Rotary wing aircraft with a firewall arrangement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11820485-B2
Application number	US-202117190510-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 3, 2021
Priority date	Jun 30, 2020
Publication date	Nov 21, 2023
Grant date	Nov 21, 2023

Abstract

A rotary wing aircraft with a fuselage that comprises an upper primary skin and an aircraft upper deck arranged above the fuselage, wherein the aircraft upper deck comprises a firewall arrangement that defines a fire proof separation at least between at least one aircraft engine and an aircraft interior region, wherein the firewall arrangement comprises at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall that is arranged between the at least one aircraft engine and the upper primary skin of the fuselage, wherein the at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall converges from an outer perimeter to at least one inner collecting point, and wherein the outer perimeter is spaced apart from the upper primary skin of the fuselage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A rotary wing aircraft with a fuselage that forms an aircraft interior region, the fuselage comprising an upper primary skin that separates the aircraft interior region from an aircraft upper deck arranged above the fuselage, wherein the aircraft upper deck comprises an engine accommodating region with a firewall arrangement, the engine accommodating region accommodating at least one aircraft engine within the firewall arrangement such that the firewall arrangement defines a fire proof separation at least between the at least one aircraft engine and the aircraft interior region, wherein the firewall arrangement comprises at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall that is arranged between the at least one aircraft engine and the upper primary skin of the fuselage, wherein the at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall converges from an outer perimeter to at least one inner collecting point, wherein the outer perimeter is spaced apart from the upper primary skin of the fuselage; and wherein the upper primary skin of the fuselage contributes to global load carrying of the fuselage, and wherein the at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall is uninvolved in the global load carrying.

2. The rotary wing aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall forms a carrier element for at least one aircraft system component, wherein the at least one aircraft system component comprises at least one of a pipe, a harness, or a connector.

3. The rotary wing aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the upper primary skin of the fuselage comprises at least one cut-out, wherein a center portion of the at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall is arranged inside of the at least one cut-out and wherein the at least one cut-out comprises an inner perimeter, wherein a heat-resistant interconnection edge member that comprises a fire proof material is arranged at the inner perimeter, and wherein the center portion of the at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall is connected to the heat-resistant interconnection edge member.

4. The rotary wing aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the upper primary skin of the fuselage comprises at least one cut-out, wherein a center portion of the at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall is arranged inside of the at least one cut-out; and wherein the center portion of the at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall comprises the at least one inner collecting point that is arranged inside of the at least one cut-out of the upper primary skin such that the at least one inner collecting point is located inside of the aircraft interior region.

5. The rotary wing aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the at least one inner collecting point of the at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall comprises a drainage hole that is connected to an associated drainage system.

6. The rotary wing aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall comprises a fire proof material, including at least one of titanium, steel, ceramics, a polymeric composite, or a hybrid organic-inorganic composite.

7. The rotary wing aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the upper primary skin of the fuselage comprises a polymeric composite.

8. The rotary wing aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the engine accommodating region comprises at least two adjacent engine compartments that are separated from each other by means of a mid firewall, each one of the at least two adjacent engine compartments comprising an associated funnel-shaped lower firewall.

9. The rotary wing aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the firewall arrangement further comprises at least a front firewall and a rear firewall, and wherein the outer perimeter of the at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall is at least attached to the front firewall and the rear firewall.

10. The rotary wing aircraft of claim 9 , wherein the outer perimeter of the at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall is removably attached to the front firewall and the rear firewall.

11. The rotary wing aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the upper primary skin of the fuselage comprises at least one cut-out, wherein a center portion of the at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall is arranged inside of the at least one cut-out and wherein the at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall covers an entire footprint of an associated engine compartment located in the engine accommodating region.

12. The rotary wing aircraft of claim 11 , wherein the at least one cut-out spans over a range of 20% to 80% of the entire footprint of the associated engine compartment located in the engine accommodating region.

13. A rotary wing aircraft with a fuselage that forms an aircraft interior region, the fuselage comprising an upper primary skin that separates the aircraft interior region from an aircraft upper deck arranged above the fuselage, wherein the aircraft upper deck comprises an engine accommodating region with a firewall arrangement, the engine accommodating region accommodating at least one aircraft engine within the firewall arrangement such that the firewall arrangement defines a fire proof separation at least between the at least one aircraft engine and the aircraft interior region, wherein the firewall arrangement comprises at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall that is arranged between the at least one aircraft engine and the upper primary skin of the fuselage, wherein the at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall converges from an outer perimeter to at least one inner collecting point, wherein the outer perimeter is spaced apart from the upper primary skin of the fuselage;
wherein the upper primary skin of the fuselage comprises at least one cut-out, wherein a center portion of the at least one funnel-shaped lower firewall is arranged inside of the at least one cut-out and wherein the funnel-shaped lower firewall covers an entire footprint of an associated engine compartment located in the engine accommodating region;
wherein the funnel-shaped lower firewall is made of at least one of titanium, steel, and ceramic;
wherein the upper primary skin of the fuselage comprises a carbon fiber reinforced polymer; and
wherein the upper primary skin of the fuselage contributes to global load carrying of the fuselage, and the funnel-shaped lower firewall does not contribute to the global load carrying of the fuselage.

14. The rotary wing aircraft of claim 13 , further comprising a fuselage having an aircraft interior region, the fuselage comprising an upper primary skin disposed between and separating the aircraft interior region from an aircraft upper deck arranged above the fuselage, the aircraft upper deck comprising an engine accommodating region with a firewall arrangement, the engine accommodating region accommodating an aircraft engine within the firewall arrangement such that the firewall arrangement defines a fire proof separation between the aircraft engine and the aircraft interior region, wherein the firewall arrangement comprises a funnel-shaped lower firewall disposed between the aircraft engine and the upper primary skin of the fuselage, wherein the funnel-shaped lower firewall converges from an outer perimeter to the inner collecting point, and wherein the outer perimeter is axially spaced from the upper primary skin of the fuselage.

15. The rotary wing aircraft of claim 14 , wherein the upper primary skin of the fuselage has a cut-out, and wherein a center portion of the funnel-shaped lower firewall is disposed inside of the cut-out.

16. The rotary wing aircraft of claim 15 , wherein the cut-out is defined by an inner perimeter, wherein a heat-resistant interconnection edge member comprising

Assignees

• Airbus Helicopters Deutschland GmbH

Inventors

• Fink Axel
• Kempf Manuel

Classifications

• B64C1/16 Primary

  specially adapted for mounting power plant · CPC title

• B64C1/12

  Construction or attachment of skin panels · CPC title

• B64C27/04

  Helicopters · CPC title

• B64C2001/0072

  from composite materials · CPC title

• B64D2045/009

  Fire detection or protection; Erosion protection, e.g. from airborne particles · CPC title