Boomerang link with vibration filtering ability and aircraft engine mount provided with such link

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9238510-B2
Application number	US-201314140512-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 25, 2013
Priority date	Dec 28, 2012
Publication date	Jan 19, 2016
Grant date	Jan 19, 2016

Abstract

A boomerang link for aircraft engine mounts, including a first orifice and a second orifice both designed to connect the boomerang link to an aircraft pylon, and a third orifice designed to connect the boomerang link to an aircraft engine. The third orifice is offset relative to a plane passing simultaneously through an axis of the first orifice and through an axis of the second orifice. When the boomerang link is seen in section in any plane orthogonal to the axes, a straight line segment extending from the axis of the second orifice to an axis of the third orifice crosses a region external to the boomerang link. This conformation confers on the boomerang link a flexibility enabling it to filter transverse vibrations between an engine and an aircraft pylon.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A boomerang link for aircraft engine mounts, including:
a first orifice and a second orifice, both intended to connect said boomerang link to an aircraft pylon, and
a third orifice, intended to connect said boomerang link to an aircraft engine, wherein:
said third orifice is offset relative to a plane passing simultaneously through an axis of said first orifice and through an axis of said second orifice, and
when said boomerang link is seen in section in any plane orthogonal to the axes of said first and second orifices, a first straight line segment extending from the axis of said first orifice to an axis of said third orifice crosses a region external to said boomerang link,
wherein said boomerang link is conformed so that, when said boomerang link is seen in section in any plane orthogonal to said axes of said first and second orifices, a second straight line segment extending from the axis of said second orifice to the axis of said third orifice crosses said region external to the boomerang link.

2. The boomerang link according to claim 1 , wherein said region external to the boomerang link is crossed by a portion of said second straight line segment having a length greater than or equal to one third of the length of said second straight line segment.

3. The boomerang link according to claim 1 , wherein, if said boomerang link is seen in section in any plane orthogonal to the respective axes of said orifices, a first portion of the boomerang link, connecting said second orifice to said third orifice, has an edge, situated on the same side as said second straight line segment, at least a portion of which is offset from a straight line superposed on said second straight line segment by a distance greater than one quarter of the length of said second straight line segment.

4. The boomerang link according to claim 1 , wherein, if said boomerang link is seen in section in any plane orthogonal to the respective axes of said orifices, a second portion of the boomerang link, situated between said second and third orifices and delimited by two half-lines and each extending from the middle of the second straight line segment in the direction of the boomerang link, has two opposite curved edges each having a concavity oriented toward said second straight line segment, at any point from one to the other of said half-lines.

5. The boomerang link according to claim 4 , wherein said half-lines form between them a salient angle greater than 90 degrees.

6. The boomerang link according to claim 4 , wherein:
the curved edge situated on the same side as said second straight line segment has, at any point on said second portion of the boomerang link, a radius of curvature greater than one quarter of the length of the second straight line segment, and
the curved edge that is situated on the other side of the boomerang link has, at any point on said second portion of the boomerang link, a radius of curvature greater than one third of the length of the second straight line segment.

7. The boomerang link according to claim 4 , wherein, if said boomerang link is seen in section in any plane orthogonal to the respective axes of said orifices, said second portion of the boomerang link has a section decreasing in the direction from said second orifice toward said third orifice, from one to the other of said two half-lines.

8. The boomerang link according to claim 4 , wherein, if said boomerang link is seen in section in any plane orthogonal to the respective axes of said orifices, there exist two half-lines having a common origin such that:
a first half-line passes through the respective axes of said first and second orifices,
a second half-line is tangential to a mid-line of said second portion of the boomerang link at a point situated on the same side as said third orifice relative to said first half-line, and
these half-lines form between them an angle less than 90 degrees.

9. An aircraft engine mount including:
a support structure designed to be fastened to an aircraft pylon and including a first orifice and a second orifice,
a first connecting member and a second connecting member that are respectively mounted with a close fit in said first and second orifices of said support structure,
a third connecting member designed to be connected to an aircraft engine, and
at least one boomerang link according to claim 1 ,
wherein said first and second connecting members are mounted with a close fit in said first and second orifices of said boomerang link, and
wherein said third connecting member is mounted with a close fit in said third orifice of said boomerang link.

10. The aircraft engine mount according to claim 9 , further including a mechanical energy dissipating device connecting said second and third connecting members so as to damp any relative vibrations of these connecting members.

11. The aircraft engine mount according to claim 9 , including, in addition to said boomerang link, called a “flexible boomerang link”, at least one other boomerang link, called a “rigid boomerang link”, the rigid boomerang link including:
a first orifice and a second orifice in which said first and second connecting members, respectively, are mounted with a close fit, and
a third orifice in which said third connecting member is mounted with clearance,
said rigid boomerang link being conformed so that, if said rigid boomerang link is seen in section in any plane orthogonal to respective axes of said orifices of said rigid boomerang link, a first straight line segment extending from the axis of the first orifice to an axis of the third orifice of the rigid boomerang link crosses a region external to the rigid boomerang link, but a second straight line segment extending from the axis of said second orifice to the axis of said third orifice of the rigid boomerang link is entirely situated inside said rigid boomerang link.

12. An aircraft propulsion system including a jet engine and a pylon designed to connect said jet engine to an aircraft cell, as well as at least one engine mount according to claim 9 connecting said jet engine to said pylon.

13. An aircraft propulsion system including a jet engine and a pylon designed to connect said jet engine to an aircraft cell, as well as at least one engine mount according to claim 11 connecting said jet engine to said pylon, said flexible boomerang link and said rigid boomerang link of this engine mount being conformed so that said flexible boomerang link maintains a clearance between said third connecting member and said rigid boomerang link if transverse forces apply to said engine mount at a level below a predetermined threshold and so that said third connecting member comes to abut in said third orifice of said rigid boomerang link thanks to sufficient deformation of said flexible boomerang link if said transverse forces are at a level above said predetermined threshold.

14. An aircraft comprising at least one propulsion system according to claim 12 .

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Sas
• Airbus Operations Sas

Inventors

• Brochard Wolfgang
• Terral Romain

Classifications

• B64D27/402

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

• B64D27/404 Primary

  Suspension arrangements specially adapted for supporting vertical loads · CPC title

• B64D2027/266

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B64D27/00

  Arrangement or mounting of power plants in aircraft; Aircraft characterised by the type or position of power plants · CPC title

• B64D27/26 Primary

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic