Light aircraft fuselage and structural frame connectors
AssigneeRST Aircraft Corporation
InventorsRichard Edward Ohmer, Timothy John Ohmer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A structural frame or truss, suitable for use as part of a light aircraft fuselage includes steel tubular members joined by structural connectors or connector blocks. The blocks include bore holes into which the ends of lateral tubular members are inserted, and longitudinal tubes or longerons are inserted through holes extending between opposed block faces. The structural connector blocks not only connect the tubular members, but they serve as jigs for assembling the structural frame. Tubes can be plug welded to the blocks, and the fuselage outer skin can be attached to the structural connectors to form a dual fuselage structure.
Claims33
A structural connector for use in connecting tubular sections of a structural frame, the structural connector comprising:
- a block having opposed planar faces and a peripheral edge extending between the two opposed faces;
- at least one bore hole extending inwardly from the peripheral edge, the bore hole comprising means for receiving an end of a tubular section;
- and
- a transverse hole extending from one face of the block and intersecting the bore hole, the bore hole extending inwardly beyond the transverse hole;
- the transverse hole comprising means for determining if the end of the tubular section is fully inserted into the bore hole.
An assembly comprising tubular members and a structural connector for use in connecting the tubular members to form a structural frame, the structural connector comprising:
- a block having a thickness greater than an external diameter of tubular members to be connected by the structural connector;
- at least one bore hole extending into the block from a peripheral edge of the block, the peripheral edge extending between opposite planar faces of the block, the bore hole having an inner diameter sufficient for insertion of an end of a tubular member into the bore hole;
- and
- a through hole extending between the opposite faces of the block, the through hole having a diameter sufficient to permit a second one of the tubular members to pass through the block;
- the block comprising means for welding at least two tubular members to form a portion of the structural frame.
An aircraft fuselage comprising an internal frame and an external skin covering the internal frame, the frame comprising a plurality of longerons wherein each connecting block includes at least one bore hole for receiving a tubular member, and a tranverse hole intersecting the bore hole, the corresponding tubular member extending into the bore hole past the transverse hole and a plurality of bulkheads supporting the longerons at longitudinally spaced positions, each bulkhead comprising tubular members joined together at the ends thereof by connecting blocks located at apices of each bulkhead, the connecting blocks also connecting the bulkheads to the longerons.
An aircraft frame comprising a plurality of tubular sections connected by a plurality of connector blocks and an external skin, the tubular sections including longerons and lateral tubular sections, the connector blocks connecting a plurality of lateral tubular sections to each longeron at multiple longitudinal positions on each longeron, the external skin being attached to the connector blocks so that loads applied to the aircraft frame are carried by both the tubular sections and the external skin.
A method of assembling an aircraft fuselage comprising the steps of:
- forming bore holes and forming through holes extending between opposite planar faces, in connector blocks;
- and
- inserting the ends of a first set of tubes into bore holes in connector blocks, the bore holes in individual connector blocks being oriented to function as jigs to properly orient the tubes to form a portion of an aircraft fuselage frame;
- inserting a second set of tubes into the through holes so that the tubes in the second set extend continuously through the connector blocks, the tubes in the second set forming longitudinal members in the aircraft fuselage, the through holes being oriented to function as jigs to properly orient longitudinal members relative to each other and relative to the remainder of the aircraft fuselage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.