Airbus Operations Gmbh

Compagnie Generale Des Etablissements Michelin

Michelin Recherche Et Technique S.a.

Airbus Operations (s.a.s.)

Bae Systems, Inc.

Airbus UK Limited

Fraser Wilson

Arnaud Didey

Jeremy Bedarrides

Vladimir Platagea

Stephen P Briancourt

Scott Wallis

Robert Ian Thompson

Edwin William O'Brien

Murad El-Bakry

Dylan Benedict James

Neil Terence Frost

Phillip Teague

Volker Baumbach

David Paviour

Joseph Power

Sebastien Gaud

Bradley Heal

Peter Gawthorpe

Franck Flourens

An aircraft nose landing gear assembly is disclosed including two wheels, motors, brakes, and a controller. The wheels are separated by a steering axis and independently rotatable about a rotation axis in a rotation direction. The motors and brakes are each arranged to selectively engage a respective wheel. The motors and brakes supplement and resist rotation of the respective wheel in the rotation direction, respectively. On the basis of an indication to the controller of rotation of the two wheels in the rotation direction, the controller is arranged to: cause one motor to engage its respective wheel and supplement rotation, and cause the brake associated with the other wheel to engage the other wheel and resist rotation. Engagement of the motor and brake causes the wheels to pivot about the steering axis during a turning event.

Aircraft nose landing gear assembly

An aircraft landing gear is disclosed including a shock-absorbing main leg having a sprung part for attachment to an aircraft and an un-sprung part including a slider and an axle carrying at least one wheel, the wheel having a toothed ring gear; a drive transmission mounted externally on the sprung part, or on the un-sprung part, of the main leg, the drive transmission having at least one motor and a drive pinion for meshing with the toothed ring of the wheel; and an actuator for lifting the drive transmission into and out of driving engagement with the toothed ring and for maintaining the driving engagement as the landing gear deflects during a ground taxiing operation. Also, a method of operating the aircraft landing gear.

Aircraft landing gear with pivoting drive transmission

An aircraft controller configured to determine a period and/or distance over which deployment of a landing gear can be initiated for landing including a determined first portion during which landing gear deployment can be safely initiated and a determined second portion, closer to aircraft landing than the first portion, during which the landing gear deployment can be safely initiated in an efficient landing mode; issue a first pilot feedback when the first portion is entered by the aircraft; issue a second pilot feedback when the second portion of the determined; and initiate landing gear deployment when the aircraft is in the determined period and/or distance in response to receiving a deployment signal from the pilot.

Landing gear deployment

A systemto detect aircraft ground proximity including: a transmitterfor transmitting a radio frequency signal along an extended landing gearof an aircraft, a sensorconfigured to detect a parameter of the radio frequency, and a controllerconfigured to detect a change in the detected parameter on the basis of an output of the sensor, and to issue a landing signal when the change in the detected parameter meets a predetermined criterion. The predetermined criterion is indicative of a certain aircraft ground proximity.

Aircraft landing

An aircraft landing gear is disclosed having a landing gear leg attachable at a first end to an aircraft, and an axle beam, both the landing gear leg and the axle beam being rotatably mounted. The axle beam is rotatable between a first position, in which a first end of the axle beam is a first (shorter) distance from the first end of the landing gear leg, and a second position, in which said first end of the axle beam is a second (longer) distance from the first end of the landing gear leg. A biasing member is configured to be able to bias the axle beam towards the second position. An aircraft, a blended wing body aircraft, and a method of operating an aircraft are also disclosed.

Aircraft landing gear

An aircraft landing gear comprising: a shock-absorbing main leg having a sprung part for attachment to an aircraft and an un-sprung part including a slider and an axle carrying at least one wheel, the wheel having a toothed ring gear; a drive transmission mounted externally on the sprung part, or on the un-sprung part, of the main leg, the drive transmission having at least one motor and a drive pinion for meshing with the toothed ring of the wheel; and an actuator for lifting the drive transmission into and out of driving engagement with the toothed ring and for maintaining the driving engagement as the landing gear deflects during a ground taxiing operation. Also, a method of operating the aircraft landing gear.

A methodfor deploying an aircraft landing gear including: receiving an aircraft landing gear deployment signal, receiving an aircraft position signal indicative of a distance of the aircraft from an aircraft landing site, receiving one or more flight signals indicating one or more dynamic conditions or parameters relating to the flight of the aircraft, determining, based at least on the one or more flight signals, a first aircraft position, relative to the aircraft landing site, at which the landing gear deployment should commence, and deploying the landing gear (a) when the aircraft reaches the first aircraft position, in the event that the deployment signal is received before the aircraft reaches the first aircraft position, or (b) immediately, in the event that the deployment signal is received when the aircraft has passed the first aircraft position

An apparatus for dissipating braking energy generated by the operation of a vehicle brake. The apparatus includes a heating element configured to receive electric current generated by operation of the vehicle brake, the heating element arranged in a chamber for containing liquid. The apparatus is configured such that liquid contained in the chamber is heated in response to operation of the vehicle brake.

Braking energy dissipation

An aircraft having a retractable landing gear assembly configured to support some of the weight of the aircraft via one or more wheels, and another retractable non-wheeled landing gear assembly or device configured to support some of the weight of the aircraft via one or more 'low-friction' supports such as an air cushion is disclosed. The aircraft may have a maximum take-off weight between 100 and 150 tonnes. There may be two main landing gears each carrying two wheels, a nose landing gear, and a central non-wheeled landing gear providing the low friction vertical support when the aircraft is moving on the ground/operating surface.

Configuration of landing gear assemblies for an aircraft

A drive system for an aircraft landing gear is described. The drive system includes a drive pinion, a drive shaft arranged to rotate the drive pinion about a drive axis, and a casing which rotatably supports the drive shaft. The drive pinion is rotatably supported on the casing by a self-aligning bearing. The drive pinion is coupled to the drive shaft by a flexible coupling adapted to transfer torque between the drive pinion and the drive shaft and to permit tilting of the drive pinion relative to the drive axis.

Drive system for aircraft landing gear

A drive system for an aircraft landing gear, the drive system comprising: a pinion gear; a drive shaft arranged to rotate the pinion gear about a drive axis; a driven gear arranged to mesh with the pinion gear to be rotatable by the pinion gear, the driven gear being connectable to a wheel of the landing gear to be capable of rotating the wheel about a wheel axis; and a flexible interface comprising a crowned spline joint between the drive shaft and the pinion gear. The crowned spline joint is arranged to permit tilting of the pinion gear relative to the drive axis. In some embodiments a first spline joint between the drive shaft and the pinion gear is arranged to permit tilting of the pinion gear relative to the drive axis; and a second spline joint is arranged to permit translation of the pinion gear along the drive axis relative to the drive shaft.

Landing gear drive system flexible interface

A wheel assembly is disclosed, in which a ring gear is movably mounted to the rim of the wheel, so that torque can be transmitted between wheel and rim, while the ring gear is isolated from deformations induced in the wheel rim.

Wheel and gear assembly

A drive system for rotating a wheel of an aircraft landing gear is disclosed including a motor operable to rotate a drive pinion via a drive path; and a driven gear adapted to be attached to the wheel so as to be capable of rotating the wheel. The drive system has a drive configuration in which the drive pinion is capable of meshing with the driven gear to permit the motor to drive the driven gear via the drive path. The drive path comprises a first compensating gear mounted on a common drive shaft with the drive pinion so as to be capable of rotating in tandem with the drive pinion, and a second compensating gear which is meshed with the first compensating gear. One of the drive pinion and the driven gear comprises a roller gear having a series of rollers arranged to form a ring, each roller being rotatable about a roller axis, and the other of the dive pinion and the driven gear comprises a sprocket.

An aircraft comprises a landing gear assembly on a part of which is mounted a motor for driving a wheel of the landing gear assembly, for example to enable the aircraft to perform taxiing manoeuvres. The motor is a liquid-cooled motor and the liquid that is used to cool the motor is hydraulic fluid, preferably hydraulic fluid taken from a hydraulic system that already exists on the aircraft to supply other consumers of hydraulic fluid pressure on the aircraft. The hydraulic fluid thus has other utility (i.e. other than cooling the motor) on the aircraft and therefore has a significant volume (and therefore a significant heat capacity). There may be a need to convert from high pressure hydraulic fluid to a lower pressure supply.

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Bristol, United Kingdom

Fraser Wilson