CN113815843A

CN113815843A - Linkage mechanism for landing gear door and device for opening, closing and locking the door comprising the same

Info

Publication number: CN113815843A
Application number: CN202111256019.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 谭临池; 张璞; 张恒康; 杨尚新; 刘杰; 晁灿
Original assignee: Comac Shanghai Aircraft Design & Research Institute; Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd
Current assignee: Comac Shanghai Aircraft Design & Research Institute; Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd
Priority date: 2021-10-27
Filing date: 2021-10-27
Publication date: 2021-12-21
Anticipated expiration: 2041-10-27
Also published as: CN113815843B

Abstract

A door linkage (M) for a landing gear bay, comprising: a lock link to which an actuator and at least one spring (60) can be connected, at least one door drawbar which is rotatably connected at a first end to the lock link and at a second end to a door (H1, H2), and which is connected at both its first end and its link lock to a slide (31) which can slide in a slide rail (30), wherein the door linkage (M) can be moved by actuation of the actuator between an open position in which the door (H1, H2) is opened and a lock position; and in the locking position, the hatch (H1, H2) is closed and locked by the locking link. A device for opening, closing and locking a door comprising said door linkage (M) is also proposed.

Description

Linkage mechanism for landing gear door and device for opening, closing and locking the door comprising the same

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a linkage for a door in the field of aircraft, in particular for a door of a front cabin housing a nose landing gear, and to a device for opening, closing and locking a door comprising such a linkage.

Background

In current aircraft, in addition to the need for a mechanism for effecting movement of the landing gear doors to effect corresponding opening and closing of the doors during retraction and extension of the landing gear, there is also a need for a mechanism that can effect locking of the doors when they have reached open and closed positions, avoiding interference of unwanted movement of the doors with the movement of the landing gear.

In the prior art, the locking of the doors of the nose landing gear after closure is generally carried out by means of locking hook assemblies or actuating cartridge assemblies containing mechanical locks inside.

Fig. 1 illustrates a structure of an existing actuator cartridge assembly for opening and closing a nose door of a nose landing gear, in which an upper portion a and a lower portion b of fig. 1 illustrate processes of retraction and extension of a piston rod of the actuator cartridge assembly, respectively.

In this type of configuration, the actuation barrel is connected to the door rocker assembly. The actuating cylinder moves to drive the cabin door rocker arm to move together, and further drives the cabin door pull rod to pull the cabin door to a closed position. The actuating cylinder is internally provided with a mechanical lock for locking the front hatch. However, due to the positioning of the mechanical lock inside the actuating cylinder, it is not visible from the outside. Thus, if inspection or maintenance of the mechanical lock is required, disassembly of the actuating cylinder is required. This results in inefficient routine maintenance and high maintenance costs for such actuator cartridge assemblies, as well as low reliability of the actuator cartridge assembly.

Figure 2 shows a prior art latch hook assembly for locking a door of a nose landing gear after the door is opened, wherein the left part a of figure 2 shows the latch hook assembly in an unlocked state and the right part b shows the latch hook assembly in a locked state. This type of latch hook assembly locks the nose gear nose door by hooking a rocker mechanism connected to the door drawbar. Such latch hook assemblies typically require additional control, are relatively complex, have low reliability, and add weight to the assembly due to the provision of a control system.

Furthermore, a landing gear door with a double hook mechanism is known from WO 2010063110A1 (publication date: 6/10/2010). In the cabin door connecting mechanism, the position of the resistance stay bar is changed when the undercarriage is folded and unfolded, and the hook of the mechanism is collided, so that the mechanism is driven to move, and the opening and closing of the cabin door are controlled. The door mechanism locking torque is provided by a spring, maintaining the locking of the door. However, the mechanism is a unilateral door mechanism, which needs to be symmetrically arranged according to left and right doors, the movement of the doors needs to be driven by the movement of the landing gear, and the locking of the doors also needs to be locked by the position locking of the landing gear.

A device for controlling a trapdoor for closing the landing gear bay of an aircraft is known from WO 2011000971a2 (publication date: 2011, 1/6). In this arrangement, the movement of the door is also carried by the landing gear and the locking of the position of the door mechanism requires locking by means of the landing gear.

It would be desirable in the art to provide an improved device for locking a door of a landing gear bay relative to the prior art described above.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a door link mechanism for an aircraft landing gear, which has a simple structure. The mechanism is simple in structure, high in reliability and easy to maintain.

In order to solve the above technical problem, the present invention provides a door link mechanism for a landing gear bay, comprising:

a locking link portion to which an actuator and at least one spring can be connected,

at least one door drawbar rotatably connected at a first end to the locking link and at a second end to a door of the forward bay housing the landing gear, and the first end of the door drawbar and the link-locking portion are both connected to a slider slidable in the slide track,

wherein,

upon actuation of the actuator, the linkage moves between the open position and the locked position,

in the open position, the hatch is open;

in the locking position, the hatch is closed and locked by the locking link. In the locked position, the locking torque provided by the at least one spring maintains the hatch closed and locked condition.

Thus, the hatch linkage proposed by the present application enables the opening and closing of the hatch directly by the actuation of the actuator and the locking of the hatch at the same time as the hatch is closed by means of the link locking portion comprised by the linkage.

Unlike the prior art described at the outset, the present invention enables the movement of the landing gear doors to be controlled independently of the movement of the landing gear, in particular by controlling the opening and closing of the doors by actuation of the door linkages by means of actuators. In other words, by means of the door linkage of the invention, the locking of the landing gear doors does not have to be effected by means of the movement of the landing gear, and is therefore independent of the movement of the landing gear, but no longer in a fixed sequence with this movement.

In particular, this allows the door linkage according to the invention to allow the landing gear to be retracted and deployed normally and to meet the requirements for lowering the landing gear in case of emergency, avoiding to the maximum extent possible the interference of the movement of the doors of the landing gear box with the movement of the landing gear during the lowering of the landing gear.

In particular, the door drawbar comprises a first door drawbar and a second door drawbar, a second end of the first door drawbar and a second end of the second door drawbar being respectively connected to one door.

Therefore, the door connecting rod mechanism can simultaneously control the movement of the left door and the right door of the landing gear cabin, so that the movement speeds of the doors have good synchronism.

Further preferably, the first door tension rod and the second door tension rod are symmetrically arranged about a middle axis of the door linkage mechanism, and an axis of the sliding rail coincides with the middle axis. This improves the fatigue performance of both pneumatic load distribution and emergency lowering of the door tie rods.

In particular, in the claimed hatch linkage, the locking link portion comprises a first locking link and a second locking link, a first end of the first locking link being rotatably connected to the slider together with a first end of the first hatch tension rod and a first end of the second hatch tension rod, a second end of the first locking link being rotatably connected to a first end of the second locking link, a second end of the second locking link being rotatably connected to the fuselage.

Preferably, the locking links of the locking link part each have a stopper. The mutual contact of the stop blocks prevents the first and second locking links from rotating further away from the middle axis of the door linkage during movement of the door linkage from the open position to the locked position.

The stop block is optionally an integrally formed part of the first and second locking links.

Optionally, the stop block of the first locking link and the stop block of the second locking link are both disposed proximate to the pivotal connection between the first locking link and the second locking link.

Preferably, it is provided for the trajectory of movement of the hatch linkage mechanism of the invention that, in the locked position, the central axis of the first locking link is not collinear with both the central axis of the second locking link and the intermediate axis, both on the same side of said intermediate axis. In the open position, both are on the other side of the medial axis.

Further, it is provided for the movement trajectory of the hatch linkage that there is also a neutral position between the open position and the locked position, in which the central axis of the first locking link is collinear with the central axis and the intermediate axis of the second locking link. It should be noted that the neutral position is not a stable position, but only a position at an instant during the movement of the hatch linkage.

Thus, the opening, closing and locking of the hatch can be directly realized by the proposed hatch connecting rod mechanism without other mechanical locking structures or external control systems, the structure is simplified, and the reliability of the device is improved.

Furthermore, the present invention also proposes a device for opening, closing and locking a hatch door comprising a hatch door linkage as described above and an actuator cartridge assembly connected to a power source, wherein the actuator cartridge assembly comprises: an outer cylinder, and a piston disposed in the outer cylinder so as to be capable of reciprocating. One end of the piston is pivotally connected to a connection between the second end of the first locking link and the first end of the second locking link. In addition, one end of the at least one spring is connected to the second locking draw bar, and the other end is fixed to the body.

Alternatively, the means for opening, closing and locking the hatch door may also comprise two springs.

The force exerted by the spring can be reversed during operation of the door linkage from the open position to the locked position. That is, when the link lock mechanism moves between the open position and the lock position, there is a shift in direction of the urging force of the spring, which may occur near the neutral position. Specifically, when moving from the open position to the locked position, the force exerted by the spring reverses the direction of the first and second door catcher pins from rotating the two doors toward each other to facilitate the first and second door catcher pins rotating the two doors toward each other. Conversely, when the door linkage moves from the locked position to the open position, the force exerted by the spring reverses the direction of the first and second door catcher pins away from each other to urge the first and second door catcher pins to rotate the doors away from each other, thereby urging the doors open.

In a non-limiting embodiment, the slide track is a groove formed in the body, and the slider is a slide pin slidable in the groove. In this case, the first end of the first door tension rod and the first end of the second door tension rod are rotatably connected to the sliding pin together with the first end of the first locking tension rod, and the three rods can pivot with the sliding pin as a pivot as the sliding pin slides in the slide rail.

Alternatively, the sliding element can also be another guide element that is fixedly connected to the body, and the sliding element is a sliding element that can be moved along the guide element on the guide element.

The invention thus proposes a device for opening, closing and locking a hatch door that achieves a simple structure, high reliability and good maintainability.

Drawings

With reference to the above objects, the technical features of the present invention are clearly described in the following claims, and the advantages thereof are apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate by way of example a preferred embodiment of the present invention, without limiting the scope of the inventive concept.

FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art actuator cartridge assembly for opening, closing and locking a hatch door;

FIG. 2 illustrates another prior art latch hook assembly for opening, closing and locking a door;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic kinematic diagram of the hatch linkage of the invention;

FIG. 4 shows a front view of an embodiment of the device for opening, closing and locking a door of the present invention, wherein the device is in the locked position;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic view of the movement mechanism of the hatch linkage in the locked position;

figure 6 shows a front view of the device for opening, closing and locking a door of a compartment shown in figure 4, wherein the device is in the open position;

figure 7 shows a schematic view of the movement mechanism of the hatch linkage in the open position;

figure 8 shows a front view of the device for opening, closing and locking a door of a hatch shown in figure 4, in a neutral position; and

figure 9 shows a schematic view of the movement mechanism of the hatch linkage in the neutral position.

List of reference numerals:

device for opening, closing and locking a hatch door

M cabin door link mechanism

10 first door drawbar

101 first end of first door drawbar

102 second end of first door drawbar

20 second door drawbar

201 first end of second door drawbar

202 second end of second door drawbar

30 slide rail

31 sliding pin

40 first locking link

401 first end of first locking link

402 second end of first locking link

403 stop block of first locking link

50 second locking link

501 first end of second locking link

502 second end of second locking link

503 stop block for second locking link

60 spring

61 spring connecting rod

70 actuating cylinder assembly

71 outer cylinder

72 piston

Axis of A slide rail

H1, H2 door assembly

F, machine body joint.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to the various embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below. While the invention will be described in conjunction with the exemplary embodiments, it will be understood that this description is not intended to limit the invention to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover not only these exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. For convenience in explanation and accurate definition in the appended claims, the terms "upper", "lower", "inner" and "outer" are used to describe features of the exemplary embodiments with reference to the positions of such features as displayed in the figures.

Referring first to fig. 3 and 4, fig. 3 schematically shows a hatch linkage M comprised by the device 1 for opening, closing and locking a hatch. Fig. 4 shows an embodiment of the device 1.

The link mechanism M includes:

a slide assembly, comprising:

a slide rail 30, which is a groove fixedly arranged in the machine body;

a sliding pin 31 slidably arranged in said sliding track 30;

a first locking link 40;

a second locking link 50;

a first door drawbar 10;

-the second door drawbar 20;

an actuating cylinder assembly 70 comprising:

an outer cylinder 71, the outer cylinder 71 is rotatably connected to the machine body through a machine body joint F;

a piston 72, the piston 72 being reciprocatingly accommodated in the outer cylinder 71, one end of which is pivotably connected to a connecting portion between the first lock link 40 and the second lock link 50, and

-a spring (60) for biasing the spring,

wherein the first end 401 of the first locking link 40, the first end 101 of the first hatch draw bar 10 and the first end 201 of the second hatch draw bar 20 are pivotally connected to the sliding pin 31,

wherein the second end 402 of the first locking link 40 is rotatably connected to the first end 501 of the second locking link 50,

wherein the second end 502 of the second locking link is rotatably connected to the housing by a housing joint F;

wherein the second end 102 of the first door drawbar 10 and the second end 201 of the second door drawbar 20 are rotatably connected to the landing gear bay left and right two doors H1, H2, respectively;

wherein one end of the spring 60 may be rotatably connected to the body at the body joint F by a spring link 61, and the other end is rotatably connected to the second locking link 50. Alternatively, one end of the spring 60 may be rotatably connected to the body directly at the body joint F.

The hatch linkage M has a middle axis which coincides with the axis a of the chute 30. The first 10 and second 20 door tension rods and their connection to the door are arranged symmetrically about this axis a.

The hatch linkage M is a planar motion mechanism that lies in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the hatch.

It is calculated that the degree of freedom of the planar motion mechanism shown in fig. 3 is 1, and thus the motion relationship of the entire planar motion mechanism of the hatch linkage mechanism M is uniquely determined.

It should be noted that the pivotal connection of the body joint F can be achieved in various known ways.

The hatch linkage M and the device 1 for opening, closing and locking the hatch door including the same are explained in detail below with reference to fig. 4 to 9.

In fig. 4 and 5, the door linkage M is in a locked position in which the doors H1, H2 of the nose landing gear bay are closed and locked by the door linkage M by means of the spring 60.

One end of the actuator cartridge assembly 70 may be connected to a power source, such as a hydraulic source, which is not shown. Alternatively, the power source may also be an electrical power source. An electrically controlled hydraulic valve may be disposed between the hydraulic source and the actuating cylinder assembly 70, and the position of the valve core is changed through logic control so as to change the flow direction of the hydraulic fluid, thereby realizing reverse pressure supply, so that the piston 72 extends or retracts in the outer cylinder 71.

In the illustrated embodiment, extended means that the piston moves to the right, and retracted means that the piston wants to move.

As can be seen from the figures, the medial axes of the first and second locking links 40, 50 are not collinear in the locked position, but are all located to the right of the medial axis. Their specific extent of deviation from the neutral axis is limited by the integral stop 403 on the first lock link 40 and the integral stop 503 on the second lock link 50. Specifically, as can be seen, stop 403 may be in the form of a protrusion near the second end 402 of the first locking link 40, while stop 503 may be in the form of a fork ear near the first end of the second locking link 50.

The piston 72 is seated from the outer cylinder 71 and urges the pivotal connection between the second end 402 of the first locking link 40 and the first end 51 of the second locking link 50 to the right. As the pivotal connection moves, the stop 403 of the first lock link 40 and the stop 503 of the second lock link 50 abut one another and prevent the pivotal connection from being pushed further to the right by preventing further rotation of the first lock link 40 and the second lock link 50 relative to one another.

At this time, the locking force provided by the spring 60 located on the other side with respect to the middle axis ensures a locking moment exerted on the link-lock of the door link mechanism M, preventing the doors H1, H2 from being opened undesirably.

Turning now to figures 6 to 7, where the door linkage M is in the open position, the left and right doors H1, H2 are open. In this position, by switching the valves, the power supplied to the piston is reversed, causing the piston 72 to retract into the outer cylinder 71.

As the piston 72 moves from the position shown in fig. 4-5 to the position shown in fig. 6-7, the pivotal connection between the first and second lock links 40, 50 is pulled back from the right side of the medial axis to the left side of the medial axis. Meanwhile, as the first end 401 of the first locking link 40 moves downwards, the sliding pin 31 moves downwards in the sliding rail 30, the first end 101 of the first door tension rod 10 and the first end 201 of the second door tension rod 20 move along with the sliding pin, and the left and right doors H1 and H2 are pulled up, so that the doors H1 and H2 of the nose landing gear bay are opened.

Figures 8 and 9 then show the hatch linkage M in the neutral position and the device 1 containing the mechanism M.

The neutral position is an intermediate instantaneous position that the hatch linkage M will experience when moving between the open and locked positions. In fact, the device 1 is now in an unstable state.

In the neutral position, as is particularly clearly visible in fig. 9, the central axes of the first and second locking links 40, 50 are collinear with the central axis of the locking linkage.

The basic working principle of the device 1 for opening, closing and locking a hatch door is briefly described below with reference to fig. 3 to 9.

For example, when the hatches H1, H2 are in the closed state shown in fig. 4, if the hatches are to be opened, the following actions are performed:

first, pressure is supplied to the actuator cartridge assembly 70 (the pressure source is not shown here).

At this point, the actuator cylinder assembly 70 overcomes the tensile force of the spring 60, moving the piston 72 to the left, which moves the pivotal connection between the first and second lock links 40, 50 to the left.

Then, as the first and second locking links 40 and 50 continue to pivot, the spring force provided by the spring 60 changes direction after the first and second locking links 40 and 50 have rotated through a certain angle. The spring force provided by the spring 60 will then no longer impede the opening movement of the hatches H1, H2 away from each other, but will assist in moving the hatches H1, H2 further away from each other, thereby finally opening the hatches.

In the process, the second end 502 of the second locking link 50 pivots about its pivot at the body joint F, causing the second end 402 of the first locking link 40 to rotate relative to the first end 501 of the second locking link 50. The first end 401 of the first locking link 40 is also moved, thereby causing the slide pin 31 to move in a vertically downward direction along the slide rail 30. The first end 501 of the first locking link 50 moves downwardly as well and the first ends 101, 201 of the first and second

door tension rods

10, 20 move downwardly with it, the first and second

door tension rods

10, 20 pull up the doors H1, H2, thereby effecting opening of the front landing gear front door.

In the open position, the tension provided by the spring 60 is balanced with the tension provided by the actuator cartridge assembly 70, thereby stabilizing the hatch door H1, H2 position.

Thereafter, if it is desired to lower and lock the doors H1, H2 again, for example, the nose landing gear is to be retracted, power is first applied to the actuator cartridge assembly 70 in the opposite direction. The piston 72 extends to the right. The piston 72 pushes the first end 501 of the second locking link 50 and the second end 402 of the first locking link 40, thereby rotating the second locking link 50 about the body joint F while the first end 401 of the first locking link 40 pushes up the slide pin 31.

Thereafter, as the second lock link 50 rotates, after the second lock link 50 has rotated through an angle, the direction of the spring force provided by the spring 60 reverses such that the spring force no longer resists movement of the hatches H1, H2 toward one another, but rather urges the hatches H1, H2 toward one another. This further causes the first and second door catcher pins 10, 20, which are rotatably connected to the sliding pin 301, to move bringing the doors H1, H2 together until the doors H1, H2 are closed. At this time, the stoppers 403 and 503 provided on the first and second lock links 40 and 50 are in contact with each other, and the spring force provided by the spring 60 keeps the lock link portion constituted by the first and second lock links 40 and 50 locked, thereby keeping the hatches H1, H2 locked.

Therefore, the door link mechanism M and the door link mechanism M comprising the door link mechanism M can realize the opening, closing and locking of the doors H1 and H2 through the single-degree-of-freedom plane motion mechanism, make the opening and closing of the doors H1 and H2 independent of the movement of the landing gear, and meet the requirements of normal retraction and emergency landing gear lowering of the landing gear by virtue of the reversing mechanism of the spring 60.

Furthermore, since the first door drawbar 10 and the second door drawbar 20 connecting the two doors H1, H2 are connected to the same sliding pin 31 and are both arranged symmetrically about the axis a of the sliding track 30, the door linkage M is able to control the movement of the two doors H1, H2 simultaneously, thus ensuring the synchronism of the movement, which is beneficial for improving the distribution of the pneumatic load and the fatigue performance when landing the landing gear in case of emergency.

Furthermore, since the doors H1, H2 slide rails 30 and each nacelle joint F are integral with the fuselage, the fuselage joints can be shifted to a simple binaural monaural connection. This makes it possible to increase the strength of the doors H1, H2 of the nose landing gear bay belonging to the bird strike area, which is also advantageous from the standpoint of fuselage strength.

In the present invention, the embodiments may be freely combined, or may be appropriately modified or omitted within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A door linkage (M) for a landing gear bay, comprising:

a locking link portion to which an actuator and at least one spring (60) can be connected,

at least one door tie which is rotatably connected at a first end to a locking link and at a second end to a door (H1, H2) and which first end and the link lock are both connected to a slide (31) which is slidable in a sliding rail (30),

wherein,

-the hatch linkage (M) being movable between an open position and a locked position by means of actuation of the actuator,

in the open position, the hatch (H1, H2) is opened;

in the locked position, the hatch (H1, H2) is closed and locked by means of the locking link.

2. The door linkage (M) according to claim 1, comprising a first door drawbar (10) and a second door drawbar (20), the second end (102) of the first door drawbar (10) and the second end (202) of the second door drawbar (20) being connected to one door (H1, H2), respectively.

3. The hatch linkage mechanism (M) according to claim 2, characterised in that the locking link section comprises a first locking link (40), a second locking link (50), wherein,

a first end (401) of the first locking link (40) is rotatably connected to the slider (31) together with a first end (101) of the first door drawbar (10) and a first end (201) of the second door drawbar (10),

the second end (402) of the first locking link (40) is rotatably connected to the first end (501) of the second locking link (50),

the second end (502) of the second locking link (50) is rotatably connected to the fuselage.

4. The hatch linkage (M) according to claim 3, characterised in that the first locking link (40) and the second locking link (50) each have a stop (403, 503), in which the stop (403) of the first locking link (40) and the stop (503) of the second locking link (50) abut against one another.

5. Door linkage mechanism (M) according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the first door drawbar (10), the second door drawbar (20) are arranged symmetrically about a middle axis and the axis (A) of the sliding track (30) coincides with the middle axis.

6. The hatch linkage mechanism (M) according to claim 5, characterised in that in the locked position the centre axis of the first locking link (40) is not collinear with the centre axis of the second locking link (50) and the intermediate axis.

7. Door linkage mechanism (M) according to claim 6, characterized in that the door linkage mechanism (M) also passes a neutral position in which the centre axis of the first locking link (40) is collinear with the centre axis of the second locking link (50) and the intermediate axis, when the door linkage mechanism (M) moves between the open position and the locked position.

8. Device (1) for opening, closing and locking a hatch, characterized by comprising a hatch linkage (M) according to any one of claims 3 to 7 and an actuator cartridge assembly (70) connected to a power source,

wherein,

the actuator cartridge assembly (70) includes:

an outer cylinder (71), and

a piston reciprocally disposed in the outer cylinder (71), wherein one end of the piston is pivotally connected to a connection between the second end (401) of the first locking link (40) and the first end (501) of the second locking link (50),

and wherein the one or more of the one or more,

one end of the at least one spring (60) is connected to the second locking tie (50) and the other end is fixed to the fuselage.

9. Device (1) for opening, closing and locking a door according to claim 8, characterised in that said sliding track (30) is a groove made in the fuselage and said slider (31) is a sliding pin slidable in said groove.

10. Device (1) for opening, closing and locking a door according to claim 9, characterised in that the direction of the force of the spring (60) changes during the travel of the door linkage (M) from the open position to the locked position and vice versa.