Aeronautics and astronautics – Aircraft structure – Details
Utility Patent
1998-09-03
2001-01-02
Eldred, J. Woodrow (Department: 3644)
Aeronautics and astronautics
Aircraft structure
Details
C049S227000, C049S149000, C049S153000
Utility Patent
active
06168114
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This application relates to German application 197 38 402.1, filed Sep. 3, 1997 in Germany (the priority of which is being claimed), and German application 197 02 083, filed Jan. 22, 1997 in Germany, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a so-called “plug” type door system with a door panel supported for sequential movement between a dcor closed position with shapewise interengagement of door frame and door panel structure holding the door panel against lateral opening movements, a door intermediate position with release of the shapewise interengagement, and a door open position with the door panel pivoted and moved to a position conforming to an outside contour of the aircraft body adjacent the door frame.
In the door system of this type known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,639, separate electric motors are provided, located one above the other and under program control, for the individual door functions, in other words raising and lowering, pivoting inward and outward, and shapewise locking of the door panel in the completely closed position. This door system has a limited functional reliability, because if only one of the electric motors or the program control fails, the entire door system will malfunction.
For safety reasons, door systems of the type recited at the outset are therefore at least exclusively operated by corresponding control rods manually or, as is known from DE 44 13 307 A1, by using at least one electric motor drive, which assumes the lifting movement of the door panel while the other door functions and especially the pivoting of the door panel into the open and closed positions must still be performed manually with relatively high force exerted.
An improved door system contemplated by the invention provides for problem free lifting movement of the door from the closed position to the intermediate position, followed by an essentially horizontal door panel movement to the open position in a pivoting phase.
In the door system according to preferred embodiments of the invention, both the lifting and the pivoting functions are assumed by a single motor drive, so that firstly the operating comfort is significantly increased over manual actuation and secondly the risk of a malfunction as well as the size and weight by comparison with a solution with a plurality of separate drives are reduced to a significant degree.
In especially preferred embodiments of the invention, a lifting device, for installation reasons, is located between the supporting device and the door frame.
In order to protect the door panel against improper activation of the drive as it pivots open into the raised lifting position, the drive is advantageously locked when the door panel is pivoted open to prevent switching to the lifting device.
Likewise for safety reasons, the drive can be controlled mechanically.
According to certain preferred embodiments, automatic control with a simultaneously structurally simple design of the drive is achieved in an especially preferred manner by the fact that the drive has two drive elements that are mutually coupled, and is constantly connected drivewise with the supporting device and with the lifting device, with the drive element connected with the supporting device being automatically locked during the lifting movement of the door panel and released at the end of the opening lift, while the drive element connected with the lifting device is automatically locked in the pivoting phase of the door panel and is released at the end of the inward pivoting movement.
In especially preferred embodiments of the invention, the drive has a spindle drive on the lifting device side which is incorporated into the lifting kinematics as a guide member and as a result further decreases the cost of construction and reduces the weight.
An alternative embodiment of the combined lifting and pivoting drive that is especially sturdy in design, in which the lifting kinematics can also consist of nonlinear guide members that are largely curved in any fashion, approximately in the shape of bent guide rails, is achieved by virtue of the fact that the drive has a correspondingly curved rack-and-pinion drive on the lifting device side that matches the shape of the guide members.
For safety reasons, the guide preferably consists of a main drive and an emergency drive that supports the latter in the event of a malfunction or replaces it, advantageously with its own power supply, by which emergency drive the door panel can be moved at least once out of the fully closed position into the completely open position by pivoting.
The drive can be designed hydraulically or pneumatically or, as is done according to certain embodiments for the sake of simplicity, preferably, with an electric motor.
In the door systems according to the invention as generally described above, the lifting and pivoting drive which is commonly associated with a lifting and supporting device, is designed to be self-locking in order to prevent the door panel from migrating under the influence of vibrations or impacts out of the fully lowered lifting position and thereby possibly coming loose from the shapewise engagement with the receiving elements that are integral with the door frame. A lift protection of this kind requires a relatively expensive mechanical coupling that is low in play and elasticity between the door panel and the lifting and pivoting drive with interposition of the lifting and supporting device.
On the other hand, the door panel in the door system of the type claimed according to the invention is secured by a lift lock that is actuated in the fully closed position of the door panel and secures the panel independently of the lifting and/or supporting device as well as the lifting and pivoting drive on the door frame.
As a result of the direct locking of the door panel to the door frame to prevent the panel from being lifted, instabilities caused by movement play or elasticity in the lifting and pivoting drive as well as in the lifting and supporting device continue to have no influence on the functional reliability of the lift lock.
In an especially preferred embodiment of the invention, the lift lock consists of a locking shaft that extends at the level of the locking actuation transversely over the entire width of the door panel, and is mounted rotatably on the door panel, with locking elements on both sides, each fastened to one end of the shaft, and in the actuating position of the lift lock rotated to engage matching counterelements integral with the door frame, whereby a structurally very simple weight-saving design of the lift lock is obtained with a minimum number of individual parts.
The actuation of the lift lock advantageously includes at least one manual lever that is accessible from the inside of the door panel. Preferably the lift lock can be operated manually independently from both door panel sides, and for this purpose the door panel is provided with a manual lever on the inside of the door panel and a manual lever on the outside of the door panel and both manual levers are uncoupled mechanically from one another and connected jointly to the locking shaft.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
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Eldred J. Woodrow
Eurocopter Deutschland GmbH
Evenson, McKeown, Edwards & Lenahan P.L.L.C.
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