CN116215836A - Manual trigger mechanism for aircraft emergency slide - Google Patents

Abstract

A manual trigger mechanism for an emergency slide of an aircraft, the aircraft comprising an emergency slide, an inflator for inflating the emergency slide, and a hatch trigger mechanism, wherein the hatch trigger mechanism is operable to trigger the inflator to inflate by pulling on a trigger cable, wherein the manual trigger mechanism comprises a drive assembly, a restraint assembly, and a manual cable assembly comprising at least one manual cable operably connected to the drive assembly; the drive assembly is configured to pivot to pull the trigger cable to trigger the inflator; and when the cabin door triggering mechanism triggers the air charging device, the manual triggering mechanism does not move. The manual triggering mechanism provided by the invention realizes the function backup of triggering the inflation of the emergency slide, and improves the safety of the aircraft. The invention also relates to an aircraft and to a method for triggering the inflation of an emergency slide by means of the aforementioned manual triggering mechanism.

Description

Manual trigger mechanism for aircraft emergency slide

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of aircraft cabin equipment. In particular, the present invention proposes a manual trigger mechanism for an emergency slide of an aircraft.

Background

For the emergency slide of the airplane, when the emergency slide needs to be used, the emergency slide needs to be inflated by triggering firstly, and then the emergency slide can be released. Under normal conditions, the actuators provided on the doors of the aircraft will assist in triggering the inflation of the emergency slides. For example, an aircraft door emergency slide pre-position triggering mechanism is known from CN105383680a (publication date: 2016, 3, 9), and a slide bag gas cylinder is triggered by connecting a cable through a door mechanism. The emergency slide pre-positioning trigger mechanism for the aircraft cabin door is arranged between two cabin doors of the aircraft, a cabin door side trigger rocker arm, a limiting flange plate, a torsion rocker arm, a slide pre-positioning bolt and an inserting rod are respectively arranged at positions close to the cabin doors of the aircraft, the limiting flange plate and the torsion rocker arm are sequentially arranged at the end part of a rotating shaft rod from one side of the rotating shaft rod close to the cabin doors, the inserting rod is inserted into the end part of the rotating shaft rod, a rocker arm component is arranged in the middle of the rotating shaft rod and connected with a transmission rocker arm, the transmission rocker arm is fixed on a support to form a lever structure, and in a normal pre-positioning mode, when the cabin door is lifted to a certain position and is lifted continuously, a gas cylinder of the slide is opened by utilizing the lever linkage action of the cabin door side trigger rocker arm, the rocker arm component and the transmission rocker arm, so that the slide under wings is released.

A hatch quick release locking mechanism is known from CN 107965218A (publication date: 2018, 4, 27), which comprises a locking mechanism assembly, a control pull ring assembly and a steel cable, wherein the locking mechanism assembly is respectively connected with an aircraft body and a hatch according to a locking function, a plurality of sets of locking mechanism assemblies are connected in series through the steel cable and then connected with the control pull ring assembly, and synchronous unlocking control of the whole hatch quick release locking mechanism can be realized through the control pull ring assembly. The cabin door can be thrown away from the machine body structure when the tail of the small-sized general aircraft flies in a rotary mode by adopting the mechanism, and an air emergency evacuation channel is formed.

According to the regulations of the related airworthiness documents, in addition to the hatch triggering mechanism itself already existing, means are required to be provided for the purpose of manually initiating the inflation of the emergency slide as a backup. This means allows for triggering inflation of the emergency slide by manual operation in the event of failure of an existing hatch triggering mechanism, thereby providing a backup of safety functions.

Currently, for this manual backup means, inflation is usually triggered by a crew member pulling a cable of a certain length manually. However, it has been found that in such a manual pulling of the cable, there may occur a situation where the pulling amount is insufficient due to the operator, and a situation where the cable is caught or loose may occur. The situation can not successfully start the emergency slide to be inflated, so that the release of the emergency slide in the emergency situation is affected, the evacuation of personnel on the aircraft is delayed or hindered, and finally the safety of the personnel is endangered.

It would be desirable in the art to provide a set of manual trigger mechanisms based on the hatch trigger mechanisms known in the art described above, to provide a manually triggered backup function, and to overcome or at least ameliorate the above-described drawbacks.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention is made in view of the above technical problems, and aims to provide a manual triggering mechanism capable of realizing function backup for the inflation triggering function of an emergency slide on an aircraft, thereby improving the safety of the aircraft.

In order to solve the technical problems, the inventor provides a manual trigger mechanism for an aircraft emergency slide. The aircraft includes emergent slide, is used for carrying out inflatable device and hatch door trigger mechanism to emergent slide, and wherein, hatch door trigger mechanism can trigger inflatable device through dragging the trigger cable to carry out the inflation of corresponding emergent slide, and then trigger emergent slide. The manual trigger mechanism according to the present invention comprises a drive assembly, a restraint assembly, and a manual cable assembly, wherein the manual cable assembly comprises at least one manual cable operatively connected to the drive assembly, wherein the drive assembly is configured to pivot about a pivot axis to pull the trigger cable to trigger the inflation device to inflate, and wherein the manual trigger mechanism of the present invention is not moved when the hatch trigger mechanism is moved to pull the trigger cable to trigger the inflation device.

The manual triggering mechanism solves the problem that an airplane lacks a safety backup means for manually triggering an emergency slide, improves the safety of the airplane, and is arranged so that the operation of the existing cabin door triggering mechanism on the airplane can not drive the manual triggering mechanism to operate. Thus, the manual trigger mechanism is arranged so as not to affect the operation of the existing hatch trigger mechanism.

In particular, aircraft inflators are connected to a drive rocker via the above-described trigger cable, and existing hatch trigger mechanisms trigger the inflator by pulling the trigger cable by rotating the drive rocker. The drive assembly of the manual trigger mechanism according to the invention comprises a drive rocker arm pivotable about a pivot axis, which drive rocker arm can contact the transmission rocker arm in a position, thereby abutting the transmission rocker arm and driving it in rotation together, when the drive rocker arm is pivoted about the pivot axis, so as to drag the trigger cable. This design allows the manual trigger mechanism to trigger the inflator device by means of a part of the components of the existing door trigger mechanism on the aircraft. Therefore, when the proposed manual trigger mechanism is to be applied to an existing model, it requires less modification cost and workload, and requires less installation space.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the driving rocker arm is configured as a non-equal arm lever. The driving rocker arm of the unequal arm lever structure is provided with a first arm and a second arm, the length of the first arm is larger than that of the second arm, the manual stay rope of the stay rope assembly of the manual trigger mechanism is connected with the first arm, and the second arm can abut against the transmission rocker arm in the process of pivoting the driving rocker arm around the pivot shaft of the driving rocker arm, so that the driving rocker arm can be driven to move together. This arrangement allows the trigger cable and the manual cable to be physically located at both ends of the lever. In this case, because the arm of force on the side of the manual cable is relatively long, the pulling force required by the operator on the machine when actuating the manual trigger mechanism by means of the manual cable is relatively small. The success rate of triggering the air charging device is further improved through the arrangement, the safety of the aircraft is improved, and the situation that the air charging device cannot be triggered through the manual trigger mechanism due to insufficient pulling force of operators is effectively avoided, so that the release of the emergency slide is adversely affected.

In particular, the driving rocker arm of the unequal arm lever configuration is configured such that the extending direction of the longer first arm is not parallel to the extending direction of the shorter second arm, and in the rest state of the driving rocker arm, the free end of the first arm is at a higher height than the free end of the second arm. Here, the resting state refers to a case where no pulling force acts on the driving rocker arm, but only gravity acts on the driving rocker arm. The high-low design of the two free ends of the driving rocker ensures that there is sufficient space for the driving rocker to pivot about its pivot axis when the driving rocker needs to pivot, i.e. when the manual trigger mechanism is operated, without interfering with surrounding mechanisms, components.

Further preferably, upon activation of the inflator, the driving rocker arm moves upward to pull the trigger cable, and the present invention provides that the second arm of the driving rocker arm is disposed below the driving rocker arm. The design ensures that when the existing cabin door trigger mechanism of the aircraft can normally operate, namely, under the condition that the transmission rocker arm can be driven by the cabin door trigger mechanism, the transmission rocker arm does not contact the driving rocker arm in the process that the transmission rocker arm moves upwards to pull the trigger stay rope to trigger the inflation device to inflate, and the second arm of the driving rocker arm is not driven to move together, so that the independence of the motion of the cabin door trigger mechanism under normal conditions and the manual trigger mechanism according to the invention is ensured, namely, the motion of the manual trigger mechanism according to the invention is not caused.

In one non-limiting embodiment of the invention, the manual cable of the manual cable assembly has a steel wire and the steel wire is partially sheathed in a jacket along the length. The setting of sheath can protect the steel wire, avoids being touched by other machine parts on every side, and the sheath can also guide the steel wire simultaneously, retrains its motion track, strengthens the rigidity of cable, avoids when the cable is longer under the condition of cable, and the operator pulls the cable, and the steel wire takes place the condition of knot, kink, entanglement etc..

In one non-limiting embodiment of the invention, a manual cable is guided through the connector and base of the restraint assembly. The base has a boss, and the connecting piece is fixed below the boss. The connector is configured to retain a sheath of the wire of the manual cable under the boss. This results in the manual cable in the space between the boss and the drive assembly having only bare wires, since the drive assembly is required to perform a pivoting motion in this space, the absence of the sheath prevents interference of the sheath with the pivoting motion of the drive assembly.

Preferably, the boss of the restraint assembly is saddle-shaped. The height of the saddle part of the design can be adjusted according to the length relation between the exposed section of the steel wire and the section with the sheath in the manual inhaul cable.

Therefore, the manual trigger mechanism provided by the invention has the advantages of light weight, small occupied space and high suitability, can be applied to complex on-board environments, does not interfere with the trigger motion of the existing cabin door trigger mechanism on the machine under normal conditions, can be used for part of components of the existing cabin door trigger mechanism during use, has simple motion, and can save on-board refitting cost and time. The manual trigger mechanism of the present invention thus enables a functional separation from the combination of the use components with existing hatch trigger mechanisms. In addition, the manual trigger mechanism does not need special custom research and development, shortens the development period and reduces the development cost.

The invention also provides an aircraft, which comprises an emergency slide, an inflation device for inflating the emergency slide, a cabin door triggering mechanism capable of triggering the inflation device to inflate the emergency slide, and a manual triggering mechanism according to any one of the schemes. In the aircraft, the manual trigger mechanism realizes the backup of the trigger function for the cabin door trigger mechanism.

The invention also proposes a method for triggering an inflator device for inflating an emergency slide of an aircraft by means of a manual triggering mechanism according to any one of the above solutions. The method is simple to operate and has low requirements on operators, so that the safety of the aircraft is improved.

Drawings

The above-mentioned and other features of the invention will be further elucidated with the aid of embodiments shown therein, which are intended to be non-limiting, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a front perspective view of a manual trigger mechanism for an emergency slide of an aircraft according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of the manual trigger mechanism shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the manual trigger mechanism of the portion shown in fig. 2 from another angle.

Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the drive assembly of the manual trigger mechanism shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a front view of the drive assembly.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line A-A shown in fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken along line B-B shown in fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken along line C-C shown in fig. 5.

Fig. 9 illustrates in an exploded perspective view the restraint assembly of the manual trigger mechanism shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a manual cable assembly of the manual trigger mechanism shown in fig. 1.

List of reference numerals:

11. rotating shaft lever

12. Connecting rod

13. Transmission rocker arm

14. Trigger inhaul cable

3. Driving assembly

31. Driving rocker arm

311. First arm

3111 Free end (of first arm)

3111L side (of free end of first arm)

3111R side (of free end of first arm)

312 second arm

3121 Free end (of the second arm)

3121L side (of free end of second arm)

3121R side (of free end of second arm)

313. Transition portion

32. First shaft

321. First shaft safety pin

322. First shaft washer

323. First shaft bushing

324. The first shaft is rotated

3241. The end of the first shaft rotating shaft

33. Second shaft

331. Second shaft safety pin

332. Second shaft nut

333. Second shaft shoulder bushing

334. Second shaft protection bushing

335. Second shaft gasket

336. Second shaft rocker arm bushing

337. Second shaft bolt

34. Third shaft

341. Third shaft safety pin

342. Third shaft washer

343. Third shaft bushing

344. Third shaft spindle

3441. End of the third shaft

35. Base seat

4. Restraint assembly

41. Base seat

411 Boss (of base)

4111 Through openings (of bosses of the base)

412. Base part

42. Constraint bolt

421. Through hole

43. Fastening nail

44. Connecting piece

441 Boss (of connecting piece)

4441 Through openings (of bosses of connectors)

45. Nut bushing

46. Restraint nut

5. Manual cable assembly

51 Joint (of first manual cable)

52 Joint (of second manual cable)

53 Wire (of first manual cable)

54 Wire (of second manual cable)

55 Sheath (of first manual cable)

56 Sheath (of second manual cable)

57 Connector (of first manual cable)

58 Connector (of second manual cable)

59 Handle (of first manual cable)

60 Handle (of second manual cable)

C1 First manual cable

C2 Second manual inhaul cable

M manual trigger mechanism.

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 various exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present description is not intended to limit the invention to these 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 embodiments with reference to the positions of such features as displayed in the figures.

A manual trigger mechanism for an emergency slide for an aircraft is described below in connection with fig. 1-10.

In fig. 1, a device for triggering the inflation of an emergency slide for an aircraft, comprising a door triggering mechanism used in normal conditions, is generally shown in perspective view from the front, comprising a manual triggering mechanism M for the emergency slide. The cabin door triggering mechanism of the emergency slide comprises a rotating shaft rod 11, a connecting rod 12, a transmission rocker arm 13, a triggering pull rope 14 and an air charging device which is not shown in fig. 1 and is used for supplying air to the emergency slide, such as an air charging bottle. In this embodiment, the non-illustrated end of the trigger cable 14 is connected to the switch of the inflator.

In case it is necessary to inflate the emergency slide, the hatch trigger mechanism is normally applied to the rotating shaft 11 by means of an actuator cylinder, not shown. The rotating shaft lever 11 is connected to a transmission rocker arm 13 by a connecting rod 12, and a trigger cable 14 in the form of a wire rope is engaged at an end of the transmission rocker arm 13. With the movement of the rotating shaft lever 11, the connecting rod 12 is driven to move downwards, and then the trigger pull rope 14 is pulled upwards through the transmission rocker arm 13, so that the switch of the air charging device is turned on, air charging is started, and the emergency slide is triggered. Pulling the trigger cable 14 clockwise in this case triggers inflation.

When the hatch triggering mechanism cannot finally pull the triggering cable 14 upwards by means of the actuator cylinder to trigger inflation, the triggering of the emergency slide is affected. In this case, an onboard person is required to activate the inflator by means of the manual trigger mechanism M to inflate the emergency slide, thereby triggering the emergency slide.

The manual trigger mechanism M comprises a driving assembly 3, a constraint assembly 4 and a manual cable assembly 5, wherein the manual cable assembly 5 comprises two manual cables C1 and C2. The two manual cables C1, C2 are coupled to the drive assembly 3 via the restraint assembly 4. The user of the manual trigger mechanism M can drive the transmission rocker 13 of the existing cabin door trigger mechanism to run through the driving assembly 3 as long as pulling any manual stay rope, and then pulls the trigger stay rope 14 to trigger the inflator to inflate the emergency slide. As can be seen in fig. 1, a portion of the manual cable C1, C2 and the existing trigger cable 14 are arranged substantially in parallel and are located at both ends of the drive assembly 3, respectively.

The manual trigger mechanism M is configured such that its triggering movement can take the motion of the driving rocker 13 via the spindle rod 11 and the link 12 instead of the hatch trigger mechanism ram, eventually pulling the trigger cable 14 upwards, as will be explained further below in connection with fig. 2 to 10.

Referring first to fig. 2 to 8, the drive assembly 3 of the manual trigger mechanism M includes a drive rocker arm 31. Referring to fig. 5, in the illustrated embodiment, the driving rocker arm 31 is configured as an unequal arm lever, including a longer first arm 311, a shorter second arm 312, and a transition 313 connecting the first arm 311 and the second arm 312, wherein the extending directions of the first arm 311 and the second arm 312 are not parallel. As shown in fig. 5, the first arm 311 extends horizontally, and the second arm 312 extends downward at an angle to the vertical. The state of the driving rocker arm 31 shown in fig. 5 is a state in which the driving rocker arm 31 is not subjected to any external force other than gravity, and may also be referred to as a rest state.

As can be seen in fig. 4, 5, the driving rocker arm 31 is connected to a base 35 by a second shaft 33 in the form of a short shaft, the base 35 supporting the driving rocker arm 31 such that the driving rocker arm 31 can pivot about the second shaft 33.

When the driving rocker arm 31 is pivoted about the second shaft 33 by being pulled downward by the manual cable C1 or C2 of the manual cable assembly 5, it rotates about the pivot shaft in the clockwise direction. Thus, the free end 3111 of the first arm 311 located at the upper position moves downward, and the free end 3121 of the second arm 312 located at the lower position moves upward. Here, since the free end 3111 of the first arm 311 is at a higher level in the rest state than the free end 3121 of the second arm 312, this ensures that the second arm 312 of the driving rocker 31 moves the driving rocker 13 upward to pull the trigger cable 14 by the required pulling height, and also ensures that the driving rocker 31 does not contact the rotation shaft 11 when pivoting clockwise about the second axis, i.e. that the pivoting movement of the driving rocker 31 is not interrupted by interference of the rotation shaft 11.

In this embodiment, although the first arm 311 is longer than the second arm 312, in order to ensure that the first arm 311 extends as much as possible in the horizontal direction as a whole in the rest state, the second arm 312 is designed and configured so that the first arm 311 does not fall down. This is achieved by moment balancing, for example by adjusting the thickness of the second arm 312 of the driving rocker arm 31, or by other means adjusting the weight of the second arm 312.

As can be seen in fig. 3, 4, the driving rocker arm 31 is provided with a third shaft 34 at the free end 3111 of the first arm 311 for engaging the manual cable C1, C2 from the manual cable assembly 5; at the transition 312 there is provided the second shaft 33 already mentioned above, which serves as a pivot axis and a connection to the base 35; and a first shaft 32 is provided at the free end 3121 of the second arm 312 for driving the driving rocker arm 13 to move together when the driving rocker arm 31 pivots. Fig. 6, 7 and 8 show the connection mounting at the first shaft 32, the second shaft 33 and the third shaft 34, respectively, in cross-section.

As can be seen in connection with fig. 2 for the first shaft 32, in the rest state the second arm 312 of the driving rocker arm 31 is arranged below the driving rocker arm 13. When the hatch trigger mechanism is operating normally, the driving rocker 13 is driven by the connecting rod 12 to rotate in a clockwise direction, and does not contact the second arm 312 of the driving rocker 31, so that the trigger action of the hatch trigger mechanism does not drive the manual trigger mechanism M to move. This allows the manual trigger mechanism M to be set without affecting the normal operation of the hatch trigger mechanism. On the other hand, when the trigger cable 14 is pulled by the manual trigger mechanism M, specifically, by the driving rocker 31 pivoting in the clockwise direction about the pivot shaft 33, the second arm 312 of the driving rocker 31 moves upward until the first shaft 32 provided at the free end 3121 of the second arm 312 abuts the transmission rocker 13. Then, the first shaft 32 pushes the transmission rocker 13 to continue to move upward in the clockwise direction together, thereby pulling the trigger cable 14, turning on the inflator switch, starting inflation of the emergency slide and triggering the emergency slide.

Referring to fig. 6, the first shaft 32 is shown mounted at the free end 3121 of the second arm 312 of the drive rocker arm 31. The second arm 312 of the driving rocker arm 31 is formed with an opening portion at the free end 3121. The opening has two side portions 3121L and 3121R. The first shaft 32 is received in the open portion in the form of a stub shaft. Specifically, the first shaft 32 is formed of a first shaft rotation shaft 324 passing through the opening portion, a first shaft washer 322 fitted over the first shaft rotation shaft 324, a first shaft bushing 323, and a first shaft safety pin 321, wherein the first shaft bushing 323 is located between the two side portions 3121L and 3121R of the free end 3121 of the second arm 312, that is, in the opening portion, and the first shaft washer 322 is disposed outside the opening portion, in the illustrated embodiment, axially outside the side portion 3121L. A first shaft safety pin 321 is further provided at a smaller diameter end 3241 of the first shaft rotation shaft 324 to prevent the first shaft rotation shaft 324 from being unintentionally separated from the opening portion, wherein a first shaft washer 322 is interposed between the first shaft safety pin 321 and the side 3121L. The first shaft safety pin 321 is locked by bending after insertion into the end 3241, a process known in the art and therefore not described further herein.

For the second shaft 33, reference is made to fig. 7, which shows a case where the driving rocker arm 31 is supported at the base 35 by means of the second shaft 33 serving as a pivot shaft. As can be seen in fig. 7, the second shaft 33 is mainly constituted by a second shaft bolt 337 passing through the driving rocker arm 31 and the pedestal 35. Starting from the head of the second shaft bolt 337, the second shaft bolt 337 is sequentially sleeved with a second shaft washer 335, a second shaft protection bushing 334, a second shaft nut 332 and a second shaft safety pin 331 in the axial direction, wherein the second shaft safety pin 331 is disposed at the end of the second shaft bolt 337 to prevent the second shaft 33 from being accidentally removed. In addition, in order to protect and support the second shaft protection bushing 334, a second shaft rocker arm bushing 336 and a second shaft shoulder bushing 333 are also sleeved outside the second shaft protection bushing 334 in the radial direction.

For the third shaft 34, reference is made to fig. 8, in which the installation of the third shaft 34 at the free end 3111 of the first arm 311 of the driving rocker arm 31 is shown. As can be seen in connection with fig. 4, the longer first arm 311 is also formed with an open portion at its free end 3111, similar to the second arm 312. The opening has two side portions 3111L and 3111R. The third shaft 34 is received in the open portion in the form of a stub shaft. Specifically, the third shaft 34 is formed of a third shaft rotating shaft 344 passing through the opening portion, a third shaft washer 342 fitted over the third shaft rotating shaft 344, a third shaft bushing 343, and a third shaft safety pin 341, wherein the third shaft bushing 343 is located between the above-described two side portions 3111L and 3111R, i.e., in the opening portion, and the third shaft washer 342 is disposed outside the opening portion, here outside one side portion 3111L of the opening portion, and wherein a third shaft safety pin 341 is further provided at one end 3441 of the third shaft rotating shaft 344 having a smaller diameter to prevent the third shaft rotating shaft 344 from undesirably coming out of the opening portion. A third shaft washer 342 is interposed between the third shaft shear pin 341 and the side 3111L.

As can be seen by comparing fig. 6 and 8, with respect to the third shaft 34, the gap between the third shaft bushing 343 and the both side portions 3111L, 3111R of the opening portion of the first arm 311 is larger than the gap between the first shaft bushing 323 and the both side portions 3121L, 3121R of the opening portion of the second arm 312. The cable joints 51, 52 of the two manual cables C1, C2 for the manual cable assembly 5 are engaged with the third shaft 344.

Finally, a manual cable assembly 5 for a user to operate the manual trigger mechanism M and a restraint assembly 4 for restraining and guiding the movement trajectories of the manual cables C1, C2 in the manual cable assembly 5 are explained with reference to fig. 9 and 10.

As shown in fig. 9, the base 41 of the restraint assembly 4 is generally saddle-shaped and is attached to other fasteners on the fuselage by means of a bolt fastener. The base 41 may be obtained by machining. The saddle-shaped mount 41 has a boss 411 and a base 412, the boss 411 being connected to the base 412 by two legs. In the illustrated embodiment, the height of the boss 411 from the base 412 is high, but the height value and aspect ratio of the height relative to the span between the two legs may be designed as desired to fit the transition position between the bare wire segment and the shelled wire segment in the manual cable C1, C2, the construction between the bare wire segment and the shelled wire segment of the manual cable C1, C2 will be explained in detail below in connection with fig. 10.

The upper surface of the boss 411 of the base 41 is used for mounting the fastener 43. The connection 44 of the restraint assembly 4 is fixed to the base 41 by means of the fastening studs 43. The boss 411 is further provided with a through opening 4111. The boss 441 of the connector 44 has a shape matching the shape of the through opening 4111 of the boss 411, and two through openings 4411 are provided in the boss 441 of the connector 44, as can be seen in the figure, for the manual cables C1, C2 to pass through.

In the two through-openings 4411, a restraint screw 42 and a restraint nut 46 screwed thereto are provided, wherein a nut bushing 45 can also be provided in the restraint nut 46. The binding bolts 42 are each provided with a through hole 421 penetrating in the axial direction. In use, the manual cables C1, C2 of the manual cable assembly 5 pass through the through openings 4411 in the connector 44, respectively, where they are guided and restrained via the through holes 421 of the restraining bolts 42, the nut bushings 45, the restraining nuts 46. Thereafter, the joints provided at the ends of the bare wire segments of the manual cables C1, C2 are connected to the drive assembly 3. The connection 44, together with the restraining bolt 42, the restraining nut 46, the nut bushing 45, on the one hand ensures the guiding of the manual cables C1, C2, and on the other hand also ensures that the sheath of the steel wire in the manual cables C1, C2 remains below the upper surface of the saddle-shaped seat 41, so that the sheath of the steel wire remains stationary at all times during the movement of the steel wire in the manual cables C1, C2.

In fig. 10, a manual cable assembly 5 is shown for direct manipulation by a user of the manual trigger mechanism M. In the embodiment shown, the manual cable assembly 5 comprises two manual cables C1, C2 in the form of steel cables. One end of the first manual cable C1 is provided with a joint 51, and the other end is connected to a handle 59 through a connection 57. The wire in the first manual cable C1 is divided into two sections, including a first section of bare wire 53 and a second section provided with a sheath 55 outside the wire 53. Similar to the first manual cable C1, the second manual cable C2 is provided at both ends thereof with a joint 52 and a connection member 58, respectively, and is further connected to a handle 60 through the connection member 58. The wire of the second manual cable C2 is also divided into two sections, including a first section of bare wire 54 and a second section of wire 54 over which a sheath 56 is provided. The first section of the manual cable C1, C2 described above is also referred to herein as the "bare wire section" and the second section is also referred to as the "shelled wire section".

The ratio between the part of the steel wire provided with the sheath and the exposed part of the manual inhaul cables C1 and C2 can be adjusted as required. The manual cables C1, C2 are provided with a part of the wire outer covering sheath 55, 56 because other mechanisms and components may also be present in the space in which this part of the manual cables C1, C2 is arranged, in the embodiment shown below the upper surface of the boss 411 of the saddle-shaped base 41. In order to ensure that the movement of the wires in the manual cables C1, C2 is guided in a limited space without touching these other mechanisms and components, sheaths 55, 56 are provided to prevent kinking and twisting of the wires. As far as the space above the saddle-shaped seat 41 is concerned, the bare wires 53, 54 of the manual cables C1, C2 are joined by means of joints 51, 52 to the third shaft 34 at the free end 3111 of the first arm 311 of the driving rocker 31, as previously described. In this space, since the driving rocker arm 31 needs to pivot, there should be no other parts, including the sheath, in the space that might interfere with the pivoting of the driving rocker arm 31. On the other hand, if the user pulls any one of the manual cables of the manual trigger mechanism M, the driving assembly 3 drives the transmission rocker arm 13 to operate, and if the sheath is also provided for the steel wires 53 and 54 in the space, when the user pulls any one of the manual cables to move in the sheath, the other manual cable which is not pulled manually deforms under the action of the driving assembly 3 and is extruded and rubbed with the sheath. Thus, the steel wires 53, 54 of this section are no longer sheathed. The manual cables C1, C2 of this section will also move more smoothly due to the absence of the sheath.

With such a design, when the user manipulates the manual trigger mechanism M by means of the handle 59 or 60, the wires 53, 54 of the corresponding manual cable C1 or C2 are moved, while the sheaths 55, 56 of the wires are stationary. For such a segmented design of the manual cable, the control and guiding of the connection 44 of the restraint assembly 4 at the transition between the first and second sections of the manual cable C1, C2 ensures that the wires 53, 54 in the manual cable C1, C2 can move smoothly.

At the other end of the manual cables C1, C2, the handles 59, 60 to which they are connected are directed towards the left and right door, respectively.

In the illustrated embodiment, the manual cable assembly 5 includes two manual cables C1, C2, as the aircraft to which the manual trigger mechanism M is applied has two doors on a single wing.

In embodiments not shown, the manual cable assembly may also include more or fewer cables. For example, if the aircraft has only one door on a single wing, the manual cable assembly may include only one manual cable.

In the illustrated embodiment, starting from the drive assembly 3, the manual cables C1, C2 extend vertically downward and then diagonally such that the body portions of the manual cables C1, C2 are generally parallel to the trigger cable 14. When the user pulls the manual cable C1 or C2, the force applied by the manual cable C1 or C2 is generally downward in an oblique direction, and the manual cable is conveniently pulled by the operator with force.

Finally, the method for triggering the emergency slide by using the manual triggering mechanism M is explained under the condition that the cabin door triggering mechanism cannot be used for triggering the inflating device and then triggering the emergency slide:

a) The handle 59 of the first manual cable C1 or the handle 60 of the second manual cable C2 is manually pulled;

b) Moving the wire 53 of the first manual cable C1 or the wire 54 of the second manual cable within the sheath 55 or 56, thereby pulling down the joint 51 or 52 at the end of the manual cable C1 or C2;

c) Causing the drive rocker 31 to pivot clockwise about the second axis 33;

d) The first shaft 32 provided at the end of the second arm 312 of the driving rocker arm 31 abuts against the driving rocker arm 13 and drives it to continue to rotate upward in the clockwise direction together;

e) The transmission rocker 13 pulls upwards a flexible trigger cable 14 connected with the transmission rocker, so as to trigger inflation and trigger the emergency slide.

The manual trigger mechanism for the emergency slide of the aircraft realizes clutch type design. When the cabin door trigger mechanism arranged on the aircraft can normally operate to trigger the emergency slide, the manual trigger mechanism is not affected, and when the manual trigger mechanism is required to trigger inflation, the manual trigger mechanism triggers the emergency slide through the mechanism.

In the above-described clutched designs of the present application, the design of the driving rocker arm is similar to a "teeter-totter". The clutch type design realizes that the trend of the trigger inhaul cable and the manual inhaul cable in space is as consistent as possible. This advantageously saves space, so that if the components for the existing trigger cable and the manual cable components have a large difference in orientation, it would be necessary to add the mechanism in other space, while a clearance would also be required between the moving mechanism and the stationary structure, requiring more space. This situation disadvantageously reduces the design space available in other areas. The manual triggering mechanism avoids the situation, so that the existing cabin door triggering mechanism and the manual triggering mechanism can be integrated in a single area, and the installation space is saved.

The present invention can freely combine the embodiments within the scope thereof, or can appropriately modify and omit the embodiments.

Claims (10)

1. A manual trigger mechanism for an emergency slide of an aircraft, wherein the aircraft comprises an emergency slide, an inflator for inflating the emergency slide, and a hatch trigger mechanism, wherein the hatch trigger mechanism is capable of triggering the inflator to inflate by pulling a trigger cable,

it is characterized in that the method comprises the steps of,

the manual triggering mechanism comprises a driving component, a restraining component and a manual inhaul cable component,

wherein the manual inhaul cable assembly comprises at least one manual inhaul cable,

wherein the at least one manual cable is operatively connected to the drive assembly,

wherein the drive assembly is configured to pivot about a pivot axis to pull the trigger cable to trigger the inflator, an

Wherein the manual trigger mechanism is arranged such that when the hatch trigger mechanism is moved to trigger the inflator, the manual trigger mechanism is not moved.

2. The manual trigger mechanism of claim 1, wherein the hatch trigger mechanism pulls the trigger cable to trigger the inflator by rotating a drive rocker arm, wherein the drive assembly includes a drive rocker arm configured to pivot about the pivot axis, the drive rocker arm being configured to abut the drive rocker arm and rotate the drive rocker arm together when the drive rocker arm is pivoted, thereby pulling the trigger cable.

3. The manual trigger mechanism of claim 2, wherein the drive rocker arm is configured as an unequal arm lever, wherein the drive rocker arm has a first arm and a second arm, the first arm having a length that is greater than a length of the second arm, the at least one manual cable being engaged at the first arm, and the second arm being capable of abutting the drive rocker arm when the drive rocker arm is pivoted.

4. A manual trigger mechanism as claimed in claim 3, wherein the direction of extension of the first arm is non-parallel to the direction of extension of the second arm, and in a rest state of the drive rocker arm, the free end of the first arm is at a higher level than the free end of the second arm, in which rest state only gravity acts on the drive rocker arm.

5. The manual trigger mechanism of claim 4, wherein upon triggering the inflator, the drive rocker arm moves upward to pull the trigger cable, wherein the second arm of the drive rocker arm is disposed below the drive rocker arm.

6. The manual trigger mechanism of claim 5, wherein the manual cable of the manual cable assembly has a steel wire and the steel wire is only partially sheathed in length.

7. The manual trigger mechanism of claim 6, wherein the manual cable is guided through a connector of the restraint assembly and a base, wherein the base has a boss, the connector is secured below the boss, and a sheath of steel wire of the manual cable is retained below the boss by the connector.

8. The manual trigger mechanism of claim 7, wherein said boss is saddle-shaped.

9. An aircraft comprising an emergency slide, an inflator for inflating the emergency slide, a door trigger mechanism capable of triggering the inflator to inflate, and a manual trigger mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. A method of triggering an emergency slide of an aircraft by means of a manual trigger mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

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