WO2019005748A1

WO2019005748A1 - Aircraft tire moistening and preservation system and method

Info

Publication number: WO2019005748A1
Application number: PCT/US2018/039430
Authority: WO
Inventors: Steven Epstein
Original assignee: Steven Epstein
Priority date: 2017-06-26
Filing date: 2018-06-26
Publication date: 2019-01-03

Abstract

The present invention comprises an aircraft tire moistening system that provides for aircraft tires to be lubricated with fluid prior to spin up on landing. The resulting lubricity reduces the friction and heat caused by spin up and, therefore, extend the life of the tires. In one embodiment, a conduit or tube comprising a valve may be fluidly and switchably connected with a reservoir of fluid, wherein the conduit or tube terminates at a point near the aircraft wheels in a spray head or similar mechanism to distribute the fluid onto the tires when the valve is opened. The valve may be switched from closed to open or actuated, or from open to closed or deactuated, either automatically or by the flight crew just prior to landing to moisten the aircraft's tires.

Description

TITLE OF THE INVENTION

Aircraft Tire Moistening and Preservation System and Method

INVENTORS

Steven Epstein, a resident of Tenafly, New Jersey, a citizen of the United States CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/524718, filed June 26, 2017, entitled Aircraft Tire Moistening and Preservation System and Method, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR

DEVELOPMENT

[0002] Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The invention relates to systems and methods for preserving the life of aircraft tires, particularly from the extreme forces and resulting wear encountered upon contact with landing surfaces.

[0005] DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

[0006] Aircraft tires are subject to extreme wear the moment they contact the landing

surface. This is because they go from a standstill to, depending on size and weight of aircraft upwards of 140 or more mph instantaneously ("spin up"). The wear is observed as a puff of smoke, typically white (despite tires being generally black) due to the extreme heat

generated. The combination of heat and wear contribute to aircraft tires lasting only for some number of "cycles" defined as one takeoff and subsequent touchdown. For reference, the tires on a typical private jet might only last for 300 cycles. If the typical runway is one mile in length, and an aircraft uses the entire length for a takeoff and touchdown/roll out, that is 2 miles of wear x 300 cycles or 600 miles for a tire. Automobile tires, for example, can last upwards of 25,000 miles since they are not subject to the sudden spin up.

[0007] Changing an aircraft tire typically, due to government regulation or required

tools/training, is something that only an A&P (airframe and power plant) or higher rated mechanic must accomplish. This requirement for professional involvement further adds expense and scheduling issues to tire changes, not to mention travel time and other expenses if the tire needs to be changed at an out of the way airport that does not have such services

available. Additionally, in the case of many aircraft, tire changes also require wheel inspections. A typical tire change can cost an operator of a small size jet upwards of $1500 per tire.

[0008] The present invention addresses this issue.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] Figure 1 illustrates a side schematic view of one embodiment of the present invention.

[0010] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] Generally, one embodiment of the present invention comprises an aircraft tire moistening system. The aircraft tire moistening system provides for aircraft tires to be lubricated with fluid prior to spin up. The resulting lubricity works to reduce the friction caused by spin up and, therefore, extend the life of the tires. A secondary benefit is that less heat would be developed, potentially reducing the number of tire blowouts experienced due to extreme heat.

[0012] In one embodiment, a conduit or tube comprising a valve may be fluidly and switchably connected with a reservoir of fluid, wherein the conduit or tube terminates at a point near the aircraft wheels in a spray head or similar mechanism to distribute the fluid onto the tires when the valve is opened. The valve may be switched from closed to open or actuated, or from open to closed or deactuated, either automatically or by the flight crew just prior to landing to moisten the aircraft's tires.

[0013] At least one of the aircraft tires on an aircraft may comprise a spray head to moisten the at least one tire. The valved conduit or tube leading from the fluid reservoir as described above may comprise at least one valved conduit or tube, wherein in some embodiments, there is a single valve and a single conduit leading to a single spray head for one of the aircraft tires. In other embodiments, there may be a valved conduit leading to a spray head, wherein the number of valved conduit - spray head elements is equal to the number of aircraft tires. In still other embodiments, there may be a single valved conduit leading away from the fluid reservoir, wherein downstream, i.e., on the spray head side of the valve, a number of conduits, e.g., distributed from a downstream manifold, may be provided, wherein each one of the conduits leads to a terminal spray head. In still other embodiments, each aircraft tire may comprise its own system, e.g., a number of aircraft tire moistening systems may be provided, wherein each of the systems is dedicated to a specific tire and wherein each of the dedicated-tire systems comprise at least a fluid reservoir, valved conduit and spray head.

[0014] In some embodiments, a centralized controller or actuator may be provided to actuate and deactuate the tire moistening system(s) described herein. In some cases, the actuation mechanism may be located in the cockpit and actuated / deactuated manually by an individual located in the cockpit.

[0015] In other cases, the actuation / deactuation of the exemplary system(s) may be achieved automatically. Some exemplary triggering mechanisms for an embodiment that automatically actuates the tire moistening system may comprise, without limitation, one or more of the following conditions that, when reached, automatically trigger actuation of the aircraft tire moistening system(s):

[0016] (1) Aircraft flaps in the landing position limit switch and that may comprise an actuation delay timer or the equivalent so that the tire moistening system(s) is not started or actuated before needed. The timer or equivalent delay mechanism following a "flaps to land" indication may be desirable as this condition may occur several miles away from a landing area.

[0017] (2) Landing gear (aircraft wheels) down and locked limit switch that may comprise a similar delaying timer, or equivalent, operation as the flaps to land designator may be used as "gear down" designation may occur several miles away from a landing area.

[0018] (3) Throttles reduced below an established power setting threshold may be the indicator to start or actuate the tire moistening system(s) as the aircraft throttle may be brought to "idle" just prior to touchdown.

[0019] (4) Airspeed at or below "VRef ' , or the minimum speed you are supposed to "cross the numbers" at, so that when the aircraft drops below this established minimum speed, the aircraft tire moistening system(s) is/are automatically induced to actuate.

[0020] (5) Radar altimeter (if aircraft is equipped) set to an altitude threshold that, when the aircraft crosses below the set altitude threshold, automatically induces actuation of the aircraft tire moistening system(s).

[0021] (6) Weight detected as being born by the wheels or landing gear, typically done by a mechanism commonly known as a squat switch, a condition that when detected may

automatically cancel actuation of the aircraft tire moistening system(s).

[0022] (7) Application of aircraft's brakes, a condition that when detected may automatically cancel actuation of the aircraft tire moistening system(s).

[0023] Each of the above-described conditions may be detected by a sensor or by a signal, wherein the detected condition enables the controller and/or actuator to automatically open or close the valved conduit, i.e., actuate the aircraft moistening system(s) to release or spray fluid, or to deactuate or cease release or spray of fluid, onto the aircraft tires. Conversely, the absence of the detection of the meeting of any of these conditions may be monitored and result in the disabling or deactuation of the aircraft moistening system.

[0024] Thus the valve in the system may be in a first position or a second position, wherein the first position may comprise either an open or a closed position and the second position comprises either a closed or an open position. The valve may be moved from the first to the second position manually and/or in response to a detected condition.

[0025] The aircraft moistening system may be actuated for a predetermined amount of time, or until the fluid in the reservoir(s) is exhausted and/or, may be manually deactuated, i.e., the valve manually turned or switched to the off position.

[0026] Generally, the aircraft moistening system(s) will be in the deactuated or valve switched to off position as a default position.

[0027] Figure 1 thus illustrates one exemplary embodiment of a system 100 mounted in an aircraft 10 having at least one front wheel 12 and at least one set of rear wheels 14. The system 100 comprises a fluid storage reservoir 102 capable of storing lubricating fluid 104 therein. The fluid 104 in the fluid storage reservoir 102 is in switched or valved fluid communication with at least one conduit or tube 106, wherein a valve 108 may be disposed at a point along the conduit 106 and may, in some embodiments, be disposed on or in the fluid storage reservoir 102, particularly at the point the conduit 106 engages the fluid storage reservoir 102.

[0028] The at least one conduit 106 is in fluid and operative communication with at least one spray head 110, the at least one spray head 110 arranged near the aircraft tires and downstream of the valve 108, so that a closed valve 108 position does not allow the fluid 104 to flow through conduit 106 to the spray head 1 10 and opening of the valve 108 does allow fluid 104 to flow through the conduit 106 to the spray head 1 10.

[0029] As illustrated, the location and position of the at least one spray head 110 may be arranged to take advantage of the air flow of the slip stream as indicated generally by the arrow, whereby the fluid 104 released from the at least one spray head 110 is urged onto the tire surface and further pushed around the tire surface for fuller lubricating coverage of the tire before landing.

[0030] As discussed above, the stream of fluid 104 can be manually or automatically closed, or maintained open and actuated in the case of hot runways during summer months in order to help cool the tires. A controller or actuator 112 may be located in the cockpit or other convenient location and in operative communication with the fluid storage reservoir and/or the at least one valve to enable opening the valves to allow fluid to flow through the plumbing conduit, either manually or in response to the meeting of any of a number of conditions, some of which are described above.

[0031] The fluid 104 may comprise water or water with additive(s) to provide additional performance, providing the additives do not degrade runway braking performance for aircraft arriving subsequently. One of the possible additives comprise an anti-freezing agent to prevent the fluid 104 from freezing during storage and/or use. A benefit of plain water as the fluid 104 is that it would evaporate very quickly and have no environmental impact.

[0032] The fluid 104 can be fed either by simple gravity, pump, venturi, the use of compressed service bleed air (in the case of a turbojet or pure jet engines) or any other adequate delivery method.

[0033] The description of the invention and its applications as set forth herein is illustrative and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Features of various embodiments may be combined with other embodiments within the contemplation of this invention. Variations and modifications of the embodiments disclosed herein are possible, and practical alternatives to and equivalents of the various elements of the embodiments would be understood to those of ordinary skill in the art upon study of this patent document. These and other variations and modifications of the embodiments disclosed herein may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Claims

I CLAIM

1. A system disposed on an aircraft for preserving aircraft having a plurality of tires,

comprising:

at least one fluid reservoir containing a fluid;

at least one spray head arranged near each of the plurality of aircraft tires;

at least one conduit fluidly and switchably connecting each of the at least one spray heads with the fluid in the fluid reservoir.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a valve interposed between each of the at least one fluid reservoirs and each of the at least one spray heads.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a control mechanism in operative

communication with the system and operable by an operator in the aircraft cockpit.

4. The system of claim 2, further comprising a control mechanism in operative

communication with the system and configured to automatically move the valve from a first position to a second position.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the first position comprises a closed position and the second position comprises an open position, and wherein the valve moves to the open second position in response to a detected condition.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the detected condition is selected from the group of conditions consisting of:

aircraft flaps detected as being in the landing position;

aircraft landing gear detected as being down and in the locked position;

aircraft throttle reduced below an established power threshold;

aircraft airspeed detected as falling below an established minimum airspeed threshold; and aircraft altitude detected as falling below an established minimum altitude threshold.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising the valve configured automatically in the

closed position when none of the conditions are detected.

8. The system of claim 4, wherein the first position comprises an open position and the second position comprises a closed position in response to a detected condition.

9. The system of claim 6, further comprising a manual actuation of the valve to an open position by an operator located in the aircraft cockpit.

10. The system of claim 2, further comprising the valve comprising a default position of closed.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fluid comprises water.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the water further comprises an anti-freeze agent.

13. A method for preserving aircraft tires of a flying aircraft, comprising:

lubricating at least one of the aircraft tires with a fluid during the flight of the flying aircraft, but prior to the touchdown of the aircraft tires on a runway surface.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

providing a system according to claim 2 for each aircraft tire, wherein the valve of the system is actuated to an open position;

inducing fluid to flow from through the at least one conduit from the at least one reservoir to the at least one spray head; and

lubricating each of the aircraft tires with fluid flowing from the at least one spray head.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

establishing at least one predetermined condition or threshold;

detecting at least one of the established predetermined conditions or thresholds; and automatically actuating the valve to an open position from a closed position.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the valve is manually actuated to the open position.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the valve is configured to be opened manually.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising stopping the lubricating of the aircraft tires after the aircraft tires have touched the runway surface.