Structural assembly for an aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12017756-B2
Application number	US-202217983782-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 9, 2022
Priority date	Nov 10, 2021
Publication date	Jun 25, 2024
Grant date	Jun 25, 2024

Abstract

A structural assembly for an aircraft having pairs of main gantries distributed in the longitudinal direction, two transverse panels fixed to the front and the rear of the pairs of main gantries to together define a compartment for a landing gear of the aircraft, at least one pair of secondary gantries between the main gantries, at least one crossmember parallel to the transverse panels and that straddles at least one secondary gantry, and, for each secondary gantry and each crossmember straddling the secondary gantry, a connecting rod mounted to be able to freely rotate, via a first end, on a lower part of the crossmember and, via a second end, on an outer lateral part of the secondary gantry. Such an arrangement reduces the vertical bulk of the structural assembly.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A structural assembly for an aircraft having a longitudinal direction and a median plane, the structural assembly comprising:
a plurality of pairs of main gantries, wherein, for a pair, the main gantries face one another with respect to the median plane and wherein the pairs are distributed in the longitudinal direction;
two transverse panels that are perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and are fixed to a front and a rear of the plurality of pairs of main gantries to together define a compartment for a landing gear of the aircraft;
at least one pair of secondary gantries which extend parallel to the longitudinal direction between the main gantries and ends of which are fixed to the transverse panels;
one or more transverse walls fixed between each pair of the secondary gantries and inscribed in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction;
at least one crossmember which is positioned above the one or more transverse walls, extends parallel to the transverse panels and the one or more transverse walls, and is disposed straddling at least one secondary gantry; and
a plurality of first connecting rods, each of which connects a corresponding secondary gantry of the at least one pair of the secondary gantries to the at least one crossmember that straddles the corresponding secondary gantry, wherein each first connecting rod is inclined at a non-zero angle relative to a vertical direction, the median plane being partially defined by the vertical direction, and wherein each first connecting rod is mounted to be freely rotatable, via a first end, on a lower part of the at least one crossmember that straddles the corresponding secondary gantry and, via a second end, on an outer lateral part of the corresponding secondary gantry.

2. An aircraft comprising a landing gear and a structural assembly of claim 1 , wherein the landing gear can retract into the compartment.

3. The structural assembly of claim 1 , comprising one or more pairs of second connecting rods, each of which connects a corresponding transverse wall of the one or more transverse walls to the at least one crossmember, wherein each second connecting rod extends in the vertical direction between the corresponding transverse wall and the at least one crossmember, wherein each second connecting rod is mounted to be freely rotatable, via a first end, on the lower part of the at least one crossmember and, via a second end, on a top edge of the corresponding transverse wall, and wherein each second connecting rod is directly attached, at the second end thereof, to the corresponding transverse wall.

4. The structural assembly of claim 3 , wherein the second connecting rods of each of the one or more pairs of second connecting rods are connected on opposite lateral sides of the corresponding transverse wall.

5. The structural assembly of claim 3 , wherein every one of the secondary gantries is positioned such that an uppermost surface thereof extends in the vertical direction beyond the second ends, respectively, of all of the first and second connecting rods.

6. The structural assembly of claim 5 , wherein the uppermost surface of every one of the secondary gantries is adjacent to the lower part of the at least one crossmember.

7. The structural assembly of claim 5 , wherein the uppermost surface of every one of the secondary gantries is at a same height as a flange of the at least one crossmember, at which the first ends, respectively, of all of the first and second connecting rods are connected to the at least one crossmember.

8. The structural assembly of claim 3 , wherein all of the first connecting rods and all of the second connecting rods that are connected to a same crossmember of the at least one crossmember are coplanar with each other.

9. The structural assembly of claim 3 , wherein, of the first connecting rods and of the second connecting rods that are connected to the same crossmember, such first connecting rods are inclined at a non-zero angle relative to such second connecting rods.

10. The structural assembly of claim 3 , comprising:
one or more pairs of third connecting rods;
wherein each third connecting rod extends in the vertical direction and connects a corresponding main gantry of the plurality of pairs of main gantries to the at least one crossmember; and
where each third connecting rod is mounted to be freely rotatable, via a first end, on the lower part of the at least one crossmember and, via a second end, on an upper part of the corresponding main gantry.

11. The structural assembly of claim 10 , wherein each third connecting rod is freely rotatable, about the respective first and second ends thereof, about an axis of rotation that is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and the median plane.

12. The structural assembly of claim 11 , wherein:
each first connecting rod is freely rotatable, about the respective first and second ends thereof, about an axis of rotation that is parallel to the longitudinal direction and the median plane; and
each second connecting rod is freely rotatable, about the respective first and second ends thereof, about an axis of rotation that is parallel to the longitudinal direction and the median plane.

13. The structural assembly of claim 1 , wherein:
the outer lateral part of the corresponding second gantries comprises a lateral extension; and
the lateral extension of one secondary gantry in a pair of secondary gantries extends from the one secondary gantry in an opposite direction from the lateral extension of another secondary gantry in the pair of secondary gantries.

14. A structural assembly for an aircraft having a longitudinal direction and a median plane, the structural assembly comprising:
a plurality of pairs of main gantries, wherein, for a pair, the main gantries face one another with respect to the median plane and wherein the pairs are distributed in the longitudinal direction;
two transverse panels that are perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and are fixed to a front and a rear of the plurality of pairs of main gantries to together define a compartment for a landing gear of the aircraft;
at least one pair of secondary gantries which extend parallel to the longitudinal direction between the main gantries and ends of which are fixed to the transverse panels;
one or more transverse walls fixed between each pair of the secondary gantries;
at least one crossmember which extends parallel to the transverse panels and is disposed straddling at least one secondary gantry; and
a plurality of first connecting rods, each of which connects a corresponding secondary gantry of the at least one pair of the secondary gantries to the at least one crossmember that straddles the corresponding secondary gantry, wherein each first connecting rod is inclined at a non-zero angle relative to the vertical direction, parallel to the median plane that is partially defined by the vertical direction, and wherein each first connecting rod is mounted to be freely rotatable, via a first end, on a lower part of the at least one crossmember that straddles the corresponding secondary gantry and, via a second end, on an outer lateral part of the corresponding secondary gantry;
wherein every one of the secondary gantries is positioned such that an uppermost surface thereof extends in the vertical direction beyond the second ends, respectively, of all of the first connecting rods.

15. The structural assembly of claim 14 , wherein the uppermost surface of every one of the secondary gantries is adjacent to the lower part of the at least one crossmember.

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Sas

Inventors

• Orteu Benoit
• Mil Ludovic
• Laganier Lionel
• Marty Dominique
• Robert Philippe

Classifications

• B64C1/18

  Floors · CPC title

• B64C25/14

  fore-and-aft · CPC title

• B64C25/04 Primary

  Arrangement or disposition on aircraft · CPC title

• B64C2025/125

  into the fuselage, e.g. main landing gear pivotally retracting into or extending out of the fuselage · CPC title

• B64C1/10

  Bulkheads · CPC title