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US 11,273,908 B2Granted
Folding main landing gear for cargo aircraft
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorJustin Duane Cottet
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for folding landing gear of a cargo aircraft. One embodiment is a main landing gear of an aircraft that includes a shock strut coupled to a truck with one or more wheels, and a yoke pivotally coupled with the shock strut via a lower trunnion, and pivotally coupled with an aircraft structure via an upper trunnion. The yoke is configured to pivot about the upper trunnion in a direction back toward a tail of the aircraft and up toward a fuselage of the aircraft, and the shock strut is configured to pivot about the lower trunnion in a direction forward toward a nose of the aircraft and up toward the fuselage of the aircraft to retract the one or more wheels.
Claims20
A main landing gear to support a fuselage of a cargo aircraft comprising:
- a retraction actuator;
- a shock strut disposed outboard from a cargo floor and coupled to a truck with one or more wheels;
- and
- a yoke pivotally coupled with the shock strut via a lower trunnion, and pivotally coupled with an aircraft structure via an upper trunnion,
- wherein the yoke is configured to pivot about the upper trunnion in a direction back and up toward the fuselage, and the shock strut is configured to pivot about the lower trunnion in a direction forward and up toward the fuselage to retract the one or more wheels to a retracted position in which the one or more wheels reside outboard of the cargo floor and outside the fuselage, wherein the retraction actuator, the shock strut, and the truck of the main landing gear are disposed inboard of all of the one or more wheels of the main landing gear while the main landing gear is retracted, and the retraction actuator is disposed above all of the one or more wheels of the main landing gear while the main landing gear is retracted, wherein the retraction actuator includes a rod end configured to retract in a direction that is more vertical than lateral, resulting in retraction of the main landing gear.
2 more elements
A method of retracting a main landing gear configured to support a fuselage of a cargo aircraft, the method comprising:
- initiating retraction of the main landing gear including a truck having one or more wheels, a shock strut disposed outboard from a cargo floor and attached to the truck, and a yoke pivotably coupled with the shock strut via a lower trunnion and pivotably coupled with a retraction actuator via an upper trunnion, wherein the retraction actuator includes a rod end that retracts in a direction that is more vertical than lateral, resulting in retraction of the main landing gear;
- pivoting the yoke about the upper trunnion in a direction back and up toward the fuselage of the cargo aircraft;
- and
- pivoting the shock strut about the lower trunnion in a direction forward and up toward the fuselage to retract the main landing gear to a retracted position in which the one or more wheels reside outboard of the cargo floor and outside the fuselage, wherein in the retracted position, the retraction actuator, the shock strut, and the truck of the main landing gear are disposed inboard of all of the one or more wheels of the main landing gear, the retraction actuator is disposed above all of the one or more wheels of the main landing gear while the main landing gear is retracted.
1 more element
A cargo aircraft comprising:
- a fuselage including a cargo floor;
- wings attached to an upper portion of the fuselage, resulting in a high-wing configuration for the cargo aircraft;
- and
- a pair of main landing gears to support the fuselage, each main landing gear comprising:
- wheels coupled by a truck and arranged in tandem longitudinally;
- a shock strut disposed outboard from a cargo floor, the shock strut including a bottom cylinder attached to the truck, and a top cylinder that is telescopic with the bottom cylinder;
- a yoke including a lower trunnion and an upper trunnion, wherein the lower trunnion pivotally couples a bottom of the yoke with the top cylinder of the shock strut, and the upper trunnion pivotally couples a top of the yoke with an aircraft structure;
- a retraction actuator configured to pivot the top of the yoke about the upper trunnion to rotate the yoke back toward a tail and up toward the fuselage, and to pivot the shock strut about the lower trunnion in a direction forward and up to retract the wheels to a retracted position in which the wheels reside outboard of the cargo floor and outside the fuselage, wherein the retraction actuator, the shock strut, and the truck of the main landing gear are disposed inboard of all of the wheels of the main landing gear while the main landing gear is retracted, the retraction actuator is disposed above all of the one or more wheels of the main landing gear while the main landing gear is retracted, and the retraction actuator includes a rod end configured to retract in a direction that is more vertical than lateral, resulting in retraction of the wheels.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.