Aircraft work dock

• US 5,363,940 A
• Filed: 08/05/1993
• Issued: 11/15/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fahrion, Otmar
• Original Assignee: Fahrion, Otmar
• Inventors: Fahrion, Otmar
• Primary Examiner(s): CHIN SHUE, ALVIN C
• Application Number:
  US08/102,256
• Time in Patent Office: 467 Days
• Field of Search: 182/62.5, 182/130, 182/141, 182/36, 182/115, 182/179, 182/36
• US Class Current: 182/62.5
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 5/10 Manufacturing or assembling aircraft, e.g. jigs therefor

Abstract

In a dock for carrying out work on an aircraft (18), support slides (34) which are carried by support frameworks (20-24, 28) are provided and are adjustable in a horizontal and a vertical direction. The support slides (34) each have guide rails (36, 38), running in which is a bottom section (40) to which a work platform (30) is fastened via two scissor-type linkages. The support slides (34) may be moved into an aligned position so that a work platform support section (40) is movable from one support slide to the other.

Claims

1. A dock for carrying out work on an aircraft (18), having support frameworks (20-24, 28) which are disposed on either side of the fuselage and of which at least selected frameworks are movable far enough to allow the wing tips of the aircraft to run past them, having support slides (34) which are movable in a vertical and/or horizontal direction on the support frameworks, and having work platforms (30) which are mounted in each case via a length-adjustable strut arrangement (54, 56) on the support slides (34) and are movable by the strut arrangement (54, 56) in a direction substantially perpendicular to the plane of motion of the support slides (34), wherein the support slides (34) have guideways (36, 38), in which bottom sections (40) for the strut arrangements (54, 56) run, and wherein the guideways (36, 38) of adjacent support slides (34) are movable into an aligned, substantially continuous position.

2. A dock as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bottom sections (40) each have a drive motor (76) for moving the bottom section in the guideways (36, 38) and are connectable via a detachable supply cable (78) to a receptacle outlet (82), by means of which the drive motor (76) is supplied with energy, and wherein the length of the supply cables (76) and the position of the receptacle outlets (82) on two support slides (34) which have been moved together are so adapted to one another that the bottom sections (40) may be moved over the joint of the abutting support slides (34).

3. A dock as claimed in claim 2, wherein the bottom sections (40) are connectable via detachable supply tubes (84) to receptacle outlets (88) for working fluids, and wherein the length of the connection tubes and the position of the fluid receptacle outlets (88) on two support slides (34) which have been moved together are so adapted to one another that the bottom sections (40) may be moved over the joint between abutting support slides (34).

4. A dock as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bottom sections (40) or the work platforms (30) carry mechanically readable identification marks (110) and the support slides have reader units for said identification marks (112).

5. A dock as claimed in claim 1, wherein position transducers (90, 92) are associated with the strut arrangements (54, 56) and further position transducers (106-i, 108-i) are provided for the vertical position and the horizontal position of the support slides (34).

6. A dock as claimed in claim 5, wherein the position transducers (90, 92) associated with the strut arrangements (54, 56) are connectable via a detachable data cable (94) to receptacle outlets (98) which are in turn connected to a control computer (100), and wherein the length of the data cables (94) and the position of the associated receptacle outlets (98) on two support slides (34) which have been moved together are so adapted to one another that the bottom sections (40) may be moved across the joint between abutting support slides (34).

7. A dock as claimed in claim 6, wherein the control computer (100) cooperates with a background memory (102), in which the shape of the aircraft (18) situated in the dock is stored in the form of a set of contour lines, and wherein the computer stops drives for the horizontal movement and the vertical movement of the support slides (34) and drives (76) for the longitudinal displacement of the strut arrangement (54, 56) if the edge of a work platform (30) comes closer than a preset minimum clearance to the contour line in the background memory (102) associated with the instantaneous height of the work platform.

8. A dock as claimed in claim 6, wherein the control computer (100) stores output signals of the various position transducers received during a manually controlled movement of the work platform (30) in a path memory (104) and loads them as setpoint values for a subsequent cycle of motions.

9. A dock as claimed in claim 1, wherein a floor vehicle (72) is provided with a support framework (74) and, running on said framework, a support slide (34) with guideways (36, 38) for a bottom section (40) of an adjustable strut arrangement (54, 56) for a work platform (30), and the support slide of the floor vehicle is movable into a position in which its guideways are aligned with guideways of a support slide (34) carried by a dock support framework (28).

10. A dock as claimed in claim 1, wherein the strut arrangements have scissor-type linkages (54, 56) with in each case two vertically spaced-apart scissors (66, 67).

11. A dock as claimed in claim 10, wherein mounted on each of the bottom sections (40) is a support rail (64), whose free end--when the work platform (30) is retracted--lies below said platform and which supports at least an innermost hinge point of the associated scissor-type linkage (54, 56).

12. A dock as claimed in claim 11, wherein the support rails (64) are upwardly open C-sections, and points of the scissor-type linkages (54, 56) which cooperate with the support rails (64) are provided with a supporting roller, which runs on the bottom of the section and rotates about a horizontal axis, as well as with guide rollers, which cooperate with limbs of the section and rotate about a vertical axis.

13. A dock as claimed in claim 1, wherein a vertical guide frame or a support slide, which is used in the wing region or the tail unit region of the aircraft (18), is tilted according to the inclination of the aircraft skin in said region or the tight is correspondingly adjustable.

14. A dock as claimed in claim 1, wherein running wheels of the support framework (22), which is associated with the wing region of the aircraft (18), and rails (52) for said running wheels are set at an angle of more than 90°

relative to the dock longitudinal axis (50).

15. A dock as claimed in claim 1, wherein the floor of the work platforms (30) and walkways (68) provided above the adjustable strut arrangements (54, 56) take the form of grids.