft landing gear assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the flexible coupling comprises a first strap pair and a second strap pair, each of the first strap pair and the second strap pair comprising one of the first flexible straps and one of the second flexible straps, the first strap pair being located adjacent to a first edge of one of the bearing faces and the second strap pair being located adjacent to a second edge of the one of the bearing faces.

3. The aircraft landing gear assembly according to claim 2 , wherein the flexible coupling comprises one or more further straps between the first strap pair and the second strap pair.

4. The aircraft landing gear assembly according to claim 3 , wherein the one or more first flexible straps and the one or more second flexible straps are arranged in an alternating pattern across the joint.

5. The aircraft landing gear assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the respective planar central portions are orthogonal with respect to a central axis of the respective body such that the joint is configured to support axial loading when the first body and the second body are axially aligned.

6. The aircraft landing gear assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the bearing face of the first body and the bearing face of the second body are opposingly tapered to define a ‘V’ shaped space between them when the first body and the second body are axially aligned such that the joint is configured to support axial loading when the first body and the second body are over center.

7. The aircraft landing gear assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the bearing face of one or each body includes a respective channel for each flexible strap, the channel or channels for each strap being configured to define a depth which corresponds to the thickness of the strap to house the strap when the bearing faces of the bodies are in contact with one another and wherein the bearing faces are configured to define respective prominent land regions between the channels that are arranged to engage corresponding opposite land regions when the bearing faces contact one another.

8. The aircraft landing gear assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the first body and second body are each provided with one or more magnets arranged to define an attractive magnetic coupling across the joint between the bearing faces.

9. The aircraft landing gear assembly according to claim 1 , wherein one or more of the first flexible straps are coupled at their end regions to adjacent respective one or more first flexible straps.

10. The aircraft landing gear assembly according to claim 1 , wherein one or more of the first flexible straps are coupled to respective second flexible straps at a middle region which in use is located between the bearing faces.

11. The aircraft landing gear assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the second body comprises, at a second end thereof that is opposite the first end thereof, a second bearing face extending between the respective first side and the respective second side, and the assembly further comprises:
a third body having a respective first side, a respective second side and a respective bearing face extending between the respective first side and the respective second side, the second and third bodies being positioned relative to one another such that the second bearing face of the second body is adjacent to the respective bearing face of the third body and the respective first side of each body is closer to the respective first side of the other body than it is to the respective second side of the other body; and
a second flexible coupling arranged to limit separation of the second bearing face of the second body and the respective bearing face of the third body while permitting relative rotational movement between the second body and the third body in a movement plane so as to define a joint between the bodies, the second flexible coupling comprising:
one or more third flexible straps arranged in a third configuration in which the third straps are coupled to the first side of the second body and coupled to the second side of the third body; and
one or more fourth flexible straps arranged in a fourth configuration in which the fourth straps are coupled to the second side of the second body and coupled to the first side of the third body, the third and fourth straps being arranged in parallel across the joint.

12. The aircraft landing gear assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the first flexible straps and the second flexible straps are formed from flexible fibre reinforced composite material.

13. The aircraft landing gear assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the first flexible straps and the second flexible straps are coupled to the sides of the first body and the second body by couplings, at least some of which are arranged to permit the first flexible straps and the second flexible straps to be removed from one or both of the first body and the second body.

14. The aircraft landing gear assembly or an aircraft including one or more assemblies according to claim 1 .

15. The aircraft landi

Assignees

• Safran Landing Systems Uk Ltd

Inventors

• Foster Nicholas
• Sehgal Nikhil
• Mulley Daniel
• Scott Peter

Classifications

• F16C2326/43

  Aeroplanes; Helicopters · CPC title

• B64C25/001 Primary

  Devices not provided for in the groups B64C25/02 - B64C25/68 · CPC title

• Y10T403/32622

  Rocking or rolling contact · CPC title

• F16B5/125

  one of the auxiliary fasteners is comprising wire or sheet material or is made thereof · CPC title

• F16C11/12

  incorporating flexible connections, e.g. leaf springs · CPC title