CONFIGURATION OF LANDING GEAR ASSEMBLIES FOR AN AIRCRAFT

Abstract

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.

Claims

1. An aircraft, comprising: at least one landing gear assembly configured to support some but not all of the weight of the aircraft via one or more wheels, and at least one landing gear assembly configured to support some but not all of the weight of the aircraft via one or more air cushions, wherein each landing gear assembly is movable between a deployed position and a stowed position.

2. An aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the aircraft has a maximum take-off weight of between 100 and 150 tonnes.

3. An aircraft according to claim 1, wherein said at least one landing gear assembly configured to support some but not all of the weight of the aircraft via one or more wheels comprises a first main landing gear assembly on a port side of the aircraft and a second main landing gear assembly on a starboard side of the aircraft.

4. An aircraft according to claim 3, wherein each of the first and the second main landing gear assemblies is a single axle landing gear with two wheels.

5. An aircraft according to claim 1, wherein said at least one landing gear assembly configured to support some of the weight of the aircraft via one or more wheels comprises a nose landing gear assembly.

6. An aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the aircraft is configured for landing and take-off with the use of eight or fewer landing gear wheels.

7. An aircraft according to claim 1, wherein said at least one landing gear assembly configured to support some of the weight of the aircraft via one or more air cushions comprise a central landing gear.

8. An aircraft according to claim 7, wherein the aircraft comprises a fuselage having a structural beam which extends along the centre line of the fuselage.

9. An aircraft according to claim 1, wherein said at least one landing gear assembly configured to support some but not all of the weight of the aircraft via one or more air cushions comprises a skirt adapted to contain the air cushion.

10. An aircraft according to claim 1, wherein said at least one landing gear assembly configured to support some but not all of the weight of the aircraft via one or more air cushions is adapted to create an annular air cushion.

11. An aircraft according to claim 1, wherein said at least one landing gear assembly configured to support some but not all of the weight of the aircraft via one or more air cushions comprises a ring of elastomeric material adapted to support some of the weight of the aircraft in the absence of the one or more air cushions.

12. An aircraft according to claim 1, wherein said at least one landing gear assembly configured to support some but not all of the weight of the aircraft via one or more air cushions comprises a landing gear leg pivotally mounted at one end to the aircraft.

13. An aircraft according to claim 12, wherein said at least one landing gear assembly configured to support some but not all of the weight of the aircraft via one or more air cushions comprises a pitch trimmer member.

14. An aircraft comprising: a retractable nose landing gear, a retractable main landing gear which includes one or more wheels and is mounted on a port side of the aircraft, a retractable main landing gear which includes one or more wheels and is mounted on a starboard side of the aircraft, each retractable main landing gear having at least one brake assembly for applying a braking force to a wheel of the landing gear, the one or more wheels of each main landing gear all being configured to facilitate movement of the aircraft along the ground in a longitudinal direction while resisting movement of the aircraft in a direction along the ground perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, and a further retractable landing gear which is configured for supporting at least some of the weight of the aircraft via a distal end of the landing gear, the distal of the landing gear being so configured to facilitate movement of the aircraft in any direction along the ground.

15. A method of moving an aircraft on a flat support surface including at the same time supporting at least 100 kN of the weight of the aircraft with a first retractable landing gear, supporting, with a second retractable landing gear, at least 100 kN of the weight of the aircraft, and between 25% and 200% of the weight supported by the first retractable landing gear, and reacting a load with the first retractable landing gear, such that (a) the load when resolved in a direction parallel to the support surface is greater than 1 kN and the greatest value of the load, if any, reacted by the second retractable landing gear, when resolved in any direction parallel to the flat support surface being less than 10% of the resolved load reacted by the first retractable landing gear and/or (b) the maximum torsion sustained in the first retractable landing gear is greater than 1 kNm and the maximum torsion sustained in the second retractable landing gear is less than 500 Nm.

16. A method of moving a fixed wing commercial aircraft relative to an airport operating surface during one of take-off, landing, and taxiing wherein some of the weight of the aircraft is supported by a wheeled main landing gear and some of the weight of the aircraft is supported by a non-wheeled landing gear.

17. A landing gear assembly for an aircraft comprising said at least one landing gear assembly configured to support some but not all of the weight of the aircraft via one or more air cushions as claimed in claim 1.

18. A landing gear assembly according to claim 17, further including an air blower arranged to produce an air cushion effect.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings of which:

[0036] FIG. 1 shows an aircraft with a landing gear configuration according to a first embodiment of the invention;

[0037] FIG. 2 shows a side view of a deployed landing gear assembly according to a second embodiment;

[0038] FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of the LG assembly of the second embodiment, also when deployed;

[0039] FIG. 4 shows a side view of the LG assembly of the second embodiment during the process of moving the LG between its deployed and stowed positions;

[0040] FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of a fuselage of an aircraft according to a third embodiment; and

[0041] FIG. 6 shows an aircraft illustrating the method according to a fourth embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0042] FIG. 1 shows an aircraft in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention. The aircraft 100 comprises two wings 102 and four retractable landing gear assemblies (three of which being shown in FIG. 1). There are two main landing gear assemblies 104, each being mounted on a respective wing of the aircraft. The two main landing gear assemblies each fold inboard to be stowed partially within the fuselage 106. A nose landing gear is also provided (removed from view in FIG. 1). The two main landing gear assemblies 104 and the nose landing gear each carry two wheels 108 arranged coaxially on a single axle (in diablo formation) for rolling on the ground when the aircraft is on the ground. The aircraft 100 has a maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of about 120 tonnes, and an operating empty weight of about 65 tonnes. The weight of the aircraft is therefore just over the weight at which it would be appropriate for only six wheels to carry the entire weight of the aircraft. In accordance with the present embodiment, there is also provided a non-wheeled central landing gear assembly 110, which in use shares the weight of the aircraft when on the ground, thus enabling the aircraft still to have only six wheels between the multiple wheeled landing gears.

[0043] The non-wheeled central landing gear assembly 110 sustains compressive loads in the vertical direction, and negligible, shear, torsion, lateral or longitudinal loads. This is achieved by making the underside of the central landing gear assembly a low-friction surface. In this embodiment the low-friction surface is formed by a cushion of air formed by a source of compressed air and an air cushion device. By means of the low-friction contact with the ground the central landing gear can be slender in shape and have a relatively low mass structure. The structure to which the central landing gear is mounted may also be relatively lightweight and slender given that the loads to be reacted are effectively compressive loads aligned in substantially one and the same direction. In this embodiment, it will be appreciated that an air cushion refers to the effect created by high pressure air reducing friction with the ground by means of an gap between the operating surface (i.e. ground) and the immediately adjacent structure of the landing gear assembly, while also reacting vertical loads therebetween.

[0044] The loads on the central landing gear 110 can be contrasted with those on the two main landing gear 104 as follows. Each main landing gear (MLG) has a brake assembly for applying a braking force to the MLG wheels. When braking, the resulting loads are transferred via the landing gear structure into the fuselage and wings. As such, each MLG is configured to transmit non-vertical (braking) loads to the rest of the aircraft. The MLG is therefore relatively bulky and massive. The central landing gear (CLG) provides little (negligible) braking/drag loads as a result of friction between ground and CLG and thus does not need to be structured to transmit non-vertical (braking) loads to the rest of the aircraft.

[0045] The MLG 104 each have two wheels 108 which can generate significant torsional loads in the landing gear when the aircraft is turning on the ground for example. Each wheel 108 is configured to facilitate movement of the aircraft along the ground in a longitudinal direction (i.e. when the wheel rotates about its axis) while resisting movement of the aircraft in a direction (labelled H in FIG. 1) along the ground perpendicular to the longitudinal direction (i.e. the wheel has a tyre that grips the surface on which the wheel rolls thus resisting movement of tyre along the ground in a direction parallel to the axle axis). The CLG facilitate movement along the ground in any direction (there being little or negligible difference in the coefficient of friction in one direction along the ground versus another direction).

[0046] Thus once the CLG has been designed to have a shape and mass that provides sufficient structural strength to sustain and transit the vertical weight-only loads into the aircraft there is no need for any extra structure for reacting or transmitting any non-vertical loads into the aircraft (such as requited of the MLG when wheel-braking is applied or when the aircraft turns on its wheels). The CLG 110 is therefore relatively slender and lightweight.

[0047] A second embodiment is shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, and relates to an air cushion device 210 for use as a landing gear on an aircraft, for example an aircraft as shown in FIG. 1. The reference numerals for the second embodiment are in the format 2XX, where last two digits (XX) are the same as between similar parts in the first and second embodiments. The aircraft 200 has two wheeled MLGs each carrying two wheels 208. The device 210 is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 mounted to an aircraft fuselage 206, and in its deployed position. The device includes two independently powered air blowers 212 (one for back-up purposes) which each comprises a series of electrically powered air compressors, which draw air from an aft-facing inlet 214. Compressed air is delivered as an annular ring of high pressure via an air plate 230 and associated skirt 232. The device has a main load-bearing strut 216 mounted for rotation about a fixing 218 attached to the fuselage. The load-bearing strut includes a frangible portion 220, which is designed to fail if the CLG is over-loaded in certain failure cases, so that the CLG fails in a controlled manner in preference to causing structural damage in the region of its mounting to the fuselage.

[0048] The air cushion device 210 includes a pitch trimmer 222 that will be explained with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 shows the air cushion device 210 as it is being stowedbetween the fully deployed position shown in FIG. 2 and the fully stowed position (not shown in the Figures). A hydraulic actuator 224 is provided for the purpose of moving the CLG between its deployed position and its stowed position. It will be seen that the geometry of the pitch trimmer 222, its mounting 226 to the fuselage 206 and its mounting 228 to the lower part of the CLG, causes the air plate and skirt to be maintained relatively horizontal as they are raised/retracted. This enables the device to adopt a relatively shallow profile when stowed.

[0049] Air passes from the air blower 212 over the plate 230 and out through a ring of air holes arranged at the periphery of the lowermost end 234 of the device 210. The skirt 232 assists in maintaining air pressure in the region near the ground 236. (It will be appreciated that the skirt does not contain the air cushion on all sides, in that a portion of the underside of the device is not closed by the skirt.) The arrangement of the skirt and the air-flow geometry may be in accordance with conventional air cushion generating means and/or of hovercraft-type vehicles of the prior art.

[0050] It is estimated that for an air cushion to be strong enough to provide the load bearing capacity required, the air pressure of the air immediately beneath the skirt 232 needs to be around 5 atmospheres.

[0051] The contact region (or region of closest proximity) between skirt and ground has a generally circular shape, with a diameter of about 2.5 m and an area of about 5 m.sup.2. (It will be appreciated that the skirt may not touch the ground very much, if at all, when the air cushion is functioning properly.) Adjacent to the skirt there is provided a ring 238 of elastomeric material (only shown in FIG. 4) which is able to act as an alternative means of support when the aircraft is stationary and the air blower 212 is powered down. For example, the ring 238 of material could be in the form of a flexible bladder around the circumference of the air cushion device, the bladder being inflated with a fluid so as to distribute the aircraft load on to the ground when the aircraft is in a power off condition.

[0052] A third embodiment is shown in FIG. 5, which shows schematically (in a dash-dot line 352) a section of the fuselage 306 of the aircraft in the region where a non-wheeled CLG (not shown in FIG. 5) is to be mounted. The reference numerals for the third embodiment are in the format 3XX, where last two digits (XX) refer to similar parts as described above. The Figure (which is not to scale or in proportion) shows in solid line 350 a region (not representative of the structure of the fuselage) of the fuselage 306 which needs extra structural strengthening (and/or better distribution of loads) as a result of loading from the MLGs (not shown in FIG. 5) and as a result of the provision of landing gear bays, and doors, for the stowage of the MLGs. An aircraft is typically provided with an I-beam, which acts as a keel beam, to provide the extra strength and load paths. A wheeled CLG and its associated structure would not fit in the space that could be provided if a central keel beam were also provided. Such a keel beam would need to be replaced with something else normally if a wheeled CLG were to be provided. Two parallel keel beams being disposed on opposite sides (port and starboard) of the longitudinal mid-plane of the aircraft would be one such alternative arrangement. The use of a non-wheeled CLG (not shown in FIG. 5), for example according to either the first or second embodiment, with its slender and low-volume envelope when stowed, does not preclude the use of a central keel beam. In this embodiment, a single centrally disposed I-beam (the general extent of which being shown schematically in FIG. 5 by means of a dashed line 354) is provided which extends in the longitudinal direction, l. For a portion of the beam in a region 356 that corresponds to the bay in which the CLG is stowed, the beam is thicker in width (w) but shorter in height (h). The CLG may thus be stowed in this region, and mounted to the beam, without there being a need to provide two parallel beams or the like.

[0053] With reference to the highly schematic diagram shown in FIG. 6, there is now described an embodiment in which an aircraft 600 with four landing gear assemblies taxis on an airport operating surface. The four landing gear assemblies consist of a two-wheeled NLG (the location in plan of which being represented in FIG. 6 by the circular symbol 660), two two-wheeled MLGs (the location in plan of which being represented in FIG. 6 by the circular symbols 604) and a non-wheeled, low friction, CLG (the location in plan of which being represented in FIG. 6 by the circular symbol 610). The CLG 610 may be, but need not be, in the form of a CLG of any of the other illustrated embodiments. All landing gear assemblies of the aircraft are in contact with the runway, and at least 90% of the mass of the aircraft 600 is supported via the landing gear assemblies. Thus at least someand possibly substantially allof the weight of the aircraft is supported by and distributed between the four landing gear, as the aircraft moves along the operating surface. At a given instant, the aircraft is travelling at greater than 30 km/hour. The MLGs 604 and the CLG 610 each support at least 100 kN of the weight of the aircraft. The nose landing gear 660 supports less weight than the MLG 604. The aircraft 600 then turns, and thus each of the MLGs 604 experiences loads/torsion that are at least ten times higher than the equivalent loads experienced by the CLG 610, as a result of the low-friction engagement of the CLG with the ground. Given the lower loading experienced by the CLG in directions other than in the vertical (weight-bearing) direction, the CLG can be made to be relatively lightweight.

[0054] Whilst the present invention has been described and illustrated with reference to particular embodiments, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the invention lends itself to many different variations not specifically illustrated herein. By way of example only, certain possible variations will now be described.

[0055] In some embodiments it may be possible to create an air cushion without the need to provide a skirt.

[0056] More than one non-wheeled LG could be provided.

[0057] Means other than an air cushion could provide the low-friction effect of the CLG.

[0058] The source of compressed air for the air cushion could be provided from a source on the aircraft and not on or in the LG.

[0059] Where in the foregoing description, integers or elements are mentioned which have known, obvious or foreseeable equivalents, then such equivalents are herein incorporated as if individually set forth. Reference should be made to the claims for determining the true scope of the present invention, which should be construed so as to encompass any such equivalents. It will also be appreciated by the reader that integers or features of the invention that are described as preferable, advantageous, convenient or the like are optional and do not limit the scope of the independent claims. Moreover, it is to be understood that such optional integers or features, whilst of possible benefit in some embodiments of the invention, may not be desirable, and may therefore be absent, in other embodiments.

[0060] The term or shall be interpreted as and/or unless the context requires otherwise.