LANDING GEAR WHEEL DRIVE SYSTEM FOR AIRCRAFT

• US 3,762,670 A
• Filed: 12/16/1971
• Issued: 10/02/1973
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/1971
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Curtiss-Wright Flight Systems Incorporated Fairfield NJ 07006 A Corporation O de
• Original Assignee: Charles W. Chillson
• Inventors: Chillson, Charles W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Buchler, Milton
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sauberer, Paul E.
• Application Number:
  US05/208,693
• Time in Patent Office: 656 Days
• Field of Search: 244/50,62,75R,2R,13R,13S,63,12R 180/74,66A,14C,66R,66F,53R
• US Class Current: 244/50
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 25/36 Arrangements or adaptations of wheels, tyres or axles in general
• 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

Abstract

The invention comprises a light weight auxiliary drive mechanism carried by an aircraft for applying driving torque to wheels of a landing gear of the aircraft for taxiing the aircraft along the ground. In particular, the mechanism consists of a driving drum arranged for friction driving engagement with the tire of a wheel of a landing gear having a telescopic, shock-absorbing strut, and an auxiliary motor drivably connected to the drum, with the drum being supported on said landing gear.

Claims

1. In an aircraft having a landing gear extendible and retractable therefrom and including a shock-absorbing strut having a pair of telescopic members and including a landing wheel at its outer end for contact with the ground when the aircraft is being taxiied along the ground;

the combination comprising a. drum means having a small diameter compared to that of said wheel and movable into and out of friction driving engagement with said wheel, b. an auxiliary motor for driving said drum means, c. means drivably connecting said motor to said drum means, d. means manually operable from within the aircraft when the landing gear is extended for moving said drum means into driving engagement with said wheel and for regulating the power output of said motor, e. means for supporting said drum means on said landing gear so as to permit telescopic movements of said landing gear strut while said drum means is in driving engagement with said wheel and to permit retraction of the landing gear with said drum means while said drum means is out of engagement with said wheel.

2. In an aircraft as recited in claim 1 in which a. said landing gear includes a pair of links, one for each of said telescopic strut members with said links being pivotally connected to their respective strut members and being pivotally connected together at a point spaced from their connections to said strut members, and b. said drum supporting means comprises a pivotal connection to at least one of said links.

3. In an aircraft as recited in claim 1 in which said supporting means also supports said auxiliary motor so that both said drum means and auxiliary motor are retracted with the landing gear.

4. In an aircraft as recited in claim 3 in which said supporting means also includes means for minimizing the transmission of vibrations from said landing gear to said drum means and auxiliary motor.

5. In an aircraft as recited in claim 1 iN which a. said landing gear also includes a pair of links, one for each of said telescopic strut members with said links being pivotally connected to their respective strut members and being pivotally connected together at a point spaced from their connections to said strut members, b. said auxiliary motor and drum means are mounted on a common structure, and c. said supporting means comprises a pivotal connection between at least one of said links and said common structure.

6. In an aircraft as recited in claim 1 in which the auxiliary motor is supported within the aircraft adjacent to the upper end of the landing gear and in which said driving connection from said motor to said drum means is flexible so as to accommodate extension movements of the telescopic landing gear strut.

7. In an aircraft as recited in claim 1 and including means for releaseably locking said drum means out from engagement with said landing wheel.

8. In an aircraft as recited in claim 1 in which a. said drum supporting means includes a support structure on which said drum means is journaled for rotation and also b. includes a pivotal connection to said support structure disposed so that said drum means can be rotated about the axis of said pivotal connection to bring the drum means in driving engagement with said wheel, the axis of said pivotal connection being disposed so that when the drum means is in driving engagement with the wheel a tangent to the point of engagement of said drum means with said wheel substantially intersects said pivot axis.

9. In an aircraft as recited in claim 1 in which said manually operable means comprises a member operable for controlling both the direction of rotation and the power output of said auxiliary motor.

10. In an aircraft as recited in claim 1 in which said manually operable means includes a member movable for controlling the engagement of said drum means with said wheel and for controlling both the direction of rotation and the power output of said auxiliary motor such that said engagement occurs when said power output is at the low end of its power range.

11. In an aircraft as recited in claim 10 in which said manually movable member has a neutral position and is movable for a limited range in either direction from said neutral position for controlling the direction of rotation of said motor and is further movable in either direction beyond said range for determining the power output of said motor.

12. In an aircraft as recited in claim 1 and including means for automatically reducing the power output of said motor should slippage between said drum means and said wheel exceed a predetermined value.

13. In an aircraft as recited in claim 1 and including means for automatically increasing and decreasing the contact pressure between said drum means and said wheel in accordance with increase and decrease respectively in the tractive effort being transmitted by said drum means to said wheel.

14. In an aircraft as recited in claim 1 and including an instrument within the aircraft for indicating the magnitude of the tractive effort being transmitted by said drum means to said wheel.

15. In an aircraft as recited in claim 1 in which a. said aircraft landing gear includes a pair of spaced side-by-side landing wheels disposed on opposite sides of the telescopic strut of said landing gear and b. said drum means includes a pair of co-axial drum members, one for each of said wheels and supported from said telescopic strut.

16. In an aircraft as recited in claim 15 in which the supporting means for said pair of drum members includes means permitting the axis of said drum members to tilt laterally to accommodate a pair of landing wheels of slightly different diameter.

17. In an aircraft as recited in claim 15 in which a. said landing gear includes a pair of links, one for each of said telescopic strut members with said links being pivotally connected to their respective strut members and being Pivotally connected together at a point spaced from their connections to said strut members, and b. said drum supporting means includes a frame structure having a portion extending into each drum member on which said drum member is journaled and includes a pivotal connection between said frame structure and at least one of said links.

18. In an aircraft as recited in claim 15 in which said drum supporting means includes a frame member on which said pair of drum members are journaled for rotation and also includes a first link having one end pivotally connected to said strut and its other end connected to said frame member at two points spaced apart generally in a direction parallel to the axis of said drum members, one of the pivotal connections including a second link pivotally interconnected between said frame member and said first link and in which said pivotal connections have at least limited angular flexibility.

19. In an aircraft as recited in claim 15 in which said auxiliary motor is positioned between the planes of rotation of said landing wheels and is supported from said strut along with the drum members.

20. In an aircraft as recited in claim 15 in which said auxiliary motor comprises a positive-displacement hydraulic motor.

21. In an aircraft as recited in claim 20 in which said auxiliary hydraulic motor includes means for varying its displacement per motor revolution and in which means are provided for decreasing said displacement if the pressure of the hydraulic fluid supplied to the motor should decrease.

22. In an aircraft as recited in claim 20 and including means for reversing the direction of rotation of said auxiliary hydraulic motor and in which said manually operable means also controls the direction of rotation of said hydraulic motor.

23. In an aircraft as recited in claim 15 and in which said auxiliary motor comprises a gas turbine and is supported from said strut along with the drum members.

24. In an aircraft as recited in claim 23 in which said auxiliary motor also includes a combustion unit also supported from said strut for supplying said turbine with combustion gases for driving the turbine.

25. In an aircraft as recited in claim 23 in which said turbine includes means for reversing its direction of rotation.

26. In an aircraft as recited in claim 25 in which said turbine includes adjustable guide vane means for reversing its direction of rotation and in which said manually operable means also controls said direction of rotation of said turbine.

27. In an aircraft as recited in claim 15 in which a. said supporting means includes a frame structure supported from said telescopic strut and having portions extending into said drum members, with said drum members being journaled on said frame member extensions, and b. the driving connection from said motor to each of said drum members includes a drive shaft extending through the associated frame extension and being drivably connected to said drum member at the end of said drum member remote from the other drum member.

28. In an aircraft as recited in claim 15 and in which the driving connection to said drum members includes differential gearing to permit relative rotation of said drum members.

29. In an aircraft having first and second extendible and retractable landing gears disposed on opposite sides of the aircraft fuselage and each including a telescopic shock-absorbing strut and each having a pair of side-by-side landing wheels at and on opposite sides of the strut outer end for contact with the ground when the aircraft is taxiing along the ground;

separate means for driving the pair of wheels of each of said two landing gears, each of said means for driving the pair of wheels of one of said landing gears, comprising a. a pair of co-axial drum members for said landing gear, one for each of its said landing gear wheels and being movable into and out of frictional engagement with said wheels, b. an auxiliary motor, c. meAns drivably connecting said auxiliary motor to said pair of drum members, d. a control member operable from within the aircraft when said landing gear is extended for moving said drum members into frictional driving engagement with its wheels and controlling the power output of said auxiliary motor such that said engagement occurs when said power output is at the low end of its power range, and e. means for supporting said drum members from said telescopic strut so as to permit telescopic extension and retraction of said strut while said drum members are in driving engagement with the wheels of said landing gear.