Door management
AssigneeTextron Innovations Inc.
InventorsJohn Robert Wittmaak, Jr., Michael Rinehart
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A door management system on an aircraft includes a fuselage extending along a longitudinal axis in a fore-aft direction parallel to forward flight, an opening in a sidewall of the fuselage, a door mounted on the sidewall to slide in the fore-aft direction between a closed position covering the opening and an open position revealing the opening, a cable attached to the fuselage and the door and a speed governor operatively coupled to the cable to limit a velocity of the door as it moves between the open position and the closed position.
Claims20
A door management system on an aircraft comprising:
- a fuselage extending along a longitudinal axis in a fore-aft direction parallel to forward flight;
- an opening in a sidewall of the fuselage;
- a door mounted on the sidewall to slide in the fore-aft direction between a closed position covering the opening and an open position revealing the opening;
- a cable attached to the fuselage via a plurality of pulleys and the door via a connector;
- and
- a speed governor attached to the door, wherein the speed governor is operatively coupled to the cable to limit a velocity of the door as it moves between the open position and the closed position.
A tiltrotor aircraft having a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) flight mode and a forward flight mode, the tiltrotor aircraft comprising:
- a fuselage;
- a longitudinal X-axis, corresponding to a roll axis, extending through a center of the fuselage in a fore-aft direction parallel to forward flight, a transverse Y-axis, corresponding to a pitch axis, perpendicular to the longitudinal X-axis, and a vertical Z-axis, corresponding to a yaw axis, perpendicular to an X-Y plane;
- a wing extending laterally from the fuselage;
- first and second proprotors tiltable between the forward flight mode and the VTOL mode;
- an opening in a sidewall of the fuselage;
- a door mounted on the sidewall to slide in the fore-aft direction between a closed position covering the opening and an open position revealing the opening;
- a cable attached to the fuselage via a plurality of pulleys and the door via a connector;
- and
- a speed governor attached to the door, wherein the speed governor is operatively coupled to the cable to limit a velocity of the door as it moves between the open position and the closed position.
A method, comprising:
- flying a tiltrotor aircraft comprising a fuselage extending along a longitudinal axis in a fore-aft direction parallel to a direction of forward flight, an opening in a sidewall of the fuselage, a door mounted on the sidewall and slidable in the fore-aft direction between a closed position covering the opening and an open position revealing the opening, and a cable connected to the fuselage via a plurality of pulleys and the door via a connector;
- and
- utilizing a speed governor that is attached to the door to limit a velocity of the door moving between the open position and the closed position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.