Servicing assisting system for shock struts with positive dead volume

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9856038-B2
Application number	US-201514969913-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 15, 2015
Priority date	Dec 15, 2015
Publication date	Jan 2, 2018
Grant date	Jan 2, 2018

Abstract

System and methods for servicing and monitoring shock struts are provided. A shock strut servicing assistance system may comprise: a controller in electronic communication with a display; and a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate with the controller, the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the controller, cause the controller to perform operations comprising: calculating, by the controller, a dead volume of the shock strut; and determining, by the controller, if a dead volume of the shock strut is negative or not. The operations may further comprise receiving, by the controller, a temperature of a gas and at least one shock strut design parameter, wherein the calculating is performed using the temperature of the gas and the at least one shock strut design parameter.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A shock strut servicing assistance system, comprising:
a controller in electronic communication with a display; and
a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate with the controller, the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the controller, cause the controller to perform operations comprising:
calculating, by the controller, a dead volume of a shock strut; and
determining, by the controller, a first decision, the first decision being a Boolean value based upon whether the dead volume of the shock strut is negative; and
displaying, by the controller, a first prompt on the display, wherein the first prompt is displayed in response to the first decision being false.

2. The shock strut servicing assistance system of claim 1 , wherein the first decision is false in response to the dead volume of the shock strut being positive.

3. The shock strut servicing assistance system of claim 2 , wherein the operations further comprise activating, by the controller, a first shock strut servicing assistance system in response to the first prompt being false.

4. The shock strut servicing assistance system of claim 2 , wherein the operations further comprise displaying, by the controller, a second prompt on the display, wherein the second prompt is displayed in response to the first prompt being true.

5. The shock strut servicing assistance system of claim 4 , wherein the operations further comprise activating, by the controller, a second shock strut servicing assistance system in response to the second prompt being true.

6. The shock strut servicing assistance system of claim 4 , wherein the operations further comprise activating, by the controller, a third shock strut servicing assistance system in response to the second prompt being false.

7. The shock strut servicing assistance system of claim 4 , wherein the second prompt calls for an operator to indicate whether or not a shock strut servicing will be performed under weight-on-wheel conditions.

8. The shock strut servicing assistance system of claim 2 , wherein the first prompt calls for an operator to indicate whether or not a ground service equipment (GSE) is available.

9. The shock strut servicing assistance system of claim 2 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving, by the controller, a temperature of a gas and at least one shock strut design parameter, wherein the calculating is performed using the temperature of the gas and the at least one shock strut design parameter.

10. A shock strut servicing assistance system, comprising:
a controller in electronic communication with a display; and
a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate with the controller, the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the controller, cause the controller to perform operations comprising:
sending, by the controller, visible instructions to the display;
receiving, by the controller, at least one shock strut parameter, the at least one shock strut parameter including at least one of a pressure of a gas located inside a shock strut, a temperature of the gas located inside the shock strut, or a stroke of the shock strut;
calculating, by the controller, a desired number of moles of a gas;
calculating, by the controller, a number of moles of the gas added to the shock strut;
comparing, by the controller, at least one of the desired number of moles of the gas and the number of moles of the gas added to the shock strut with at least one number of moles threshold value; and
sending, by the controller, at least one indicator to the display.

11. The shock strut servicing assistance system of claim 10 , wherein the indicator is sent to the display in response to the comparing.

12. The shock strut servicing assistance system of claim 10 , wherein the visible instructions include at least one of:
prompting an operator to service the shock strut with oil;
prompting the operator to disconnect an oil charging hose from the shock strut; or
prompting the operator to add gas to the shock strut.

13. A method for servicing a shock strut, comprising:
receiving, by a controller, at least one shock strut parameter, the at least one shock strut parameter including at least one of a pressure of a gas located inside a shock strut, a temperature of the gas located inside the shock strut, or a stroke of the shock strut;
sending, by the controller, visible instructions to a display;
comparing, by the controller, the pressure of the gas located inside the shock strut with at least one gas pressure threshold value;
receiving, by the controller, a dead volume of the shock strut;
calculating, by the controller, a desired number of moles of the gas;
calculating, by the controller, a number of moles of the gas located in the shock strut; and
comparing, by the controller, at least one of the desired number of moles of the gas and the number of moles of the gas located in the shock strut with at least one number of moles threshold value.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the visible instructions include at least one of:
prompting an operator to add oil to the shock strut;
prompting the operator to close a second valve and continue adding oil to the shock strut via a first valve until a desired pressure of the oil is achieved;
prompting the operator to remove an oil charging hose and connect a gas charging hose to a second valve coupled to the shock strut and to add the gas to the shock strut;
prompting the operator to connect a ground service equipment (GSE) to a first valve;
prompting the operator to remove the GSE from the first valve;
prompting the operator to remove oil from the shock strut in accordance with the dead volume of the shock strut; or
prompting the operator to indicate if the oil has been removed from the shock strut.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the visible instructions include at least one of:
prompting the operator to compress the shock strut to a fully compressed position via a jack; or
prompting the operator to lower the jack to allow the shock strut to extend to a fully extended position.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the method for servicing the shock strut is for servicing a shock strut of an aircraft under a weight-on-wheel condition.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the method for servicing the shock strut is for servicing a shock strut of an aircraft under a weight-off-wheel condition.

18. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
sending, by the controller, at least one indicator to the display.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the at least one indicator is sent to the display in response to the comparing.

20. The method of claim 13 , wherein the method for servicing the shock strut is for servicing a shock strut with a non-negative dead volume.

Assignees

• Goodrich Corp

Inventors

• Fazeli Amir
• Cepic Adnan

Classifications

• F16F9/3264

  Arrangements for indicating, e.g. fluid level; Arrangements for checking dampers (F16F9/3292 takes precedence; testing of vehicle damping G01M17/04) · CPC title

• B64C25/60

  Oleo legs · CPC title

• B64F5/0045 Primary

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B64F5/40 Primary

  Maintaining or repairing aircraft · CPC title

• B64F5/60

  Testing or inspecting aircraft components or systems · CPC title