Systems and methods for controlling landing gear of an aircraft
AssigneeJetZero, Inc.
InventorBlaine Knight Rawdon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Aspects relate to systems and methods for controlling landing gear of an aircraft. An exemplary system includes a nose gear located at a nose of the aircraft, where the nose gear includes a nose piston configured to allow for displacement of a nose wheel relative the aircraft, a main gear located aft of the nose gear, where the main gear includes a main piston configured to allow for displacement of a main wheel relative the aircraft, a hydraulic circuit in fluidic communication with each of the nose piston and the main piston, and a compliant element in fluidic communication with the hydraulic circuit and configured to provide a compliant response at one or both of the nose piston and the main piston.
Claims20
A system for controlling landing gear on a blended wing body (BWB) aircraft, the system comprising:
- a main gear located at a main body of the BWB aircraft;
- a nose gear located forward of the main gear, wherein the nose gear comprises:
- a first arm connected to a first end of a kingpin;
- a second arm connected to a point of the kingpin about which the kingpin pivots;
- and
- a wheel connected to a second end of the kingpin;
- and
- a controller configured to control an angle of attack of the BWB aircraft by modifying a degree of extension of the nose gear;
- wherein the nose gear is configured to extend by:
- rotating the second arm downwards from a forward oriented stowed position;
- and
- retracting the first arm such that the kingpin pivots about the point, which extends the wheel;
- wherein the BWB aircraft comprises a fixed-wing aircraft body having no clear demarcation between wings and a main body of the BWB aircraft at a leading edge of the wings.
A method of controlling landing gear on a blended wing body (BWB) aircraft, the method comprising:
- using a controller, controlling an angle of attack of the BWB aircraft by modifying a degree of extension of a nose gear;
- wherein:
- the nose gear comprises:
- a first arm connected to a first end of a kingpin;
- a second arm connected to a point of the kingpin about which the kingpin pivots;
- and
- a wheel connected to a second end of the kingpin;
- and
- the nose gear is configured to extend by:
- rotating the second arm downwards from a forward oriented stowed position;
- and
- retracting the first arm such that the kingpin pivots about the point, which extends the wheel;
- wherein the BWB aircraft comprises a fixed-wing aircraft body having no clear demarcation between wings and a main body of the BWB aircraft at a leading edge of the wings;
- and the BWB aircraft further comprises a main gear located at a main body of the BWB aircraft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.