Seals for allowing off-axis motion while maintaining sealed connection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10851896-B2
Application number	US-201815898541-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 17, 2018
Priority date	Feb 17, 2018
Publication date	Dec 1, 2020
Grant date	Dec 1, 2020

Abstract

Systems and methods include providing an aircraft with a fuselage and a wing assembly rotatable relative to the fuselage about a stow axis between a flight position and a stowed position. The aircraft includes a drive component having a retractable driveshaft that selectively engages the mid-wing gearbox via axially translatable motion along a rotation axis when the wing assembly is in the flight position. The mid-wing gearbox is misaligned with the retractable driveshaft when the wing assembly is in the stowed position. A seal is coupled to the drive component at a first end and the mid-wing gearbox at a second end and deploys in order to maintain a sealed connection between the drive component and the mid-wing gearbox when the wing assembly is transitioned between the flight position and the stowed position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An aircraft seal, comprising:
a first end coupled to a drive component carried in a fuselage of an aircraft, the drive component comprising a retractable driveshaft;
a second end coupled to a gearbox carried in a wing assembly of the aircraft;
wherein the aircraft seal is configured to deploy in order to maintain a sealed connection between the drive component and the gearbox in response to rotation of the gearbox about a stow axis that is offset from a rotation axis of the retractable driveshaft.

2. The aircraft seal of claim 1 , wherein the seal is configured to retract in response to rotation of the wing assembly about the stow axis from the stowed position to the flight position.

3. The aircraft seal of claim 1 , wherein the seal comprises a sleeve and at least one component configured to bias the sleeve towards the drive component.

4. The aircraft seal of claim 3 , wherein the component is a spring disposed between a seal guide and the drive component.

5. The aircraft seal of claim 3 , wherein the component is a plurality of support rings that cause the seal to form a series of overlapping folds.

6. The aircraft seal of claim 1 , wherein the seal comprises a plurality of overlapping parallel plates configured to sequentially deploy and retract to maintain the sealed connection between the drive component and the gearbox.

7. An aircraft, comprising:
a fuselage;
a wing assembly comprising a mid-wing gearbox (“MWGB”), the wing assembly being rotatable relative to the fuselage about a stow axis between a flight position and a stowed position;
a drive component comprising a retractable driveshaft configured to selectively engage the MWGB via axially translatable motion along a rotation axis of the retractable driveshaft that is offset from the stow axis; and
a seal coupled to the drive component at a first end and the MWGB at a second end and configured to deploy in order to maintain a sealed connection between the drive component and the MWGB in response to rotation of the wing assembly about the stow axis from the flight position to the stowed position.

8. The aircraft of claim 7 , wherein the seal is configured to retract in response to rotation of the wing assembly about the stow axis from the stowed position to the flight position.

9. The aircraft of claim 8 , wherein the retractable driveshaft of the drive component is aligned with the MWGB when the wing assembly is in the flight position, and wherein the retractable driveshaft of the drive component is misaligned with the MWGB when the wing assembly is in the stowed position.

10. The aircraft of claim 9 , wherein the seal comprises a sleeve and a spring configured to bias the sleeve towards the drive component as the sleeve is deployed and retracted.

11. The aircraft of claim 10 , wherein the seal comprises a seal guide configured to provide a channel of travel for the sleeve.

12. The aircraft of claim 9 , wherein the seal comprises a plurality of overlapping parallel plates configured to sequentially deploy and retract to maintain the sealed connection between the drive component and the MWGB.

13. The aircraft of claim 12 , wherein each plate comprises a tang configured to interact with a tang interface of an adjacently lower plate to sequentially deploy the adjacently lower plate.

14. The aircraft of claim 13 , wherein each plate is configured to rotate at least partially about the stow axis prior to the tang of an adjacently upper plate contacting the tang interface of the adjacently lower plate.

15. The aircraft of claim 14 , wherein each plate further comprises a driveshaft hole disposed through the plate, wherein the driveshaft holes of the plurality of plates are aligned when the wing assembly is in the flight position, and wherein the driveshaft holes of the plurality of plates are misaligned when the wing assembly is in the stowed position.

16. The aircraft of claim 9 , wherein the seal comprises an outer sleeve and a plurality of support rings that cause the sleeve to form a series of overlapping folds.

17. The aircraft of claim 16 , wherein the support rings are configured to maintain order of the overlapping folds when the wing assembly transitions between the flight position and stowed position.

18. The aircraft of claim 17 , wherein the overlapping folds are configured to sequentially deploy and retract to maintain the sealed connection between the drive component and the MWGB.

19. The aircraft of claim 18 , wherein each overlapping fold is configured to extend only partially in a lateral direction with respect to the rotation axis when the seal is deployed.

20. The aircraft of claim 9 , wherein the seal is configured to retain oil or other lubricants used to lubricate at least one of the drive component, the retractable driveshaft, and the MWGB within the seal, while preventing contaminants from the outside environment from entering the seal.

Assignees

• Bell Helicopter Textron Inc
• Textron Innovations Inc

Inventors

• Gilliland Colton

Classifications

• B64U30/12

  Variable or detachable wings, e.g. wings with adjustable sweep · CPC title

• B64C27/28 Primary

  with forward-propulsion propellers pivotable to act as lifting rotors · CPC title

• B64C3/56

  Folding or collapsing to reduce overall dimensions of aircraft · CPC title

• B64C27/22

  Compound rotorcraft, i.e. aircraft using in flight the features of both aeroplane and rotorcraft · CPC title

• F16J15/04 Primary

  without packing between the surfaces, e.g. with ground surfaces, with cutting edge · CPC title