GB2118118A - Bellows for sealing aircraft passenger gangways - Google Patents

Abstract

A flexible seal for sealing aircraft passenger gangways constructed in the form of a corrugated bellows (2) between the gangway (1) and the fuselage of an aircraft. The front end of the bellows being adapted to surround a door opening in the aircraft fuselage and having a peripheral bead or bumper (4) arranged to be located in sealing-tight relationship against the aircraft fuselage, means including a scissors-type guide (6) and telescopic means (11 to 13), being arranged to flex the bead or bumper (4) to automatically conform to the contour of an aircraft fuselage. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Bellows for sealing aircraft passenger gangways This invention relates to flexible seals for aircraft passenger gangways.

In modern avaiation it is frequently customary for passengers to enter and leave a parked aircraft via gangways. Gangways of this kind are mounted on the airport building so as to be pivotable about a horizontal and a vertical axis, the rear end enclosing an opening in the building serving as an entrance and exit, the gangway extending as far as the parked aircraft where at the front end it is supported on the ground by an appropriate running gear. The passenger gangway is a tunnel which is closed all around, is rigid and has open ends and a floor. To enable the gangway to be fitted in as sealing-tight relationship as possible against the aircraft fuselage, a transition section constructed after the style of a corrugated bellows is usually provided at the front end of the gangway to surround the aircraft fuselage door opening.

The gangway pivots at its rear end about horizontal and vertical axes to allow for the entrances and doors being at different heights above ground level for different types of aircraft and to permit alignment of the gangway with the aircraft doors and entrances for different aircraft lengths. Different fuselage contours can be accommodated by means of the transition bellows. Appropriate construction of the front end of the bellows, which is in the form of a bead or bumber extending all around the same, enables the front end of the bellows to be fitted closely to the fuselage, irrespective of its contour, so that the interior of the gangway and the interior of the aircraft are protected against inclement weather.

An object of the invention is to provide a gangway and, more particularly, the sealing bellows thereof such that the front end of the gangway can, in an inexpensive manner, be fitted closely against the fuselage to surround any opening therein, irrespective of the fuselage contour.

Thus, according to the present invention there is provided a flexible seal for aircraft passenger gangways, constructed in the form of a corrugated bellows and mounted at the front end of the gangway, the front end of the bellows having a peripherally extending bead or bumper adapted to be placed in contact with the fuselage and deformed to follow the contour of the fuselage, the bellows being supported on a scissors-type guide mounted on the gangway and on which adjustable telescopic means is mounted and which is adapted to automatically conform the curvature of the bead or bumper to the particular contour of the fuselage to which for adjustment the gangway is presented.

The invention uses well-tried and operationally reliable components to provide optimum adjustability of the sealing bellows.

The invention will now be described by way of example only with particular reference to the accompanying drawing, which is a diagrammatic central longitudinal section of the front end of an aircraft passenger gangway.

The front end of the rigid tunnel-shaped gangway has the sealing bellows 2 extending therefrom, the bellows 2 being in the form of a corrugated bellows, the rear end of which extends into the gangway tunnel to some extent, where it is secured to a frame 3 located around the tunnel.

The front end of the bellows 2 is formed by a continuous bead or bumper 4. The bellows 2 consists conventionally of rubberized fabric or the like and the bead or bumper 4 consists of an abrasion-resistant material which is elastically resilient within certain limits. The bead or bumper 4 enables the bellows to closely abut the fuselage of the aircraft so as to prevent any entry of rain, snow, wind or the like into the gangway whilst in no way damaging the aircraft fuselage. The bead and hence the front end of the bellows is curved inwardly as shown to follow the contour of the fuselage against which the bellows is to be located.To this end, a number of leaf springs 5 are provided which extend parallel to and adjacent the side portions of the bead 4 and, in the expanded state have approximately the required contour of the bead side sections while their bottom ends are secured to the gangway and their top ends bear against the rear surface of the top horizontal portion of the bead.

The bellows is held normal to the casing 20 by means of a scissors guide 6, the rear ends of which are pivotally mounted on the rigid part of the gangway as shown at 7 and 8, whilst the front ends are pivotally connected to the side walls of the sealing bellows at the top and bottom as shown at 9 and 10. The bottom rear pivot 8 is vertically and horizontally fixed in these conditions, the bottom front pivot 9 is vertically and horizontally fixed in these conditions, the bottom front pivot 9 is vertically fixed but is adjustable in the longitudinal direction of the gangway snd the top pivots 7 and 10 are adjustable vertically while the front top pivot 10 is additionally adjustable in the longitudinal direction of the gangway as well.The top rear pivot 7 is vertically adjustable in conjunction with a coiled compression spring 21 which is tensioned on reduction of the scissors and hence the bellows length, and which expands to lengthen the scissors and bellows.

A telescopic system is articulated on the scissors guide 6 and consists of a casing 11 pivotally mounted on the front top pivot 10, a telescopic rod 1 2 projecting from the casing 11, and a coiled compression spring 13, located within the casing intermediate the inner end of the telescopic rod 1 2 and the bottom of the casing 11.

The outer end of the rod projecting from the casing 11 is articulated preferably directly at a pivot 14 in the upper zone of the bead 4. In the position illustrated in the drawing, depicting minimum use of the bellows, the spring is compressed to its maximum. The telescopic system is held in this position by cable 15, which extends over a number of guide and tensioning- pulleys, the outer end being secured to the top of the bellows and the inner end being secured to the cable drum of a motor 16 on and from which the cable is coiled or paid out respectively. The scissors is also held in its inner end position i.e.

with minimum length, by means of the cable 1 5, the scissors spring 21 being tensioned. The telescopic spring 1 3 and the scissors spring 21 are so adapted to one another that spring 21 can apply a greater force than the spring 13, i.e., spring 21 is harder than spring 13.

When, with the scissors and bellows retracted, the cable can unwind from the drum of motor 16, spring 21 first expands so that the region of the bottom end of the bellows bead or bumper bears against the aircraft fuselage, said end being marked by point 1 7 as being situated basically the same in all types of aircraft in the region of the bottom of the door of the fuselage;If, when this condition has been reached, cable 1 5 can unwind further from the motor drum, telescopic spring 13 expands, pushing rod 12 out of the casing 11 and at the same time pivoting the latter about the pivot 10 so that the front end of the bellows bead or bumper is bent to such an extent about the bottom end of the bellows, already bearing against the fuselage as symbolized by point 17, that the entire length of the bead or bumper bears against the fuselage.Dot-dash lines show a number of intermediate positions, the maximum position being denoted by dot-dash line 1 8. To reach the maximum position from the minimum position, cable 15 is allowed to unwind from the drum of motor 1 6 while to return to the minimum position from the maximum position cable 15 is automatically wound on to the cable drum. To enable the simplest possible motor to be used, it is always the full length of cable that is unwound from the drum of motor 1 6 irrespective of the distance to be travelled by the pivot 14 and slack in the cable is prevented from forming by constructing the guide roller 22 as an adjustable spring-loaded tensioning pulley and the motor operates with an end stop which stops it when the cable is fully unwound independently of the necessary end position of the pivot 14.

A spring strut 1 9 between the casing and the scissors can be used to stabilize the position of the telescopic means at any time and also act as a stop for the return movement of the telescopic means during the reduction of the cable length, without a separate stop being required for the purpose.

The arrangement is disposed symmetrically to the vertical central longitudinal plane of the gangway. A scissors guide 6 with a telescopic means 11-12 and a cable 15, 1 6 is disposed adjacent each of the side walls of the bellows and inside the same.

In its completely retracted state the entire arrangement is situated inside the casing 20. The arrangement according to the invention is manufactured so as to be enclosed by the casing in the form of an independent unit independently of the gangway and can be secured to practically any passenger gangway substantially irrespective of its construction, by bolting the housing to the gangway. Any gangway can thus be completed so that its sealing-tight abutment against the aircraft fuselage is produced independently on extension of the bellows irrespective of the fuselage contour.

When the bellows is extended by the release of the cables 15, 1 6 the bead or bumper bears tightly against fuselage of different shapes.

In the most retracted inner end position of the arrangement, the same together with the bead 4 is situated inside the casing 20. Cable 1 5 is wound to the maximum on the drum of motor 1 6 and the scissors spring 21, telescopic spring 1 3 and spring 23 of cable 1 5, 16, 22 are tensioned.

Motor 1 6 is now started and its cable drum is rotated in a direction such that the cable 1 5 can unwind from it. In this way spring 21 can first expand and scissors 6 can extend to lengthen the bellows. Scissors 6 is extended until the operating position iliustrated is reached, in which the bead or bumper 4 of the bellows 2 abuts the fuselage in the bottom zone of said bead. As cable 1 5 unwinds further from the drum of motor 16, telescopic spring 13 expands, the telescopic means 11, 12, 13 simultaneously being lengthened and pivoted about pivot 10 until bead 4 of bellows 2 bears over its entire length against the fuselage.In the exemplified embodiment illustrated, the pivoting movement of the telescopic means is assisted by the expanding spring of strut 1 9 aithough this is not essential. If the bead or bumper 4 is in contact with the fuselage, the motor 1 6 continues to operate until it is stopped by an end stop. The formation of slack is prevented by the cable spring 23 expanding, pulley 22 moving down and the cable path being the drum and the pivot 14 increasing.

To bring the system back into the initial position, cable motor 1 6 is run in the reverse direction and cable 1 5 is wound on the drum. In these conditions, telescopic means 11-13 is retracted, the spring 13 being tensioned, and pivoted about the pivot 10 until the flexibility of the strut 1 9 exhausted or the casing 11 bears against a substantially rigid stop on scissors 6. In this state of operation the spring 1 3 has reached its maximum tension. On further retraction of the cable 15, scissors 6 is retracted and spring 21 tensioned. When the arrangement reaches its inner end position, it is fully situated inside the casing 20 and a correspondingly adjusted end stop stops the motor by means of its switch.

The process decribed in connection with one side of the bellows and the bellows guide and bellows actuation system disposed there naturally takes place correspondingly on both sides of the bellows. The independent devices enable the bellows to be extended to different amounts on either side to an extent defined by the bellows elasticity so that the fuselage curvature as considered in plan view can be accommodated.

In connection with the retraction of the arrangement into the housing 20, spring 23 must also be tensioned and cable 15 must be additionally wound on the drum of motor 1 6 by an appropriate amount. The cable spring 23 can be so designed that the additional cable length is wound on the cable drum before the telescopic spring 1 3 and the scissors spring 21 are tensioned or else only after they have been tensioned and the device has already reached its inner end position.

Claims (14)

1. A flexible seal for aircraft passenger gangways, constructed in the form of a corrugated bellows and mounted at the front end of the gangway, the front end of the bellows having a peripherally extending bead or bumper adapted to be placed in contact with the fuselage and deformed to follow the contour of the fuselage, the bellows being supported on a scissors-type guide mounted on the gangway and on which adjustable telescopic means is mounted and which is adapted to automatically conform the curvature of the bead or bumper to the particular contour of the fuselage to which for adjustment the gangway is presented.

2. A flexible seal as claimed in claim 1 , wherein part of the telescopic means is mounted on part of the scissors guide so as to be pivotable about a transverse axis and the other part engages the top of the bead or bumper by its front end.

3. A flexible seal as claimed in claim 2, wherein the rod is biassed to the extended position by means of a prestressed spring located within the casing and the position of the rod being controlled by means of a cable which also serves to automatically limit the extension of the rod beyond the casing against the bias of the spring.

4. A flexible seal as claimed in claim 3, wherein the length of the bellows can be increased by means of a pre-stressed scissors spring acting on the scissors guide and the scissors and bellows can be lengthened by paying out the cable, the telescopic means being lengthened by the paying out of the cable while its retraction shortens the telescopic means and scissors.

5. A flexible seal as claimed in claim 4, wherein the scissors spring is harder than the telescopic spring so that when the cable is paid out the bellows is brought against the vehicle fuselage initially by its bead or bumper in the bottom zone of the bellows as the scissors spring expands and the scissors lengthens, and then, as the telescopic spring expands, the tellscopic means is lengthened and pivoted with respect to the scissors so that that part of the bellows or bead or bumper not yet bearing against the fuselage comes into contact therewith, while retraction of the cable returns the telescopic means and scissors to their initial position in the reverse sequence.

6. A flexible seal as claimed in claims 3, 4 or 5, characterised in that the cable engages the bellows bead or bumper at a pivot where the telescopic means also engages the bead or bumper.

7. A flexible seal as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the scissors spring acts on the top rear pivot, which is vertically adjustable like the top front pivot on which the telescopic means is articulated.

8. A flexible seal as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the pivoting movement of the telescopic means with respect to the scissors towards the aircraft fuselage is limited by the latter while the opposite pivoting movement is limited by a stop on the scissors.

9. A flexible seal as claimed in claim 3, wherein a leaf spring is associated with the bead or bumper and extends parallel to the top and side parts thereof.

10. A flexible seal as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the scissors guide and telescopic means mounted thereon consist of two symmetrical parts, each part being disposed in the region of a respective one of the bellows side walls.

11. A flexible seal as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10 wherein the scissors-type guide and the telescopic means are disposed inside the bellows side wall.

12. A flexible seal as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11 , wherein the same is mounted in a box-shaped casing and the bellows can be secured by its drive and bearing members to the passenger gangway by means of the casing so as to form a closed unit.

13. A flexible seal as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the full length of the cable is always unwound from the motor drum, irrespective of the length of extension of the scissors and telescopic means, this effect being achieved by the use of motor switches and end stops, and if excessive cable is unwound it is stored in a spring-loaded cable tensioning means without forming any slack.

14. A flexible seal as claimed in claim 10, wherein the two parts are adapted to be actuated independently of one another.

1 5. A bellows for sealing aircraft passenger gangways and substantially as hereinbefore described and as shown in the accompanying drawing.