Engine pylon for coupling a jet engine to a wing of an aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12129041-B2
Application number	US-202217988862-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 17, 2022
Priority date	Nov 19, 2021
Publication date	Oct 29, 2024
Grant date	Oct 29, 2024

Abstract

An engine pylon for an aircraft and comprising an inverted U-shaped upper spar with two lateral walls, a U-shaped lower spar with two lateral walls, where the free ends of the lateral walls of the spars are adjacent, an arrangement to the free end of a lateral wall of one spar to the free end of the lateral wall of the other spar, and ribs between the spars where each has a top end fixed to the lateral walls of the upper spar and a bottom end fixed to the lower spar. Such an engine pylon thus offers a reduced number of component parts and a single row of fixings per side, enabling a saving in weight and in assembly time.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An engine pylon for mounting a jet engine beneath a wing of an aircraft, the engine pylon comprising:
an upper spar having an inverted U-shaped profile with a roof and two lateral walls extending downwards from the roof,
a lower spar having a U-shaped profile with a bottom and two lateral walls extending upwards from the bottom, where each lateral wall of one of the upper spar or the lower spar has a free end extending until the respective lateral wall comes into a vicinity of a respective free end of each lateral wall of the other of the upper spar or the lower spar,
fixing means configured to fix the free end of a lateral wall of one of the upper spar or the lower spar to the free end of the lateral wall of the other of the upper spar or the lower spar, and
a plurality of ribs distributed along a length of the lower spar and housed between the upper spar and the lower spar, where each rib has a top end fixed to each lateral wall of the upper spar and a bottom end fixed to the lower spar,
wherein the engine pylon comprises, for each rib, a pad housed in the lower spar and secured thereto, and
wherein each pad has a transverse wall which extends transversely with respect to the lower spar and has a fixing zone at which the bottom end of an associated rib is fixed, and each pad extends transversely from a first lateral wall of the lower spar to a second lateral wall of the lower spar.

2. The engine pylon according to claim 1 , wherein the fixing zone is formed as a cavity in the transverse wall, in which cavity a bottom end of an associated rib is housed.

3. The engine pylon according to claim 1 ,
wherein the top end comprises a web extending transversely with respect to the upper spar and, on each side of the web, a flange secured to the web, and
wherein each flange bears against an internal face of a lateral wall of the upper spar and is fixed to said lateral wall.

4. The engine pylon according to claim 1 ,
wherein the lower spar and the pads are made of metal, and
wherein the upper spar is made of composite materials.

5. The engine pylon according to claim 4 , wherein the upper spar is shaped to form an aerodynamic exterior fairing.

6. The engine pylon according to claim 1 ,
wherein the free end of each lateral wall of the upper spar is butted against the free end of a lateral wall of the lower spar,
wherein the free end of each lateral wall has through-bores passing through the free end,
wherein the fixing means comprise, for each pair of butted-together lateral walls, a fishplate placed against an external face of each lateral wall of the pair, where each fishplate has, for each through-bore of the associated pair, a complementary through-bore coaxial with said through-bore and, for each through-bore, a shanked fastener which has a shank that is inserted into the through-bore and into the coaxial complementary through-bore and a head at each end of the shank so as to sandwich the associated fishplate and lateral wall.

7. The engine pylon according to claim 1 ,
wherein the free end of each lateral wall of the lower spar has a plurality of housings where each has a contact wall roughly perpendicular to the associated lateral wall of the upper spar,
wherein an edge face of the free end of each lateral wall is positioned against the contact walls of associated housings,
wherein each contact wall has a through-bore, of which an axis of the through bore is roughly parallel to an associated lateral wall of the upper spar,
wherein, for each through-bore, the associated lateral wall of the upper spar has a first bore of which an axis is perpendicular to the axis of said through-bore and a second bore coaxial with said through-bore and opening into the first bore, and
wherein the fixing means comprise, for each through-bore, a sleeve nut housed in the first bore and a screw of which a shank passes successively through the through-bore, and the coaxial second bore to screw into the sleeve nut in the associated first bore.

8. An aircraft comprising
a wing,
a jet engine, and
an engine pylon according to claim 1 , fixed between the wing and the jet engine.

9. An engine pylon for mounting a jet engine beneath a wing of an aircraft, the engine pylon comprising:
an upper spar having an inverted U-shaped profile with a roof and two lateral walls extending downwards from the roof,
a lower spar having a U-shaped profile with a bottom and two lateral walls extending upwards from the bottom, where each lateral wall of a first spar of the upper spar and the lower spar has a free end extending until the lateral wall comes into a vicinity of a free end of a lateral wall of a second spar of the upper spar and the lower spar,
fixing means configured to fix the free end of a lateral wall of one spar to the free end of the lateral wall of the other spar, and
a plurality of ribs distributed along a length of the lower spar and housed between the upper spar and the lower spar, where each rib has a top end fixed to each lateral wall of the upper spar and a bottom end fixed to the lower spar,
wherein the engine pylon comprises, for each rib, a pad housed in the lower spar and secured thereto, and
wherein each pad has a transverse wall which extends transversely with respect to the lower spar and has a fixing zone at which the bottom end of an associated rib is fixed,
wherein an internal face of the free end of each lateral wall of the upper spar bears against an external face of the free end of a lateral wall of the lower spar,
wherein, in a region where a lateral wall of the upper spar is superposed on a lateral wall of the lower spar, the lateral walls have coaxial through-bores passing through them, and
wherein the fixing means comprise, for each pair of coaxial through-bores, a shanked fastener which has a shank that is inserted into said through-bores and a head at each end of the shank so as to sandwich the lateral walls.

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Sas

Inventors

• Pautis Olivier
• Blanc Jonathan

Classifications

• F01D25/28 Primary

  Supporting or mounting arrangements, e.g. for turbine casing · CPC title

• B64D27/402

  comprising box like supporting frames, e.g. pylons or arrangements for embracing the power plant · CPC title

• F02C7/20

  Mounting or supporting of plant; Accommodating heat expansion or creep · CPC title

• B64D27/16

  of jet type · CPC title

• B64D27/40 Primary

  Arrangements for mounting power plants in aircraft · CPC title