Control surface assembly
AssigneeAirbus Operations GmbH
InventorEric Wildman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An aerodynamic control surface assembly comprising: an aerodynamic control surface (4); an actuator (10) for controlling deployment of the control surface; and a locking mechanism (30) moveable from a locked to an unlocked position. When the locking mechanism is set to the locked position, the actuator is operatively coupled to the control surface and the control surface can move in dependently of the actuator when the locking mechanism is set to the unlocked position. Such an assembly may be used in an aircraft to prevent clashing between a deployed flap (16) and a drooped spoiler (4) in the event of an actuator control systems failure.
Claims18
An aerodynamic control surface assembly comprising:
- an aerodynamic control surface;
- an actuator for controlling deployment of the control surface;
- and a locking mechanism moveable from a locked to an unlocked position, wherein the actuator is operatively coupled to the control surface when the locking mechanism is set to the locked position and the control surface can move independently of the actuator when the locking mechanism is set to the unlocked position.
A method of operatively decoupling an aerodynamic control surface from an actuator for controlling deployment of the control surface, the actuator being operatively coupled to the control surface by a locking mechanism when set to a locked position, the locking mechanism being moveable from the locked position to an unlocked position, the method comprising:
- unlocking the locking mechanism so that the control surface can move independently of the actuator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.