Aircraft sill height compensating evacuation system
AssigneeGoodrich Corporation
InventorsDrew Hartman, Jaro Volny
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An evacuation system is provided. The system may comprise a girt coupled to a door sill and an evacuation slide. The evacuation slide may comprise a head end coupled to the girt, an extension, a hinge portion coupled between the head end and the extension, and a lane diverter coupled to the evacuation slide. A method is also provided. The method may include opening a door to expose a door sill, inflating the evacuation slide with the evacuation slide coupled to the door sill, bending a hinge portion of the slide in response to a door sill height being less than or equal to a predetermined height, and redirecting a slide lane to a side exit.
Claims15
An evacuation slide, comprising:
- a slide lane;
- an extension;
- a hinge portion coupled between the extension and a head end of the evacuation slide configured to buckle in response to bearing a weight of at least 50 lbs and in response to a door sill height being less than or equal to a predetermined height;
- and
- a lane diverter coupled to the evacuation slide, the lane diverter configured to contact an exit surface and deform a portion of the evacuation slide in response to the buckling;
- wherein the deforming is configured to redirect the slide lane to a side exit of the evacuation slide.
An evacuation system, comprising:
- a girt coupled to a door sill;
- an evacuation slide comprising:
- a head end coupled to the girt;
- an extension;
- a hinge portion coupled between the head end and the extension;
- and
- a lane diverter coupled to the evacuation slide;
- wherein the hinge portion is configured to buckle in response to bearing a weight of at least 50 lbs and in response to a height of the door sill being less than or equal to a predetermined height;
- wherein the lane diverter is configured to contact an exit surface in response to the buckling;
- wherein the lane diverter is configured to deform a portion of the evacuation slide in response to the contacting the exit surface;
- and
- wherein the evacuation slide further comprises a slide lane and a side exit, the lane diverter configured to divert the slide lane to the side exit in response to the deforming.
A method for deploying an evacuation slide, comprising:
- opening a door to expose a door sill;
- inflating the evacuation slide with the evacuation slide coupled to the door sill;
- bending a hinge portion of the evacuation slide in response to a door sill height being less than or equal to a predetermined height;
- and
- redirecting a slide lane to a side exit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.