Suspension system for an aircraft auxiliary power unit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10940956-B2
Application number	US-201615379879-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 15, 2016
Priority date	Dec 15, 2015
Publication date	Mar 9, 2021
Grant date	Mar 9, 2021

Abstract

A suspension system for an aircraft auxiliary power unit (1) located in a fuselage structure (2) including: auxiliary power unit attachment brackets (3) arranged to be attached to the auxiliary power unit (1); fuselage attachment brackets (4) attached to the auxiliary power unit attachment brackets (3) and coupled to the fuselage structure (2); two longitudinal elements (5) arranged to be attached to the fuselage structure (2) in the longitudinal direction of the aircraft for supporting the auxiliary power unit (1), the two longitudinal elements (5) and the plurality of fuselage attachment brackets (4) being connected such that the two longitudinal elements (5) support the plurality of fuselage attachment brackets (4), being the fuselage attachment brackets (4) slidably movable along the longitudinal elements (5) for introducing or extracting the auxiliary power unit (1) into the fuselage structure (2).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A suspension system for an aircraft auxiliary power unit located in a fuselage structure of an aircraft, the system comprising:
a plurality of auxiliary power unit attachment brackets arranged to be attached to the auxiliary power unit,
a plurality of fuselage attachment brackets attached to the auxiliary power unit attachment brackets and arranged to be coupled to the fuselage structure,
a plurality of rigid beams, wherein each of the fuselage attachment brackets is at one end of a respective one of the rigid beams and an opposite end of the respective one of the rigid beams is connected to one of the auxiliary power unit attachment brackets and each of the rigid beams has an axis which extends through the fuselage attachment bracket and the auxiliary power attachment bracket;
two longitudinal elements arranged to be attached to the fuselage structure in the longitudinal direction of the aircraft configured to support the auxiliary power unit during flight of the aircraft, the two longitudinal elements and the plurality of fuselage attachment brackets are connected such that the two longitudinal elements support the plurality of fuselage attachment brackets, and
a pair of stopper blocks interposed in one of the two longitudinal elements such that each of the stopper blocks is adjacent and abuts one of the fuselage attachment brackets, and the stopper blocks are positioned on opposite sides of the one of the fuselage attachment brackets;
wherein, while the stopper blocks are not interposed in the two longitudinal elements, the fuselage attachment brackets are slidably movable along the longitudinal elements for introducing or extracting the auxiliary power unit into the fuselage structure.

2. The suspension system, according to claim 1 , wherein the fuselage attachment brackets are arranged to slide inside the longitudinal elements.

3. The suspension system, according to claim 2 , wherein the longitudinal elements comprise a C-shaped cross-section.

4. The suspension system, according to claim 1 , wherein the fuselage attachment brackets are arranged to slide outside the longitudinal elements.

5. The suspension system, according to claim 1 , wherein one of the fuselage attachment brackets of the plurality of fuselage attachment brackets is arranged to be fixed with respect to the longitudinal element in X, Y and Z directions of the aircraft.

6. The suspension system, according to claim 1 , wherein one of the fuselage attachment brackets of the plurality of fuselage attachment brackets is arranged to be fixed with respect to the longitudinal element in Y and Z directions of the aircraft.

7. The suspension system, according to claim 1 , wherein one of the fuselage attachment brackets of the plurality of fuselage attachment brackets is arranged to be fixed with respect to the longitudinal element in X and Z directions of the aircraft.

8. The suspension system, according to claim 1 , wherein the fuselage attachment brackets comprises a vibration isolator comprising an elastomeric element for damping vibrations.

9. A tail cone of an aircraft comprising a fuselage structure and an auxiliary power unit located inside said fuselage structure wherein it further comprises a suspension system according to claim 1 .

10. The tail cone, according to claim 9 , wherein the two longitudinal elements are arranged to be located diametrically opposed in the fuselage structure.

11. The tail cone of an aircraft, according to claim 9 , wherein the fuselage structure comprises:
a first part that is attached to the suspension system and enclosing the auxiliary power unit, and
a second part located adjacent to the first part towards the rear part of the aircraft in a longitudinal axis, said second part being movable with respect to the first part between a closed position and an open position that leaves the cross section of the first part adjacent to the second section accessible from the exterior of the aircraft for the access to the interior of the first part to introduce or extract the auxiliary power unit through this cross section.

12. The tail cone of an aircraft, according to claim 11 , wherein the second part comprises an exhaust tube of the auxiliary power unit.

13. The suspension system of claim 1 wherein each of the rigid beams has a length along the axis of the rigid beam and between the fuselage attachment bracket and the auxiliary power attachment bracket greater than a maximum dimension along the axis of the fuselage attachment bracket.

14. A suspension system for an aircraft auxiliary power unit located in a fuselage of an aircraft, the suspension system comprising:
auxiliary power unit attachment brackets configured to attach to the auxiliary power unit;
fuselage attachment brackets configured to attach to the auxiliary power unit attachment brackets and configured to connected to the fuselage structure;
a plurality of rigid beams, wherein each of the fuselage attachment brackets is at one end of a respective one of the rigid beams and an opposite end of the one of the rigid beams is connected to one of the auxiliary power unit attachment brackets and each of the rigid beams has an axis which extends through the fuselage attachment bracket and the auxiliary power attachment bracket attached to the rigid beam;
longitudinal elements configured to attach to the fuselage in a longitudinal direction of the aircraft, wherein the longitudinal elements support the auxiliary power unit during flight of the aircraft, and the longitudinal elements and the fuselage attachment brackets are connected such that the longitudinal elements support the fuselage attachment brackets, and
a pair of stopper blocks interposed in one of the two longitudinal elements such that each of the stopper blocks is adjacent and abuts one of the fuselage attachment brackets, and a pair of the stopper blocks are positioned on opposite sides of the one of the fuselage attachment brackets,
wherein, while the stopper blocks are not interposed in the longitudinal element, the fuselage attachment brackets are slidably movable along the longitudinal elements to introduce or extract the auxiliary power unit into the fuselage structure.

15. The suspension system of claim 14 wherein the longitudinal elements are rails, and each of the fuselage attachment brackets have a first end configured to be fixedly attached to the auxiliary power unit and a second end configured to slidably engage one of the rails.

16. The suspension system of claim 15 wherein the rails are on opposite sides of the fuselage structure and are aligned in a horizontal plane of the aircraft fuselage.

17. The suspension system of claim 15 wherein the attachment brackets include a first pair of the attachment brackets which are on a first side of the auxiliary power unit and aligned along a longitudinal axis of the fuselage structure, and a second pair of the attachment brackets which are on a second side, opposite to the first side, of the auxiliary power unit and aligned along the longitudinal axis, wherein the first pair of the attachment brackets engage a first one of the rails and the second pair of the attachment brackets engage a second one of the rails.

18. An aircraft auxiliary power unit and suspension assembly comprising:
an auxiliary power unit;
rails attached to an inner surface of a rear portion of an aircraft fuselage, wherein the rails are aligned parallel to a longitudinal axis of the aircraft fuselage;
fuselage attachment brackets fixed to the auxiliary power unit, wherein the fuselage at

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Sl

Inventors

• Barsali Guilherme
• Barreiro Rodríguez Víctor

Classifications

• B64D2041/002

  Mounting arrangements for auxiliary power units (APU's) · CPC title

• Y02T50/40

  Weight reduction · CPC title

• B64D41/00 Primary

  Power installations for auxiliary purposes · CPC title