Advanced latch for emergency oxygen container deployment

A release deployment latch for controlling operation of an aircraft emergency oxygen container having a source of breathable oxygen, the release deployment latch comprising:

• a main door of the aircraft emergency oxygen container moveable between a closed position, an intermediate test position, and an open position, said main door having a first aperture therethrough;
• a latch housing configured to be mounted to an interior of the emergency oxygen container, said latch housing having at least one second aperture therethrough;
• a spur gear having exterior spur gear teeth, said spur gear being rotatably mounted to the latch housing;
• a cam connected to said spur gear, said cam including an interior channel having an inner cam profile defining a plurality of identical cam paths along a plurality of circular segments with different radii from a center of the cam;
• a plurality of balls disposed within and retained for movement within said interior channel in said cam, said plurality of balls being configured to move radially inwardly and outwardly along said inner cam profile of said interior channel, said plurality of identical cam paths being configured to cause the plurality of balls to move radially outwards or inwards simultaneously as the cam is rotated;
• a plunger pin disposed within and retained for movement within said plurality of balls, said plunger pin having an outer end configured to engage a portion of said main door, said plunger pin having a shaft with an outer surface having varying diameters along a length of the shaft of the plunger pin, such that said plurality of balls engage and press against the outer surface of said shaft of the latch plunger pin, and movement of said plurality of balls radially outwards or inwards simultaneously causes said plunger pin to move correspondingly longitudinally outwardly or inwardly in relation to said main door, such that longitudinal movement of the plunger pin can move the plunger pin from an innermost position corresponding to the closed position of the main door, to an intermediate position corresponding to the intermediate test position of the main door, to an outermost position corresponding to an open position of the main door;
• a linear gear rack having first and second sides and corresponding first and second rows of gear rack teeth on said first and second sides of said linear gear rack, respectively, said first row of gear rack teeth being operationally engaged with said exterior spur gear teeth, and said gear rack including an auxiliary arm;
• a manual release gear lever having manual release gear teeth operationally engaged with said second row of gear rack teeth, said manual release gear lever including an arm portion;
• an external manual release actuator pin moveably mounted for slidable movement through and extending through said first aperture in the main door, said external manual release actuator pin having an exterior end disposed outside said main door, said external manual release actuator pin extending through the at least one second aperture in the latch housing and having an interior end configured to engage said arm portion of said manual release gear lever, said external manual release actuator pin being moveable between first, second and third inwardly extending positions corresponding to said closed position, intermediate test position, and open position of the main door, respectively, said external manual release actuator pin being operative to control movement of the plunger pin to effect positioning of the main door from the closed or locked position to the intermediate test position for testing deployment of the supplemental oxygen system, and to the fully opened position for deployment of the supplemental oxygen system, and said external manual release actuator pin being operative to push and lift the arm end of the manual release gear lever to rotate the manual release gear level to cause the gear rack to move to cause corresponding rotation of the spur gear and the cam manual operation of the main door, and said gear rack including a spring connected between the arm of the gear rack and the housing to bias the gear rack to a normal resting position and to bias the main door to a closed position;
• and
• a powered actuator engaged with said auxiliary arm of said gear rack configured to actuate movement of said gear rack to in turn control rotation of the spur gear and cam.