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US 10,683,085 B2Granted
Aircraft assembly
AssigneeSafran Landing Systems UK LTD
InventorsNicholas Foster, Nikhil Sehgal, Daniel Mulley, Peter Scott
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An aircraft assembly having a first body connected to a second body via a flexible coupling arranged to limit separation of the bearing faces while permitting relative rotational movement between the bodies in a movement plane so as to define a joint between the bodies.
Claims18
An aircraft landing gear assembly comprising:
- a first body having a respective first side, a respective second side and a respective bearing face extending between the respective first side and the respective second side;
- a second body having, at a first end thereof, a respective first side, a respective second side and a respective bearing face extending between the respective first side and the respective second side, the second body being positioned relative to the first body such that the respective bearing faces are adjacent to one another and the respective first side of each body is closer to the respective first side of the other body than it is to the respective second side of the other body;
- and
- a flexible coupling arranged to limit separation of the bearing faces while permitting relative rotational movement between the bodies in a movement plane so as to define a joint between the first body and the second body, the flexible coupling comprising:
- one or more first flexible straps arranged in a first configuration in which the first flexible straps are coupled to the first side of the first body and coupled to the second side of the second body;
- and
- one or more second flexible straps arranged in a second configuration in which the second flexible straps are coupled to the second side of the first body and coupled to the first side of the second body, the first flexible straps and the second flexible straps being arranged in parallel across the joint;
- wherein each bearing face has a respective planar central portion that is flanked on either side by a respective curved end region that extends away from the opposite body to define a respective convex outer rolling surface, and the joint is configured such that:
- the respective planar central portions contact one another when the first body and the second body are aligned to support compressive loads along the first body and the second body,
- the respective convex outer rolling surfaces of the first body react loads applied to them by the second body during the rotational movement between the bodies in the movement plane, and
- the respective convex outer rolling surfaces of the second body react loads applied to them by the first body during the rotational movement between the bodies in the movement plane,
- such that a point of contact between the first body and the second body moves along curves of the respective curved end regions during the rotational movement between the bodies in the movement plane.
9 more elements
An aircraft landing gear assembly comprising:
- a first body having a first side, a second side and a bearing face extending between the sides;
- a second body having a first side, a second side and a bearing face extending between the sides, the bodies being positioned relative to one another such that the bearing faces are adjacent to one another and the first side of each body is closer to the first side of the other body than it is to the second side of the other body;
- and
- a flexible coupling arranged to limit separation of the bearing faces while permitting relative rotational movement between the bodies in a movement plane so as to define a joint between the bodies, the flexible coupling comprising:
- one or more flexible straps arranged in a first configuration in which the straps are coupled to the first side of the first body and coupled to the second side of the second body;
- and
- one or more flexible straps arranged in a second configuration in which the straps are coupled to the second side of the first body and coupled to the first side of the second body, the straps of the first and second configurations being arranged in parallel across the joint
- wherein:
- wherein the first body and the second body define a landing gear torque link, a landing gear side stay, or a landing gear lock stay;
- and
- wherein:
- each bearing face has a respective planar central portion, and the joint is arranged such that the respective central planar portions face one another when the first body and the second body are aligned so that the respective planar central portion of the bearing face of the first body is engaged with the respective planar central portion of the bearing face of the second body to react landing loads.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.