Energy Absorbing Landing Systems for Aircraft
AssigneeBell Textron Inc.
InventorGuy Bernard
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An energy absorbing landing system for an aircraft having a fuselage includes landing legs rotatably coupled to the fuselage configured to outwardly rotate when receiving a landing load having a magnitude. The energy absorbing landing system also includes an energy absorption unit coupled to the fuselage and cables coupling the energy absorption unit to the landing legs. The energy absorption unit is configured to selectively apply a resistance to the outward rotation of the landing legs via the cables based on the magnitude of the landing load, thereby absorbing the landing load when the aircraft lands.
Claims20
An energy absorbing landing system for an aircraft having a fuselage, the energy absorbing landing system comprising:
- a plurality of landing legs rotatably coupled to the fuselage configured to outwardly rotate when receiving a landing load having a magnitude;
- an energy absorption unit coupled to the fuselage;
- and
- a plurality of cables coupling the energy absorption unit to the plurality of landing legs;
- wherein, the energy absorption unit is configured to selectively apply a resistance to the outward rotation of the plurality of landing legs via the plurality of cables based on the magnitude of the landing load, thereby absorbing the landing load when the aircraft lands.
A rotorcraft comprising:
- a fuselage;
- a plurality of landing legs rotatably coupled to the fuselage configured to outwardly rotate when receiving a landing load having a magnitude;
- an energy absorption unit coupled to the fuselage;
- and
- a plurality of cables coupling the energy absorption unit to the plurality of landing legs;
- wherein, the energy absorption unit is configured to selectively apply a resistance to the outward rotation of the plurality of landing legs via the plurality of cables based on the magnitude of the landing load, thereby absorbing the landing load.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.