Deformable forward pressure bulkhead for an aircraft
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsBarney Anderson, Jeffrey Swada, William Koch
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An aircraft forward pressure bulkhead as described herein includes a malleable and deformable dome that is configured to “catch” foreign objects, such as birds. The dome is intentionally designed to deform in response to a foreign object strike that imparts at least a threshold amount of impact energy to the bulkhead. The dome is free of rigid stiffeners and non-deformable reinforcement members that would otherwise hinder the flexible characteristic of the dome. Practical embodiments of the bulkhead utilize fewer parts, are less heavy, and are less expensive than traditional bulkheads that utilize rigid stiffeners.
Claims21
An aircraft forward pressure bulkhead comprising a malleable dome that is configured to deform in response to a threshold amount of impact energy caused by a foreign object strike, thus absorbing and dissipating at least a portion of the impact energy, said aircraft forward pressure bulkhead being void of any rigid non-deformable reinforcement members.
An aircraft forward pressure bulkhead comprising:
- a malleable dome having an outer perimeter, said malleable dome comprising a first full layer, a second full layer coupled to said first full layer, and a partial layer coupled to said second full layer, said partial layer being located around said outer perimeter;
- and
- an outer chord coupled to said malleable dome around said outer perimeter, said outer chord providing a rigid attachment mechanism for said aircraft forward pressure bulkhead;
- said malleable dome being configured to deform in response to a threshold amount of impact energy caused by a foreign object strike, thus absorbing and dissipating at least a portion of the impact energy, and said malleable dome being void of any rigid non-deformable reinforcement members.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.