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US 9,958,530 B2Granted
Distress beacon integrated in the vertical tailplane of an aircraft
AssigneeAirbus Operations GmbH
InventorMichel Colin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The vertical tailplane of the aircraft is equipped with a distress beacon. The floatability of the vertical tailplane is taken advantage of in order to keep the distress beacon on the surface of the water in the case of an accident caused by a forced landing on the sea.
Claims8
A vertical tailplane of an aircraft, comprising:
- a distress beacon being generally cylindrical in shape with a generally circular cross-section and a generally cylindrical exterior side-surface,
- a fixing device that is water-soluble, wherein said fixing device forms a clamping collar that engagees the generally cylindrical exterior side-surface of the distress beacon,
- a housing for receiving the distress beacon and the fixing device within said housing, said housing is closed by a radome forming an aerodynamic surface transparent to the waves likely to the transmitted by the beacon,
- said housing being hermetically sealed and maintained at a predefined internal pressure;
- wherein the distress beacon comprises a battery and a heating unit provided for maintaining the battery at a temperature higher than a reference temperature;
- wherein the radome forms a leading edge of the vertical tailplane.
3 more elements
The vertical tailplane as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said radome is equipped with one or more privileged fracture zones.
An aircraft comprising a vertical tailplane, the tailplane comprising:
- a distress beacon being generally cylindrical in shape with a generally circular cross-section and a generally cylindrical exterior side-surface,
- a fixing device that is water-soluble, wherein said fixing device forms a clampling collar that engages the generally cylindrical exterior side-surface of the distress beacon,
- a housing for receiving the distress beacon and the fixing device within said housing, said housing is closed by a radome forming an aerodynamic surface transparent to the waves likely to the transmitted by the beacon,
- said housing being hermetically sealed and maintained at a predefined internal pressure;
- wherein the distress beacon comprises a battery and a heating unit provided for maintaining the battery at a temperature higher than a reference temperature;
- wherein the radome forms a leading edge of the vertical tailplane.
3 more elements
An aircraft comprising a vertical tailplane, the tailplane comprising:
- a distress beacon being generally cylindrical in shape with a generally circular cross-section and a generally cylindrical exterior side-surface,
- a fixing device that is water-soluble, wherein said fixing device forms a clamping collar that engages the generally cylindrical exterior side-surface of the distress beacon,
- a housing for receiving the distress beacon and the fixing device within said housing, said housing is closed by a radome forming an aerodynamic surface transparent to the waves likely to the transmitted by the beacon,
- said housing being hermetically sealed and maintained at a predefined internal pressure;
- wherein the distress beacon comprises a battery and a heating unit provided for maintaining the battery at a temperature higher than a reference temperature;
- wherein the radome forms a leading edge of the vertical tailplane;
- wherein the radome is equipped with one or more privileged fracture zones such that a portion of the leading edge of the vertical tailplane is fracturably removable.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.