GB1327248A - Hover height stabilizing system for a ground-effect machine - Google Patents

Abstract

1327248 Tracked gas cushion vehicles; railway systems BERTlN & CIE 2 Oct 1970 [2 Oct 1969] 46949/70 Headings B7K and B7L A trim stabilizing system in a gas cushion vehicle for running on a track, has a gas cushion 19 bounded by a skirt 18 attached to a bearing plate 8 which is so mounted on the vehicle for relative movement thereto that compensation occurs for variation in the distance between the vehicle and the surface over which it travels. When loading the vehicle, as represented by the weights 25, 26, is uneven; increase in load, e.g. on the right in Fig. 5, causes spreading of the skirt 18, reduced clearance between the skirt 18 and the surface, and increased pressure in the gas cushion which in turn causes gas to pass through apertures 21 and expand the chamber 9. A spring 17 limits the expansion of the chamber 9 so that it compensates exactly for compression of the cusion 19. In the embodiment of Fig. 5, gas is supplied through ports in a track 1, which are opened as the cushion passes over them. Because of the small size of the apertures 21 compared to the cushion size, small duration variations of pressure in the cushions 19 are not transmitted to the chambers 9 so that small irregularities in the track or obstacles thereon are largely absorbed, whereas long term pressure variations, such as those caused by cornering or uneven loading, are transmitted to cause compensation as previously described. Valves (21a), Fig. 4 (not shown), may be provided in each aperture, so that apertures are opened when desired, e.g. during loading. Fig. 9 shows a tracked gas cushion vehicle where gas is supplied by sources 6 mounted on the vehicle 7 to guide cushions 19<SP>1</SP> and support cushions 19 running on an inverted-T track 5, the arrows Y and X denoting excess unsymmetrical loading applied to the left hand guide cushion and right hand support cushion.