Aircraft with rotatably coupled fuselage end cargo door

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11511844-B2
Application number	US-201916247088-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 14, 2019
Priority date	Jan 14, 2019
Publication date	Nov 29, 2022
Grant date	Nov 29, 2022

Abstract

An aircraft including a fuselage, an aircraft fuselage end cargo door, and a fuselage end cargo door mechanism. The aircraft fuselage end cargo door couples to the fuselage at a major joint line. The fuselage end cargo door mechanism including a hinge rotatably coupling an aircraft fuselage end cargo door to a fuselage, the hinge being coupled to both the aircraft fuselage end cargo door and the fuselage so that an axis of rotation of the aircraft fuselage end cargo door, defined by the hinge, relative to the fuselage is located forward of a major joint line between the aircraft fuselage end cargo door and the fuselage, wherein an uppermost portion of the major joint line comprises a joint line radius where a portion of the joint line radius formed by the aircraft fuselage end cargo door pivots within another portion of the joint line radius formed by the fuselage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An aircraft comprising:
a fuselage;
an aircraft fuselage end cargo door, wherein the aircraft fuselage end cargo door couples to the fuselage at a major joint line; and
an aircraft fuselage end cargo door mechanism comprising:
a hinge rotatably coupling the aircraft fuselage end cargo door to the fuselage, the hinge being coupled to both the aircraft fuselage end cargo door and the fuselage so that an entirety of an axis of rotation of the aircraft fuselage end cargo door, defined by the hinge, relative to the fuselage is located forward of an entirety of the major joint line between the aircraft fuselage end cargo door and the fuselage;
wherein an uppermost portion of the major joint line comprises a joint line radius where a portion of the joint line radius formed by the aircraft fuselage end cargo door pivots within another portion of the joint line radius formed by the fuselage.

2. The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein a center of the joint line radius is substantially co-located with the axis of rotation of the aircraft fuselage end cargo door.

3. The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein an arc length of the joint line radius has a central angle of about 45° or about 30°, where the central angle has a vertex substantially co-located at the axis of rotation of the aircraft fuselage end cargo door.

4. The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the hinge forms a load path configured to transfer door loads from a nose side of the hinge to a fuselage side of the hinge.

5. The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the axis of rotation of the aircraft fuselage end cargo door is located between about nine inches and about twelve inches forward of the major joint line.

6. The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the hinge comprises:
a fuselage-side pivot mount configured to couple with the fuselage; and
a door-side bracket configured to couple with the aircraft fuselage end cargo door;
wherein the door-side bracket is pivotally coupled to the fuselage-side pivot mount by a bearing.

7. The aircraft of claim 6 , wherein the hinge is configured so that, when assembled to the fuselage and aircraft fuselage end cargo door, the fuselage-side pivot mount is located within an area defined by an edge of the aircraft fuselage end cargo door.

8. An aircraft comprising:
a fuselage;
an aircraft fuselage end cargo door, wherein the aircraft fuselage end cargo door couples to the fuselage at a major joint line; and
an aircraft fuselage end cargo door mechanism comprising:
a pair of hinges rotatably coupling the aircraft fuselage end cargo door to the fuselage, the pair of hinges being coupled to both the aircraft fuselage end cargo door and the fuselage; and
a common axis of rotation defined by the pair of hinges, where
the hinges comprise a static mount configured to couple with the fuselage so that the common axis of rotation is fixed relative to the fuselage,
the aircraft fuselage end cargo door rotates relative to the fuselage about the common axis of rotation, and
an entirety of the common axis of rotation is located forward of an entirety of the major joint line between the aircraft fuselage end cargo door and the fuselage;

wherein a skin of the aircraft fuselage end cargo door, rotating about the common axis of rotation, forms an unarticulated monolithic surface and a skin of the fuselage adjacent the major joint line is unarticulated.

9. The aircraft of claim 8 , wherein one hinge of the pair of hinges is laterally spaced from another hinge in the pair of hinges, relative to a longitudinal axis of the fuselage, so as to stably maintain rotation of the aircraft fuselage end cargo door relative to the fuselage.

10. The aircraft of claim 9 , wherein one hinge of the pair of hinges is laterally spaced from another hinge of the pair of hinges a distance of between about seven feet and about eight feet.

11. The aircraft of claim 8 , wherein the aircraft fuselage end cargo door comprises one or more of a nose cargo door and a tail cargo door.

12. The aircraft of claim 11 , wherein the nose cargo door comprises a cockpit area.

13. The aircraft of claim 8 , wherein the aircraft fuselage end cargo door comprises a fuselage nose cone.

14. The aircraft of claim 8 , wherein the aircraft fuselage end cargo door comprises a fuselage tail cone.

15. An aircraft comprising:
a fuselage;
an aircraft fuselage end cargo door configured to interface with the fuselage; and
an aircraft fuselage end cargo door mechanism comprising:
a hinge rotatably coupling the aircraft fuselage end cargo door to the fuselage, the hinge being coupled to both the aircraft fuselage end cargo door and the fuselage so as to form an axis of rotation of the aircraft fuselage end cargo door; and
a major joint line defined by the interface between the aircraft fuselage end cargo door and the fuselage, the hinge comprising a static mount configured to couple with the fuselage so that an entirety of the axis of rotation of the aircraft fuselage end cargo door is fixedly located, relative to the fuselage, forward of an entirety of the major joint line;
wherein a skin of the aircraft fuselage end cargo door, rotating about the axis of rotation, forms an unarticulated monolithic surface and a skin of the fuselage adjacent the major joint line is unarticulated.

16. The aircraft of claim 15 , comprising a second hinge rotatably coupling the aircraft fuselage end cargo door to the fuselage, the second hinge being coupled to both the aircraft fuselage end cargo door and the fuselage so as to form a second axis of rotation of the aircraft fuselage end cargo door.

17. The aircraft of claim 16 , wherein the axis of rotation and the second axis of rotation are substantially coincident with each other so as to form a common axis of rotation of the aircraft fuselage end cargo door.

18. The aircraft of claim 16 , wherein the hinge and the second hinge are laterally spaced from each other, relative to a longitudinal axis of the fuselage, so as to stably maintain rotation of the aircraft fuselage end cargo door relative to the fuselage.

19. The aircraft of claim 15 , wherein the hinge comprises:
a fuselage-side pivot mount configured to couple with the fuselage; and
a door-side bracket configured to couple with the aircraft fuselage end cargo door;
wherein the door-side bracket is pivotally coupled to the fuselage-side pivot mount by a bearing.

20. The aircraft of claim 19 , wherein the bearing is a spherical bearing.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Jackson Rick A

Classifications

• B64C1/1415 Primary

  Cargo doors, e.g. incorporating ramps · CPC title

• E05D7/04

  Hinges adjustable relative to the wing or the frame · CPC title

• B64C1/22

  Other structures integral with fuselages to facilitate loading {, e.g. cargo bays, cranes} · CPC title

• E05Y2900/502

  for aircraft or spacecraft · CPC title

• E05D3/02

  with one pin · CPC title