An aircraft wheel includes a rim that is secured to a central hub defining an axis of rotation of the wheel. The wheel includes one or more driving pins that extend from the hub, projecting in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the wheel so as to cooperate with a driving member for driving the wheel in rotation. The driving pin is distinct from bolts assembling together parts of the wheel.

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.

For aircraft taxiing, an aircraft is equipped with an electric machine installed in a propulsor gearbox (PGB), in parallel to the gas turbine, working in motor mode during taxi, and in generator mode during flight phases (such as take-off, climb, cruise, descent, approach and landing). Typical current systems which use an electric machine in the PGB do not use the electric machine in motor mode for taxi operations (i.e., it is only an additional generator). An optimized power supply providing a combination of a thermal engine such as an Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) and an electric energy storage system such as a battery provides power to the PGB electric machine even when the gas turbine is off.

A landing gear system includes a wheel rotatably coupled to the axle about an axis. A motor is fixedly positioned relative to the axle with a clutch assembly operably coupled to an output shaft of the motor. The landing gear includes an actuator and a drive assembly. The actuator applies a braking force to the wheel. The drive assembly includes a pinion gear and a drive gear rotatably associated with the pinion gear. The drive gear is configured to transfer a rotational force to the wheel in order to provide autonomous taxiing capability. Both the brake assembly and the drive assembly are operably coupled to the clutch assembly so that the output shaft of the motor drives both the brake assembly and the drive assembly.

A landing gear system includes a drive shaft extending through an axle. A wheel with a drive surface is rotatably coupled to the axle. A drive assembly, which has disengaged and engaged states, includes a drive element and an idler element. The drive element, which has an engagement feature, is coupled to the drive shaft for rotation about an axis. The engagement feature has first and second diameters when the drive assembly is in the disengaged and engaged states, respectively. The idler element is frictionally engaged with the engagement feature of the drive element to transfer rotation of the drive element to the wheel when the drive assembly is in the engaged state. The idler element is disengaged from at least one of the engagement feature of drive element and the wheel when the drive assembly is in the disengaged state.

A bogey undercarriage having at least two axles, each carrying at least two wheels, wherein at least one of the axles carries a wheel fitted with a rotary drive device and no brake device, while the other wheels are provided with brake devices and no movement devices is provided. A braking method applied to such an undercarriage is also provided.

The invention relates to a method for controlling an aircraft taxi system, comprising the steps of: generating a traction command (Com) to control an electric motor of a wheel drive actuator; detecting whether or not an external brake command, intended to control braking of the wheel via the brake, is generated; if an external braking command is generated, producing a predetermined minimum command (Cmp) to control the electric motor so that the drive actuator applies a strictly positive predetermined minimum motor torque to the wheel during braking; detecting whether a speed of the aircraft becomes zero and, if so, inhibiting the predetermined minimum command (Cmp) so that the drive actuator applies zero torque to the wheel.

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.

A device for supplying electrical power to an aircraft on the ground, including two electric generators driven by an auxiliary power unit. The first generator is connected by a connection/disconnection mechanism to an aircraft network and to an electric taxiing network, to supply either an AC voltage to the aircraft network when it is connected to the aircraft network, or an AC voltage or a power to the taxiing network when it is connected to the taxiing network. The second generator is connected by the connection/disconnection mechanism to the aircraft or taxiing networks to supply the AC voltage to one of those networks.

The invention provides methods and systems for controlling speed of an aircraft during an autonomous pushback maneuver, i.e. under the aircraft's own power without a pushback tractor. The method includes applying a torque to at least one landing gear wheel of the aircraft, the torque being in a direction opposite to the backwards rolling direction of rotation of the landing gear wheel. The torque applied does not exceed a limit for ensuring aircraft longitudinal stability. For longitudinal stability the torque applied should not cause the aircraft to risk a tip-over event.