Landing gear controller

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11753151-B2
Application number	US-202217736787-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 4, 2022
Priority date	Jun 16, 2017
Publication date	Sep 12, 2023
Grant date	Sep 12, 2023

Abstract

A landing gear controller ( 120 ) to control extension and retraction of a landing gear for an aircraft, the landing gear controller ( 120 ) configured to cause, during an aircraft take-off or landing procedure, a landing gear extension and retraction system ( 110 ) to perform only a first portion of a landing gear extension or retraction process, on the basis of a status of the aircraft and prior to receiving a command for the landing gear to be extended or retracted.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An aircraft landing gear system, comprising:
a landing gear;
a landing gear retraction system configured to retract the landing gear;
a landing gear bay door;
a landing gear bay door actuator configured to move the landing gear bay door between a closed position and an open position relative to a door frame;
a landing gear controller configured, during an aircraft take-off procedure, to cause the landing gear retraction system to perform only a first portion of a landing gear retraction process, wherein the landing gear controller responds to a status of the aircraft to cause the performance of the first portion and cause the performance of the first portion before receiving a command to retract the landing gear,
wherein the first portion of the landing gear retraction process includes the landing gear retraction system actuating the landing gear bay door actuator to positively hold the landing gear bay door in the closed position until at least the command is received.

2. The aircraft landing gear system of claim 1 , wherein the landing gear controller is further configured to cause the landing gear retraction system to perform a second portion of the landing gear retraction process after receiving the command to retract the landing gear, and
wherein the second portion includes the landing gear controller causing the landing gear bay door actuator to move the landing gear bay door from the closed position towards the open position.

3. The aircraft landing gear system of claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the landing gear retraction process comprises one or more functions involving avionics.

4. The aircraft landing gear system of claim 1 , wherein the status of the aircraft is the aircraft lifting off the ground, and the landing gear controller causes the performance of the first portion immediately after the aircraft lifts off the ground.

5. The aircraft landing gear system of claim 1 , wherein the status of the aircraft comprises one or more of: ground speed of the aircraft, amount of lift of the aircraft, aircraft angle, absolute altitude of the aircraft, true altitude of the aircraft, landing gear strut length, and aircraft rotation.

6. An aircraft landing gear system, comprising:
a landing gear;
a landing gear retraction system configured to retract the landing gear;
a landing gear bay door;
a landing gear bay door actuator configured to move the landing gear bay door between a closed position and an open position relative to a door frame;
a landing gear controller configured, during an aircraft take-off procedure, to cause the landing gear retraction system to perform only a first portion of a landing gear retraction process, wherein the landing gear controller responds to a status of the aircraft to cause the performance of the first portion and cause the performance of the first portion before receiving a command to retract the landing gear,
wherein the first portion of the landing gear retraction process includes the landing gear retraction system actuating the landing gear bay door actuator to positively hold the landing gear bay door in the closed position,
wherein the landing gear controller is further configured to cause, during the aircraft take-off procedure, the landing gear retraction system to perform the first portion of the landing gear retraction process when the aircraft is on the ground.

7. An aircraft landing gear system comprising:
a landing gear including a strut, and;
a landing gear retraction system configured to retract the landing gear;
a landing gear bay door;
a landing gear bay door actuator configured to move the landing gear bay door between a closed position and an open position relative to a door frame;
a landing gear controller configured, during an aircraft take-off procedure, to cause the landing gear retraction system to perform only a first portion of a landing gear retraction process, wherein the landing gear controller responds to a status of the aircraft to cause the performance of the first portion and cause the performance of the first portion before receiving a command to retract the landing gear,
wherein the first portion of the landing gear retraction process includes the landing gear retraction system actuating the landing gear bay door actuator to positively hold the landing gear bay door in the closed position, and
wherein the landing gear controller is configured to cause, during the aircraft take-off procedure, the landing gear retraction system to perform the first portion of the landing gear retraction process in response to a detection that a length of the strut has increased, during the aircraft take-off procedure, beyond a predetermined threshold length.

8. The aircraft landing gear system of claim 7 , wherein the predetermined threshold length is less than a maximum length to which the strut is extendable when the aircraft is off the ground.

9. The aircraft landing gear system of claim 1 , further comprising a landing gear bay door lock configured to retain the landing gear bay door in the closed position when locked,
wherein the landing gear controller is further configured to cause the landing gear retraction system to perform a second portion of the landing gear retraction process in response to receiving the command to retract the landing gear, and
wherein the second portion of the landing gear retraction process comprises the landing gear retraction system unlocking the landing gear bay door lock to permit movement of the landing gear bay door from the closed position towards the open position.

10. A method to retract a landing gear of an aircraft including the landing gear, a landing gear retraction system configured to retract the landing gear, a landing gear bay door, a landing gear bay door actuator, and a landing gear controller, the method comprising:
the landing gear controller, during a take-off procedure of the aircraft and in response to a status of the aircraft, causing the landing gear retraction system to perform only a first portion of a process for retracting the landing gear, wherein the first portion includes actuating the landing gear bay door actuator to positively hold the landing gear bay door in a closed position; and
the landing gear controller receiving a command for the landing gear to be retracted after causing the performance of the first portion,
wherein the landing gear bay door actuator positively holds the landing gear bay door in the closed position until at least the command is received.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising maintaining a closed state of the landing gear bay door until after the landing gear controller receives the command.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first portion of the process includes using avionics of the aircraft.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising the landing gear controller causing the landing gear retraction system to perform a second portion of the landing gear retraction process after receiving the command for the landing gear to be retracted, wherein the second portion of the landing gear retraction process includes the landing gear controller causing the landing gear bay door actuator to move the landing gear bay door from the closed position towards an open position.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the status of the aircraft is that the aircraft has lifted off the ground, and the landing gear controller causes the performance of the first portion immediately after the aircraft lifts off the ground.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the status of the aircraft comprises one or more of: ground

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Ltd

Inventors

• Marles David

Classifications

• B64C25/26 Primary

  Control or locking systems therefor · CPC title

• B64C25/16

  Fairings movable in conjunction with undercarriage elements · CPC title

• B64C25/18

  Operating mechanisms · CPC title

• B64C25/22

  fluid · CPC title

• B64C25/24

  electric · CPC title