CA2121823A1

CA2121823A1 - Soft wing suspension

Info

Publication number: CA2121823A1
Application number: CA002121823A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Paul Wesley Dawson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1994-04-21
Filing date: 1994-04-21
Publication date: 1995-10-22

Abstract

Most aircraft currently being manufactured today use some form of suspension system which will dampen the impact forces of landing and bumps on the ground. None of the airplanes manufactured today provide any means to dampen any sudden flight loads or bumps while flying, except for the flexing of the wing.
My invention is to provide a means to provide relative movement between the fusealage and it?s supporting and controling structures (wings, stabalizers) during flight.
It will also provide means to control the rate, neutral position and amount of movement these surfaces are allowed.
By doing this the passengers in the airplane will enjoy a smoother ride, and fatigue loads on the entire airplane structure will be reduced. Inspection times and airframe life could be extended as it is known that aircraft which fly through turbulant air regularly (pipe line patrol) have shorter inspection times and airframe life. The dampened movement of the wing would also allow floats, wheels or skiis to be mounted directly to the bottom of the wing, which can now be used to absorb landing loads.

Description

~' Specification Soft Wing Suspension This invention relates to a shock absorbing suspension system for airplanes during flight.

It is common in aircraft manufactured today to fasten the wing and stabilizers solidly to the airplane fuselage in a fixed position for flight. Any type of adjustable wings currently designed today allow changes in sweep, dihedral and angle of incidence, but they still hold the wing rigidly to the fuselage providing no means for the wing or stabilizor to move under changing flight loads.
The only type of shock absorbtion is from the wing and stabilizors flexing. This solid type of mounting causes all of the vibrations and stresses of flight through turbulant air to be transferred to the fuselage and passengers. These vibrations cause the airplane life to decrease because of fatique stress and cause passengers to become airsick and tired.

My invention is to use one or more pivots when mount--- ing the wings and stabilizors to the fuselage of an air-plane, allowing them independant movement in flight.
This movement will allow the sudden stresses - or bumps-caused by turbulance to be dampened before they are transfered to the fuselage. Through the use of multiple pivot points and pivotarms or links and limit stops, a designer can control the exact amount of movement he wants and allow that movement where he wants it on that wing or stabilizor. The movement of the wing also would allow for the installation ofmotion dampening devices (shock absorb-ers) and a wide variety of load carrying devices such as springs or gas charged cylinders to allow the designer and pilot of the aircraft to select the type of ride desired inside. Also with the wings now being able to ab-sorb shock loads, seperate shock absorbing landing gear systems could be removed and wheels, skiis, or floats can be directly mounted to the wing. The wing can now absorb landing and flight loads.

- In drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention, Figure 1 is the foward outline view of a high wing fuselage structure showing a single axis pivot & a single external strut pivot link. Figure 2 is the foward outline view of a high wing fuselage structure showing a .~ 2121823 Specification Soft Wing Suspension Cont.

single axis pivot and external strut with no pivot link.
Figure 3 is the foward outline view of a fuselage struct-ure showing a single axis pivot set back from the end of the wing spar. Figure 4 is the foward outline view of a low wing fuselage showing a single axis pivot with a land-ing gear attached to the wing. Figure 5 is the foward out-line view of a fuselage showing a multiple pivot attachm-ent. Figure 6 is the same as figure 5 except the pivots are all located within the fuselage. Figure 7,8,9 are front views of a wing or stabilizor being fastened to the aircraft showing various link geometry. Figure 10 is the top view of the multi axis pivot showing the link inter-connect arm. Figure 11 is a 3-D view of the multiple axis pivot.

An airplane wing or stabilizor which is allowed to pivot in flight requires a pivot, or several pivots, a means to hold the wing in the desired position of it s pivoting travel during flight, a means to limit the amount of pivot allowed, and the means to dampen the pivoting action. For the Purposes of simplifying all of my drawings I have incorperated into item B, the travel stops, shock dampening capacity and load carrying capacity (either tension or compression). Aircraft manufacturers may choose to do the same, or have individual items preform each task.
There are two types of pivot shown in my drawings. A sin-gle axis pivot is where the pivoting action of the wing is about ane axis and it is fairly simple in design. The single axis can be at the end of the spar of the attaching part as in figure 1,2, and 4 item A, or set back on the spar as shown in figure 3 item A. Any of the single axis designs require that the load carrying capacity of item B
to balance the leverage of the wing generated over pivot A. A single axis pivot causes a large change in the dih-edral angle of the wing when it pivots and depending on the distance from the pivot to the edge of the fuselage, relatively small amounts of vertical wing movement occur .' ",'"`' ~
. . .- .

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Specification Soft Wing Suspension Cont.

near the fuselage. The double axis or multiple axis pivot allow the designer much better control of wing movement and he p to reduce the loads on item B. With the pivot links being attached allowing two or more axis to trans-fer wing or stabilizor loads to the airplane, item B no longer has to support torque loads as was required with a single pivot axis. Item B now supports only lifting and stabilizing loads. Vertical wing movement near the fuselage can be increased providing a smoother ride to the passen-gers. In figure 7 you can see the angular attachment of the pivot arms from the airplane (G) to the wing (E). The angular attachment of the links forms an artifical pivot point (H) which allows more wing or stabilizor tip move-ment then wing or stabilizor root. Figure 8 shows parallel links which allow equal tip and root movement and figure 9 shows moreroot movement and less tip movement. The piv-ot links (C) must be joined with an interconnect brace (3) to help keep foward, aft and any intermediate links at the same angle so the wing tip doesn t move foward and aft.
Figure 3 and 4 show the mounting of landing gear directly to the bottom of the wing.

Claims

1 Any type of pivot used to attach a wing or section of wing, or stabilizor or section of stabilizor to the airplane, allowing independant movement of that item, which movement is intended to allow vibrations caused by flight or landing loads to be dampened.

2 The attachment of a shock absorbing device to an item mounted as per claim 1.

Cont.

3 The attachment of a load carrying device (springs, gas struts, rubber blucks...) to support the structures mounted as per claim 1.

4 The use of links or arms between pivot points described in claim 1 which will allow movement as illistrated in the specification describing figure 7,8,9.

5 The use of an interconnect device to hold the pivot links along the same pivot axis at the same angle to one another.

6 The attachment to an object mounted as per claim 1, which will hold that object in a fixed position if required.