US 10,864,984 B2Granted

Landing gear drive system flexible interface

AssigneeAirbus Operations GmbH

InventorArnaud Didey

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A drive system for an aircraft landing gear, the drive system including a pinion gear, a drive shaft arranged to rotate the pinion gear about a drive axis, a driven gear arranged to mesh with the pinion gear to be rotatable by the pinion gear, the driven gear being connectable to a wheel of the landing gear to be capable of rotating the wheel about a wheel axis; and a flexible interface. The flexible interface includes a plurality of driven gear coupling members, each driven gear coupling member having a first connection portion attached to the driven gear, a second connection portion adapted to be attached to the wheel at an offset distance from the wheel axis, and a joint between the first connection portion and the second connection portion, the joint permitting relative movement between the first connection portion and the second connection portion.

Claims7

Dependent claims

A drive system for an aircraft landing gear, the drive system comprising:

a pinion gear having a hub;
a drive shaft connected to a motor and arranged to rotate the pinion gear about a drive axis;
a driven gear arranged to mesh with the pinion gear to be rotatable by the pinion gear, the driven gear being connectable to a wheel of the landing gear to be capable of rotating the wheel about a wheel axis;
a flexible interface comprising a pinion gear coupling member arranged to connect the pinion gear to the drive shaft to permit tilting of the pinion gear relative to the drive axis,
wherein the pinion gear coupling member comprises a crowned spline joint between the drive shaft and the pinion gear;
and,
wherein the hub of the pinion gear is bounded between a flange permanently fixed with the drive shaft at an end of the crowned spline joint proximal to the motor and a flange removably fixed to the drive shaft at an opposite end of the crowned spline joint distal to the motor.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/852,725Filed 22 Dec 2017 · continuation
Priority: GB 1315802.75 Sep 2013
Published: US 2018/0118333 A13 May 2018
Granted: 15 Dec 2020
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification11 codes

B64C 25/405
Characterised by elements which contact the ground or similar surface: powered wheels, e.g. for taxing
F16D 3/56
With the coupling parts connected by one or more intermediate members: comprising elastic metal lamellae, elastic rods, or the like, e.g. arranged…
F16H 1/006
Toothed gearings for conveying rotary motion: the driving and driven axes being designed to assume variable positions relative to one another…
F16H 1/06
Involving only two intermeshing members: with parallel axes

Family

PCT/GB2014/052653Parent of this continuation · filed 3 Sep 2014
US 2018/0118333 A1Pre-grant publication · published 3 May 2018
Application14/914,669Parent of this continuation
US 9,884,678 B2Parent of this continuation
US 2016/0200426 A1Published application
US 10,864,984 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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