Propulsion assembly incorporating a turbofan and a mounting pylon enabling a new distribution of the forces between the turbofan and the wing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9919804-B2
Application number	US-201615008593-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 28, 2016
Priority date	Jan 30, 2015
Publication date	Mar 20, 2018
Grant date	Mar 20, 2018

Abstract

A propulsion assembly includes a turbojet incorporating a fan casing and a central casing around a longitudinal axis, a mounting pylon having a rigid structure, a forward engine attachment interposed between a forward extremity of the rigid structure and an upper part of the fan casing, the upper part being in a vertical median plane (P) passing through the longitudinal axis, an aft engine attachment interposed between a median zone of the rigid structure and an upper aft part of the central casing, and a device for absorbing the thrust forces generated by the turbojet, including two links placed either side of the median plane (P) and hinged, on one hand, forward, on a forward part of the central casing, and on the other, aft, directly on the rigid structure. Such an arrangement enables a reduction of the stresses, and the possibility of designing a simplified rigid structure.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A propulsion assembly of an aircraft having a wing, said propulsion assembly comprising:
a turbofan incorporating a fan casing and a central casing around a longitudinal axis;
a mounting pylon having a rigid structure;
a forward engine attachment interposed between a forward extremity of the rigid structure and an upper part of the fan casing, said upper part being in a vertical median plane passing through the longitudinal axis;
an aft engine attachment interposed between a median zone of the rigid structure and an upper part of the central casing; and
a device for absorbing the thrust forces generated by the turbofan, including two links placed either side of the median plane and hinged, forward, on a forward part of the central casing, and-, aft, directly on the rigid structure, enabling absorption of the bending moments around a vertical direction Z, and, application, at the forward engine attachment, only of suspension forces of the turbofan along the vertical direction Z and a loading of the forward part of the rigid structure by a simple bending moment around a transverse direction Y,
said propulsion assembly further comprising second fastening components ensuring fastening of the rigid structure to the wing and comprising two flanges fastened either side of the rigid structure at an aft part, and each being pierced by a bore, and, for each link, the longitudinal axis of said link passes through the bore placed on the same side of the rigid structure as that of said link.

2. The propulsion assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the longitudinal axis of the two links are concurrent in the vertical median plane at the rear of the second fastening components.

3. The propulsion assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the forward part of the rigid structure comprises two C beams placed back to back.

4. The propulsion system according to claim 1 , wherein the forward extremity of the rigid structure incorporates a bore having a centerline parallel to the transverse direction (Y) of the turbofan,
wherein the upper part of the fan casing incorporates a bore having a centerline parallel to the transverse direction (Y),
wherein the forward engine attachment includes first and second shackles,
wherein each shackle incorporates a first opening which is aligned with the bore of the rigid structure and a second opening which is aligned with the bore of the fan casing,

wherein a first pin extends through the respective first openings of each shackle and through the bore of the rigid structure and a second pin extends through the respective second openings of each shackle and through the bore of the fan casing.

5. The propulsion assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the central casing incorporates two bores parallel to the longitudinal axis and either side of the median plane, and
wherein the aft engine attachment includes two female fork ends having centrelines parallel to the longitudinal axis, each female fork end accommodating one of the bores secured by putting a pin in place.

6. The propulsion assembly according to claim 1 , wherein each link is fastened to the central casing at an attachment plane passing through the longitudinal axis and parallel to the transverse direction (Y) of the turbofan.

7. The propulsion assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the median zone of the rigid structure has a shape of a box incorporating a set of transverse ribs, and
wherein one of the transverse ribs is in a plane defined by the longitudinal axis of one of the two links and the transverse direction (Y).

8. The propulsion assembly according to claim 1 , further comprising a safety system comprising:
a yoke which is rotationally mounted to the rigid structure and extending to either side of the median plane (P),
wherein the extremities of the yoke extending to either side of the median plane are mounted to hinges on the sides of the central casing.

9. The propulsion assembly according to claim 8 , wherein at least one of the connections included in the connection between the yoke and the rigid structure, or the connections between the yoke and the central casing permits relative movement between the yoke and the rigid structure or between the yoke and the central casing, respectively.

10. An aircraft comprising a wing and a propulsion assembly comprising:
a turbofan incorporating a fan casing and a central casing around a longitudinal axis;
a mounting pylon having a rigid structure;
a forward engine attachment interposed between a forward extremity of the rigid structure and an upper part of the fan casing, said upper part being in a vertical median plane passing through the longitudinal axis;
an aft engine attachment interposed between a median zone of the rigid structure and an upper part of the central casing; and
a device for absorbing the thrust forces generated by the turbofan, including two links placed either side of the median plane and hinged, forward, on a forward part of the central casing, and-, aft, directly on the rigid structure, enabling absorption of the bending moments around a vertical direction Z, and, application, at the forward engine attachment, only of suspension forces of the turbofan along the vertical direction Z and a loading of the forward part of the rigid structure by a simple bending moment around a transverse direction Y,
said propulsion assembly further comprising second fastening components ensuring fastening of the rigid structure to the wing and comprising two flanges fastened either side of the rigid structure at an aft part, and each being pierced by a bore, and, for each link, the longitudinal axis of said link passes through the bore placed on the same side of the rigid structure as that of said link,
wherein rigid structure is fastened under the wing.

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Sas

Inventors

• Pautis Olivier
• Nanda Rohan

Classifications

• B64D27/18 Primary

  within, or attached to, wings · CPC title

• B64D29/06

  Attaching of nacelles, fairings or cowlings · CPC title

• B64D2027/262

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B64D27/26 Primary

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B64D2027/268

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic