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US 4,674,712 AGranted
Double-lobe fuselage composite airplane
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsPhilip C. Whitener, Ray Olason
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Design and construction of a composite material airplane having a high aspect-ratio wing and a horizontal double-lobe fuselage cross-section for cargo and/or passenger accommodations. The fuselage comprises a double-lobe shell of contoured honeycomb core composite panels and an interior vertical plane centerline web forming a divider between the lobes. Piano-hinge type joints are utilized for multi-panel junctures to provide uniform load distribution across the junctures. The piano-hinge juncture utilizes hinge lugs which are dimensioned to interface sequentially along the hinge axis, and the hinge lugs are interconnected by a tubular hinge pin.
Claims17
A wide-body composite material constructed airplane fuselage, comprising:
- a fore-body section, a center-body section, and an aft-body section;
- and center-body section having cylindrically contoured composite material panels forming an external shell of two horizontally ajdacent lobes with equal radius-of-curvature in cross-section;
- a vertical plane bulkhead being of composite material panel construction and forming a longitudinal centerline interconnection between said two horizontally adjacent lobes;
- said composite material panels comprising a honeycomb core with a face sheet on both sides thereof;
- and continuous hinge joints for transmitting and redistributing structural loads from each of the face sheets through an edge intersecting, centrally positioned, common hinge axis of adjoining composite material panels, and forming longitudinal structural interconnections between said vertical-plane bulkhead and said two horizontally adjacent lobes for assembly into the center-body section of the fuselage.
2 more elements
A wide-body composite material constructed airplane, comprising:
- a fuselage having a fore-body section, a center-body section and an aft-body section;
- said fore-body section having a flight crew cockpit;
- said center-body section having cylindrically contoured composite material panels forming an external shell for a pair of horizontally adjacent lobes with equal radius of curvature in cross-section;
- a vertical plane bulkhead being of composite material panel construction and forming a longitudinal centerline interconnection between said pair of horizontally adjacent lobes;
- said composite material panels comprising a honeycomb core with a face sheet on both sides thereof;
- continuous hinge joints for transmitting and redistributing structural loads from each of the face sheets through an edge intersecting, centrally positioned, common hinge axis of adjoining composite material panels, and forming longitudinal structural interconnections between said vertical-plane bulkhead and said pair of horizontally adjacent lobes for retaining them together in assembled relationship to complete the fuselage center-body construction;
- and aft-body section having engine nacelles strut mounted from the sides of the fuselage and a necked-in fuselage shape adjacent to said strut mounted engine nacelles for an aerodynamic cross-sectional design of least drag;
- and a wing having a high aspect ratio and being mounted to the lower portion of the fuselage such that no fuselage protrusion below the wing surface is evident.
5 more elements
A wide-body airplane, comprising:
- a fuselage having a fore-body section, a center-body section and an aft-body section;
- said fore-body section comprsing a pilot's cockpit;
- said center-body section having cylindrically contoured honeycomb sandwich panels forming an external shell comprising two horizontally adjacent lobes of substantially equal radius of curvature and a vertical plane centerline web of honeycomb sandwich panel construction forming a structural interconnection between said two horizontally adjacent lobes;
- said honeycomb sandwhich panels comprising a honeycomb core with a face sheet on both sides thereof;
- continuous hinge joints for transmitting and redistributing structural loads from each of the face sheets through an edge intersecting, centrally positioned, common hinge axis of adjoining honeycomb sandwich panels, and forming longitudinal structural interconnections between said vertical-plane centerline web and said two horizontally adjacent lobes for retaining them together in assembled relationship to complete the fuselage center-body construction;
- said aft-body section comprising engine nacelles strut mounted to the sides of the fuselage, a V-tail mounted to the top of the fuselage, and a wedge-shaped tail cone mounted aft of the strut mounted engine nacelles and said V-tail;
- and a wing of high-aspect ratio having its semi-span root ends structurally fastened to said centerline web such that no fuselage protrusions below the wing undersurface is evident.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.