HRP20080181A2 - Aircraft wheel rotation assembly with separated power unit - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention solves the technical problem of rotation of the aircraft wheels before landing and the solution of installing the assembly on the wheels without disturbing the existing external dimensions of the wheels.

Description

The field to which the invention relates

This invention relates to aircraft and aircraft for the landing and take-off of which wheels are required, as a link between the runway and the aircraft.

Technical problem

Over the years, one of the most stubborn problems in the exploitation of aircraft was the increased wear of aircraft tires due to the "burning" of the tire layers during the landing of the aircraft. Thus, in addition to the high cost of replacing them, there was also the problem of the aircraft often being kept out of flight, due to the required servicing, i.e. tire replacement.

State of the art

So far, I am not aware of any proposed solutions that would remedy the previous problems, reduce the costs of tires, as well as their replacement.

Namely, the current state of the art is such that when the landing gear (carrying leg) is pulled out to the end position, the wheel does not rotate, which results in the "burning" of the tire layers when the wheel comes into contact with the take-off runway, i.e. great wear of the wheel rubber in at the specified time. Such burning of tires during the landing of the plane actually occurs as a result of large speed differences, namely:

a) the landing speed of the aircraft, i.e. the relative speed of the approaching surface (runway) to the wheel i

b) "zero" speed of the plane's wheels, i.e. the circumferential speed of the wheels (which is v = "0" due to the aforementioned rest),

as well as frictional forces at the moment of contact.

Such a state of the art situation prevails in aviation until today, which I completely solve with my invention, and which results in huge savings, i.e. reduction of costs for airline companies, and ultimately, cost reduction for all users of aero-traffic in aviation at the world level.

Presentation of the essence of the invention

The primary goal of this invention is to prevent further tire wear during landing, which means savings on tire replacement.

The secondary goal is to prevent the "disconnection" of aircraft from traffic due to the mentioned problem, i.e. the loss of effective flight hours of the aircraft due to the duration of the process of replacing worn tires.

Another important additional goal is to contribute to the ecological preservation of the environment and nature. Namely, when touching down during landing, due to the already mentioned friction, the rubber burns, which results in the appearance of smoke and noise that significantly affects the airport environment. It is also an important contribution in the reduced volume of tire consumption, which will significantly reduce the costs of their disposal as well as the reduction of environmental pollution, all due to the remediation of waste tires.

The very principle of application of the invention will be even easier to understand, based on the current state of the art as well as the attached drawing. The technical solution of the invention relates to the problem of the action that needs to be performed before landing the aircraft, that is, before touching the runway.

The very essence of the invention is to rotate the wheels to the exact required number of revolutions, which is identical or very similar to the number of revolutions that would occur if the aircraft was moving at that speed on the runway.

Thus, tire wear does not occur, due to the already mentioned differences in the approach speed of the aircraft and the circumferential speed of the wheels (v = "0"), before contact with the runway.

Compared to today's state of the art, it is very easy to achieve this in the following way.

The essence of the invention consists in "forcing" forced rotation of the wheel (tire), before contact with the runway. In this case, it does not wear out (burn) during rough contact with the track. Such a rotation can be achieved by placing small adjacent adapters on the tire profile (whose dimensions do not exceed the outer contours of the landing gear at all, which is especially important when pulling it into the narrow space for the wheels).

At the same time, the essence of the invention is that the drive of these adapters, i.e. tires, takes place using flexible shafts (steel ropes in flexible plastic-rubber guides) that transmit torques from power units (electric motors, turbines, etc.) via adjacent adapters to the wheel. Also, the flexible shaft can be made as flexible, i.e. flexible, high-pressure pneumatic tubes, where in this case air is fed through them under pressure from the opening on the plane (air intake) or from the engine compressor to small adjacent adapters (whose design is then as with pneumatic tools, e.g. pneumatic drills, pneumatic screwdrivers, etc.) so they are driven that way, i.e. rotate the wheels. Pressure regulation is performed using a pneumatic control valve.

A further feature of this invention is that the number of revolutions is accurately calculated and controlled via the process unit, microcontroller, or electrical electronic components, which via mechanical circuits; electric motors, couplings, reducers-multipliers, transmissions, el. valves, etc. can perform the above-mentioned controlled optimal wheel (tire) rotation, at different landing speeds and at the exact moment, which eliminates the harmful occurrence of the so-called "gyroscopic effect"

The essence of the invention is that it enables the power units (electric motors, turbines, etc.) to be separated from the wheels and enables their placement at a distance, i.e. at any place in the fuselage or wing of the aircraft, because it enables the transmission of torque and exactly the necessary of revolutions, from them to the wheels, at a distance using flexible shafts, which are easily adjusted by isometry and are extremely small in size. Such an invention rejects any attempt to mount power units (electric motors, turbines, etc.) on the wheel, because it is clear to those familiar with aviation technology that this is impossible in current practice because it distorts the external contours of the aircraft (the problem of additional static loading of the landing gear, aerodynamics, etc.) as well as the impossibility of retracting the landing gear (if it had additionally mounted drive motors, etc.) into the retracting area, due to the cramped and pre-designed minimal free space.

Brief description of the drawing

The accompanying drawings, which are included in the description and form part of the description of the invention, illustrate the best mode of carrying out the invention thus far considered and help to explain the basic principles of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a spatial view of the aircraft wing, part of the aircraft fuselage and the landing gear with a wheel and a fitting adapter that is driven by a flexible shaft driven by an electric motor located in the aircraft fuselage.

Fig. 2 is a spatial view of the aircraft wing, part of the aircraft fuselage and the landing gear with a wheel driven by adjacent adapters driven by compressed air supplied from the opening (intake) on the aircraft or the engine compressor.

A detailed description of at least one way of realizing the invention

Referring to Figure 1, it can be seen that it represents: the tires of the wheels 7, which are connected via the axle 9, and attached to the landing gear 1, then to the wing 2 and the fuselage 3.

On the body of the landing gear 1, by means of couplings 6, flexible shafts 4 are attached, which are used to transfer the torque from the power units 10, to drive the adjacent adapters 5, which, with the help of shock-absorbing-elastic elements 8, enable better adhesion and transmission of revolutions, i.e. rotation of the wheel tire 7.

Aggregate 10 serves to obtain the torque required to drive adjacent driven adapters 5 and transfer these revolutions to tires 7 via flexible drive shafts 4.

The drive distributor (11) serves to transfer one input drive from the aggregate (through the gearbox, couplings, etc.) to several outputs, that is, to distribute it to several flexible shafts, depending on the number of wheels on the plane.

Aggregate 10 can be designed as an electric engine, air turbine, etc. and may contain, in addition to such drive parts, clutches, reducers, multipliers, gearboxes, distributors, etc.

If pressurized air is used for the drive (picture 2), then compressed air is supplied through flexible rubber pipes (14) via the pneumatic control valve (12) from the air supply (13) which represents the intake port or from the supply of compressed air from the compressor engine.

The essence of the invention is to clearly show the possibility of rotating the wheels - tires 7 before landing, using small adjacent driven adapters 5 (as well as other possible means that enable the rotation of the wheels) and for the drives of which one or more power units 10 are used, which are not located on the wheel 7 already somewhere inside the fuselage 3 or wing 2, and flexible shafts 4 are used to transmit the torque between them and the adapter 5.

Method of application of the invention

It will be clear to the experts that the construction solutions of the invention are possible in different combinations and executions, without abandoning the very meaning and scope of the content of the proposed solution.

During the implementation of the invention, the principles regarding the installation position and only the minimum dimensions will have to be respected, which is actually the meaning of the innovation, because it allows the placement of a flexible shaft (with a small adapter) in already existing spaces for retracting the wheels (wing, nacelles, fuselage ) and that without any major additional technical intervention-modifications on them, because the mentioned part (flexible shaft) is of extremely small dimensions, and is also flexible according to isometry, and this enables the power units to be located anywhere in the hull ( or wing) of an airplane.

In this way, the invention enables a practical and incredibly functional device, which is very easy to produce and implement in already existing technical systems on airplanes, as well as during the construction of new airplanes.

Claims (12)

1. An aircraft wheel rotation assembly with a separate drive, characterized in that the flexible shaft is a flexible steel rope in a flexible guide, which serves to transmit torque from the drive distributor ultimately to the wheel. 2. An assembly for rotating the wheels of an airplane with a separate drive according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that one end of the flexible shaft is connected to the drive distributor, i.e. to the power unit, and that at the other end of the flexible shaft there is a small adapter that forcibly drives, i.e. turns main wheel - rubber, with program controlled speed. 3. Assembly for rotation of the wheels of an airplane with a separate drive according to claim 2, indicated by the fact that the rotation speed of the wheel - tire must be adjusted to the speed of the arrival of the aircraft on the runway. 4. Assembly for rotation of airplane wheels with a separate drive according to claim 3, characterized in that the speed regulation can be programmatically controlled via the electronic unit CPU, pneumatically regulating valves and own microcontrollers. 5. An aircraft wheel rotation assembly with a separate drive according to claim 4, characterized in that the CPU or its own microcontrollers do not allow rotation of the wheel when retracting or retracting, due to the harmful influence of the "gyroscopic effect". 6. Assembly for rotating the wheels of an airplane with a separate drive according to claim 2, characterized in that the power unit for the input drive of the drive distributor is an electric motor and contains a clutch, a reducer, a multiplier and a gearbox. 7. Aircraft wheel rotation assembly with a separate drive according to claim 6, characterized in that the input drive is connected to the drive distributor instead of with el. of the engine, it can also lead from the engine turbine and the air turbine driven by the external air stream brought from the intake. 8. Assembly for rotating the wheels of an airplane with a separate drive according to claim 7, characterized in that the air flow for the drive is also supplied to the drive distributor from the airplane compressor. 9. Assembly for rotating the wheels of an airplane with a separate drive according to claim 8, characterized in that the power unit is located dislocated, i.e. away from the wheels and placed in the fuselage or wing of the airplane in a space prepared for it. 10. Assembly for rotation of an airplane wheel with a separate drive according to claim 9, characterized by the fact that the power unit is located in the immediate vicinity of the wheel or on the airplane wheel itself, if the existing construction or new construction of the airplane allows it. 11. Assembly for rotating the wheels of an airplane with a separate drive according to claim 8, characterized by the fact that the flexible shafts are made as flexible, i.e. flexible, high-pressure pneumatic tubes, where in this case pressurized air is supplied through them to small adjacent adapters. 12. An assembly for rotating the wheels of an airplane with a separate drive according to claim 11, characterized by the fact that in this case the small adjacent adapters are structurally designed for air drive, as with pneumatic tools, e.g. pneumatic drills, pneumatic screwdrivers, etc., and in this way drives, i.e. they rotate the wheels.