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US 12,179,913 B2Granted
Ballistic resistant drive shaft
AssigneeHamilton Sundstrand Corporation
InventorsMark R. Gurvich, Georgios S. Zafiris, Edward P. Marron, Brayton Reed, Joyel M. Schaefer, Michael King
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A drive shaft for an aircraft according to an example of the present disclosure includes, among other things, an elongated core extending between a pair of opposed couplings, an energy absorption layer made of a composite comprising metal, the energy absorption layer disposed on the core, and a first composite ballistic layer disposed along a length of the core.
Claims20
A drive shaft for an aircraft comprising:
- an elongated core extending between a pair of opposed attachment portions, wherein each of the pair of opposed attachment portions is a flexible coupling having a lesser stiffness than the core, and the core is a tube including an inner diameter defining an elongated bore that extends between the pair of opposed attachment portions;
- an energy absorption layer made of a composite comprising metal, the energy absorption layer disposed on the outer diameter of the core;
- and
- a first composite ballistic layer disposed on the energy absorption layer.
1 more element
A power transmission system for an aircraft comprising:
- a gearbox;
- and
- a drive shaft comprising:
- a first attachment portion coupled to an engine;
- a second attachment portion coupled to the gearbox;
- a tubular core interconnecting the first and second attachment portions, an energy absorption layer made of a composite comprising metal, the energy absorption layer disposed on an outer diameter of the core, and a first composite ballistic layer disposed on the energy absorption layer, wherein each of the first and second attachment portions is a flexible coupling having a lesser stiffness than the tubular core, and the tubular core includes an inner diameter defining an elongated bore that extends between the first and second attachment portions.
3 more elements
A method of fabricating a drive shaft for an aircraft comprising:
- forming an energy absorption layer on an outer diameter of an elongated core, the elongated core extending between first and second attachment portions, wherein the core is a hollow tube including an inner diameter defining an elongated bore extending between the first and second attachment portions, each of the first and second attachment portions is a flexible coupling having a lesser stiffness than the core, and the energy absorption layer comprises a material selected with respect to at least one predetermined energy frequency or at least one predetermined energy level;
- and
- forming a first composite ballistic layer on the energy absorption layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.