Aircraft
AssigneeAirbus Operations GmbH
InventorsNicholas Hancock, Christopher James Perkins
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An aircraft has a landing gear with a main leg, a support leg, and a wheel arm which has a wheel support and is pivotably connected to the main leg and support leg. The main leg and support leg are pivotably connected to the airframe of the aircraft, and can be pivoted aft to move the wheel arm aft and upward and move the landing gear from a deployed configuration to a stowed configuration. With the landing gear in the deployed configuration, the support leg is positioned forward of the main leg. The main leg, support leg and wheel arm form a triple-rocker four bar linkage such that pivoting the main leg and support leg aft pivots the wheel arm and retracts the wheel support.
Claims15
An aircraft having a forward direction and an aft direction and having a landing gear which is movable between stowed and deployed configurations, the landing gear comprising:
- a main leg with a proximal end pivotably attached to a first point on an airframe of the aircraft by a first pivot joint, and a support leg with a proximal end pivotably attached to a second point on the airframe by a second pivot joint;
- and
- a wheel arm pivotably attached to a distal end of the main leg by a third pivot joint and pivotably attached to a distal end of the support leg by a fourth pivot joint, the wheel arm having a wheel support for supporting one or more wheels;
- wherein the landing gear is movable from the deployed configuration towards the stowed configuration by pivoting the main leg and the support leg aft about the first and second pivot joints respectively, thereby moving the wheel arm aft and upward along a yaw axis of the aircraft;
- wherein with the landing gear in the deployed configuration the support leg is positioned forward of the main leg and the wheel support is positioned forward of the third pivot joint;
- and
- wherein the main leg, support leg and wheel arm form a triple-rocker four-bar linkage, with the airframe holding the first and second pivot joints stationary to form a fixed link, such that pivoting the main leg and support leg aft about the first and second pivot joints respectively pivots the wheel arm about the third pivot joint and moves the wheel support towards the first pivot joint.
A method of retracting a landing gear of an aircraft which has a forward direction and an aft direction, the landing gear comprising:
- a main leg with a proximal end pivotably attached to a first point on an airframe of the aircraft by a first pivot joint, and a support leg with a proximal end pivotably attached to a second point on the airframe by a second pivot joint;
- and
- a wheel arm pivotably attached to a distal end of the main leg by a third pivot joint and pivotably attached to a distal end of the support leg by a fourth pivot joint, the wheel arm having a wheel support for supporting one or more wheels;
- the method comprising:
- providing the landing gear in a deployed configuration, with the support leg positioned forward of the main leg and the wheel support positioned forward of the third pivot joint;
- and
- moving the landing gear towards a stowed configuration by pivoting the main leg and the support leg aft about the first and second pivot joints respectively, thereby moving the wheel arm aft and upward along a yaw axis of the aircraft;
- wherein the main leg, support leg and wheel arm form a triple-rocker four-bar linkage, with the airframe holding the first and second pivot joints stationary to form the fixed link, the aft pivoting of the main leg and support leg pivoting the wheel arm about the third pivot joint and moving the wheel support towards the first pivot joint.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.