Landing gear method and apparatus for braking and maneuvering

An aircraft landing gear assembly for an aircraft, comprising:

• a nose gear and a main landing gear, the main landing gear comprising:
• a nonrotational base portion configured to connect to an airframe of the aircraft;
• a wheel connected to and rotatable with respect to the base portion about a rotational axis;
• a plurality of stators connected to the base portion;
• a plurality of rotors connected to the wheel and configured to rotate with respect to said stators;
• wherein each of said pluralities of stators and rotors is configured to generate a magnetic flux;
• wherein said pluralities of stators and rotors are configured so that interaction of their magnetic fluxes causes at least one of:
• converting electrical energy to rotational torque energy of the wheel, and converting rotational torque energy of the wheel to electrical energy of a magnitude suitable for use to decrease the rotational velocity of said wheel;
• a processor connected to said pluralities of stators and rotors;
• and
• an electrical device comprising at least one of an electrical energy storage device and
• an electrical energy dissipation device,
• wherein the processor is configured to connect and disconnect the stator-rotor sets to and from the electrical device.

An aircraft landing gear assembly for an aircraft, comprising:

• a nose gear and a main landing gear, the main landing gear or the nose gear comprising:
• a nonrotational base portion configured to connect to an airframe of the aircraft;
• a wheel connected to and rotatable with respect to the base portion about a rotational axis;
• a plurality of stators connected to the base portion, wherein each of said plurality of stators comprises a disk having a plane that is substantially perpendicular to said rotational axis;
• a plurality of rotors connected to the wheel and configured to rotate with respect to said stators, each of said plurality of rotors comprising a disk having a plane that is substantially perpendicular to said rotational axis;
• wherein each of said pluralities of stators and rotors is configured to generate an axial magnetic flux substantially parallel to said rotational axis;
• and
• wherein said pluralities of stators and rotors are configured so that interaction of their axial magnetic fluxes causes at least one of:
• converting electrical energy to rotational torque energy of the wheel, and converting rotational torque energy of the wheel to electrical energy of a magnitude suitable for use to decrease the rotational velocity of said wheel.