SELF-PROPELLED UNDERCARRIAGE WHEEL HAVING A LOW PROFILE TIRE

• US 20100288873A1
• Filed: 08/29/2007
• Published: 11/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Borealis Technical Limited (Borealis Exploration Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Isaiah Watas Cox, Joseph Jeremiah Cox, Rodney Thomas Cox
• Inventors: Cox, Joseph Jeremiah, Cox, Rodney Thomas, Cox, Isaiah Watas
• Granted Patent: US 8,109,463 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 244/50
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 25/405 Powered wheels, e.g. for taxing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 50/80 Energy efficient operational measures, e.g. ground operations or mission management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/4973 Replacing of defective part

Abstract

An undercarriage wheel is disclosed comprising an axle member that supports a drive member, for example but not limited to a compact high torque electric motor, a wheel member driven by said drive member, and a tire attached to the wheel member, wherein the tire bulges in the width dimension of the wheel, wherein the drive member protrudes from the wheel member and thus occupies at least some of the additional width made available by the bulge of the tire. A further aspect of the invention is an undercarriage wheel that comprises an axle member that supports a drive member, for example but not limited to a compact high torque electric motor, a wheel member driven by said drive member, and a low-profile tire attached to the wheel member. Since the profile of the tire is low, additional space is available inside the wheel for the drive member. Preferably, the drive member occupies at least some of this additional space, and has sufficient power to be able to propel an aircraft to which the undercarriage assembly is attached, either alone or in combination with other self-propelled undercarriage assemblies attached to the aircraft.

Claims

1. A self-propelled undercarriage assembly comprising:

(a) an axle member;

(b) a wheel member;

(c) a drive member having at least one fixed element and at least one driven element, for rotating said wheel member; and

(d) a tire affixed to said wheel member;

wherein said drive member is located inside said wheel member, has sufficient power to be able to propel an aircraft to which said self-propelled undercarriage assembly is attached, either alone or in combination with further self-propelled undercarriage assemblies attached to said aircraft, and wherein external dimensions of said undercarriage assembly are substantially equal to external dimensions of a non-self-propelled standard undercarriage assembly.

2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said drive member extends at least beyond the width of the wheel member, and at most, to the width of the tire, said width to include the bulge of the tire wall at the widest point of said tire wall, whereby a space available for housing said drive member is greater than a space within a standard non-self-propelled undercarriage wheel member.

3. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said tire is a low profile tire and a diameter of said wheel member is greater than the diameter of a non-self-propelled standard wheel member, whereby a space available for housing said drive member is greater than a space within a standard non-self-propelled undercarriage wheel member.

4. The undercarriage assembly of claim 1 wherein said assembly is able to replace an existing undercarriage in an existing aircraft by fitting into a space available in the fuselage bay of said existing undercarriage, wherein the performance of said undercarriage is not negatively affected.

8. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said fixed element is connected to said axle member and said driven element is attached to said wheel member.

9. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said driven element is connected to said axle member and said fixed element is attached to said wheel member.

13. The undercarriage assembly of claim 1 in which at least one of said fixed element and said driven element is toroidally wound.

14. The undercarriage assembly of claim 1 having a driven element internal to said fixed element and a second driven element external to said fixed element, having connecting means joining said driven elements.

17. The undercarriage assembly of claim 1 further having more than one additional fixed element and more than one additional driven element.

18. The undercarriage assembly of claim 1 wherein said fixed and driven elements are interleaved.

19. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said first and second driven elements are normal to each other.

22. The undercarriage assembly of claim 1 having at least one gearing member connecting said wheel member to said drive member, wherein said additional space is occupied by at least one member selected from the group consisting of said gearing member and said drive member.

23. The undercarriage assembly of claim 1 for an aircraft nose wheel.

24. The assembly of claim 1 additionally comprising one or more further wheel members, and wherein said drive member rotates said wheel members.

25. A method for replacing an aircraft undercarriage wheel with a motorised aircraft undercarriage wheel, comprising the steps of

(a) removing existing undercarriage wheel from at least one fuselage bay of the aircraft;

(b) fitting into each said at least one bay, one of the self-propelled undercarriage assemblies of claim 1;

whereby said self-propelled undercarriage assembly has dimensions substantially equal to said existing undercarriage wheel, whereby the performance of said undercarriage is not negatively affected.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein said existing undercarriage wheel is a nosewheel.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein the existing undercarriage wheel is removed from and replaced in all fuselage bays of the aircraft.

28. The undercarriage assembly of claim 1, in which said drive member is one selected from the list comprising:

an electric motor;

an induction motor;

a high phase order induction motor.

29. The undercarriage assembly of claim 1 in which said driven element is one selected from the list comprising:

external to said fixed element;

internal to said fixed element.

5-7. -7. (canceled)

10-12. -12. (canceled)

15-16. -16. (canceled)

20-21. -21. (canceled)