Counterbalanced retract actuator for landing gear
AssigneeGoodrich Corporation
InventorJason Bradley Allen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An aircraft landing gear actuation system which uses two separate actuation forces to retract aircraft landing gear is disclosed. One of the actuation forces may be provided by an actuator, such as a hydraulic actuator. Another of these actuation forces may be provided by a pressurized fluid that is directed into the actuator through a conduit that extends into a hollow interior of an actuator rod of the actuator. The pressurized fluid may be provided from a pressurized fluid source that contains a fixed volume of pressurized fluid. This pressurized fluid may exert a force on an actuator piston of the actuator or the actuator rod. The pressurized fluid may also be used to dampen the deployment of the landing gear.
Claims9
A method of operating an aircraft landing gear, comprising:
- operating an actuator to exert a first retraction force on said aircraft landing gear,
- wherein said actuator comprises an actuator rod, an actuator cylinder, and an actuator piston,
- exerting a second retraction force on said aircraft landing gear that is separate from said first retraction force, wherein said second retraction force comprises using a first fluid to exert a fluid pressure on said actuator,
- moving said aircraft landing gear from a deployed position to a retracted position using said first retraction force and said second retraction force;
- and
- operating a conduit extending from said first fluid, wherein a first section of the conduit that extends beyond the actuator cylinder when the actuator is in said deployed position is of a first outer diameter,
- wherein a second section of the conduit that is disposed within the actuator cylinder when the actuator is in said deployed position is of a second outer diameter that is larger than the first outer diameter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.