Vehicle body with cavity in the outer skin and a closing door arrangement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12304611-B2
Application number	US-202318384484-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 27, 2023
Priority date	Oct 28, 2022
Publication date	May 20, 2025
Grant date	May 20, 2025

Abstract

A vehicle body with a cavity therein. The cavity is optionally closed or opened by a door arrangement with one or more door leaves. The door leaves are connected to a wall of the cavity via multiple-joint hinges. A pivot axis of the door leaves is situated outside the cavity, and the multiple-joint hinges are arranged completely in the cavity without taking up installation space outside the inner volume of the cavity when the door arrangement is in the closed state. This design requires little installation space and allows a great freedom of movement of the door leaves.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle body comprising:
an outer contour which forms an outer contour of the vehicle body;
a cavity in the vehicle body, inside the outer contour;
a door arrangement that has a first door leaf and a second door leaf, forms part of the outer contour of the vehicle body, and is configured to assume optionally a closed state, in which the cavity is covered, or an open state, in which the cavity is open;
a first multiple-joint hinge which has a first bearing, which is coupled to a wall of the cavity, and a second bearing, which is coupled to the first door leaf, wherein the first multiple-joint hinge movably couples the first door leaf to the wall of the cavity;
a drive configured to move the first door leaf; and
a spoiler that overlaps a part of an outer wall of the vehicle body, is coupled to an end wall of the cavity via a second multiple-joint hinge, and forms an overlap region with an outer surface of the vehicle body, the first door leaf, and the second door leaf along an entirety of a periphery of the spoiler;
wherein the first door leaf is movable about a first pivot axis from the closed state into the open state and from the open state into the closed state;
wherein the second door leaf is movable about a second pivot axis out of the closed state into the open state and out of the open state into the closed state;
wherein the second door leaf is coupled to another wall of the cavity via a third multiple-joint hinge;
wherein, in the closed state of the door arrangement, the second door leaf overlaps the first door leaf in an overlap region;
wherein the spoiler is movable about a third pivot axis from a retracted state into a deployed state and from the deployed state into the retracted state;
wherein the first pivot axis, the second pivot axis, and the third pivot axis are each outside the cavity;
wherein the end wall of the cavity to which the spoiler is coupled is inside the cavity; and
wherein the second multiple-joint hinge is attached to a face of the end wall of the cavity.

2. The vehicle body of claim 1 , wherein:
the door arrangement has at least one holding element, which is in the overlap region; and
the holding element is configured to hold the second door leaf relative to the first door leaf reversibly in the closed state of the door arrangement.

3. The vehicle body of claim 1 , wherein the drive is coupled to the first multiple-joint hinge to apply a force to and/or to move the first multiple-joint hinge, such that the first door leaf is moved from the closed state into the open state or from the open state into the closed state.

4. The vehicle body of claim 1 , wherein the first bearing and/or the second bearing is configured as a slide bearing.

5. The vehicle body of claim 1 , comprising a locking element which is arranged on a fourth multiple-joint hinge and is configured to lock the first multiple-joint hinge in the closed state of the door arrangement.

6. The vehicle body of claim 1 , wherein the third pivot axis runs transversely to both the first pivot axis and the second pivot axis.

7. An aircraft, comprising a vehicle body of claim 1 .

Assignees

• Airbus Defence & Space Gmbh

Inventors

• Wald Sascha
• Rappitsch Michael
• Peters Sebastian
• Bethge Arne
• Sellhorst Rainer
• Aspindle Ian

Classifications

• B64C1/1407 Primary

  Doors; surrounding frames · CPC title

• B64D1/06

  Bomb releasing; Bomb doors · CPC title

• B64C25/16 Primary

  Fairings movable in conjunction with undercarriage elements · CPC title