Gear disconnect mechanism for landing gear actuator emergency deployment

Abstract

An aircraft (40) landing gear includes a main beam (52) coupled to the aircraft (40) for reciprocating movement between a stowed position and a deployed position. An actuator (100) is configured to drive the reciprocating movement of the main beam (52). The actuator (100) includes a ball screw (140) and a motor (110). The motor (110) has an output shaft (112) operably coupled to the ball screw (140) through a gear train and configured to drive selective rotation of the ball screw (140). The actuator (100) further includes a disconnect mechanism (300) with a disconnect fitting (330) rotatably mounted to the ball screw (140). A biasing fitting (302) engages the disconnect fitting (330) to rotate the disconnect fitting (330) between a first position and a second position. The disconnect fitting (330) transfers rotation of the output shaft (112) to the ball screw (140) when the disconnect fitting (330) is in the first position. The ball screw (140) is isolated from the output shaft (112) when the disconnect fitting (330) is in the second position.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.