Out-of-plane thrust reverser sleeve lock

Details Out-of-plane thrust reverser sleeve lock Out-of-plane thrust reverser sleeve lock

2001-08-31

2003-04-29

Swiatek, Robert P. (Department: 3643)

Aeronautics and astronautics

Retarding and restraining devices

Friction brakes

C060S226200

Reexamination Certificate

active

06554224

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to thrust reversers for jet engines, and more particularly, to sleeve locks for thrust reversers.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Jet aircraft, such as commercial passenger and military aircraft, utilize thrust reversers on the aircraft's jet engines to reduce the aircraft's speed after landing. One type of thrust reverser used in modern jet aircraft is the cascade type, described in more detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,884. For ease of reference, the description of the cascade type of thrust reverser is substantially reproduced herein.
Referring first to
FIG. 1
, there is shown a conventional aircraft nacelle indicated at
18
which includes a jet engine, such as a Pratt & Whitney PW4000, indicated at
20
(shown in hidden lines) supported by a strut
22
on a wing
24
(only a portion of which is shown). The nacelle
18
includes a nose cowl
26
, a fan cowl
27
, a thrust reverser sleeve
28
, a core cowl
30
and nozzle exhaust
32
. Although some of these components are made up of two mirror image parts split vertically in a clamshell arrangement, each component will be referred to herein as being one piece.
As shown in more detail in
FIGS. 2 and 3
, the thrust reverser system includes an inner duct (fan duct cowl)
36
and outer sleeve
28
. The sleeve
28
translates in an aft direction indicated by an arrow identified by a number
42
in
FIG. 2
, and a forward direction indicated by an arrow identified by a number
44
. When the thrust reverser is deployed, the translating sleeve
28
moves aft from a “stowed” position shown in
FIG. 1
to a “deployed” position shown in FIG.
2
. In this process, cascade vanes
46
(
FIG. 2
) mounted to a thrust reverser support structure are uncovered. Vanes
46
are slanted in a forward direction so that during thrust reverser operation, fan air from the engine is redirected forward through the vanes (indicated by arrows
47
) to aid in decelerating the airplane.
Air driven aft by the engine fan flows along an annular duct
48
(
FIGS. 2 & 3
) formed by the fan duct cowl
36
and core duct cowl
30
. Movement of the sleeve
28
in the aft direction, causes blocker doors
50
to pivot from their stowed positions (shown in
FIG. 3
) to their deployed positions (shown in
FIG. 2
) where the doors are positioned to block rearward movement of the air through duct
48
. In this manner all rearward movement of the engine fan air is redirected forward through the cascade vanes
46
.
Movement of the sleeve
28
is guided along a pair of parallel tracks mounted to the top and bottom of the fan duct cowl
36
in a fore and aft direction. The sleeve
28
is moved between the stowed and deployed positions by means of a number of hydraulic actuators indicated at
54
(FIG.
3
), each having an actuator rod
56
which is connected to the sleeve
28
. More specifically, as shown in
FIGS. 5 and 6
, each actuator
54
is connected to a structural torque box
57
via a gimbal mount
61
thereby allowing the actuator to accommodate lateral variances in sleeve motion. As shown in
FIG. 4
, the actuator rod
56
is located inside the aerodynamic surface of sleeve
28
and is connected to the sleeve
28
by a ball joint
68
. The ball joint
68
is accessible by removing a panel
70
which is bolted to the exterior surface of the sleeve
28
.
In operation, when the thrust reverser is commanded by the pilot to the deployed position, each actuator rod
56
(
FIG. 5
) extends in the aft direction. Conversely, when the thrust reverser is commanded by the pilot to move to the stowed position, each actuator rod
56
retracts in the forward direction. In an exemplary embodiment, the actuator
54
is a thrust reverser actuator currently installed on Boeing 767 airplanes.
As shown in
FIG. 7
, each actuator
54
includes a double acting piston
72
which is extended in the rightward direction (with reference to
FIG. 7
) by hydraulic pressure acting against a face
74
of the piston
72
. Retraction of the piston
72
and the thrust reverser sleeve therewith is accomplished by relieving hydraulic pressure from the piston face
74
, so that hydraulic pressure acting against an opposing face
76
of the piston causes it to move in the leftward direction. The piston
72
is connected to the actuator rod
56
which in turn is connected to the thrust reverser sleeve
28
in the manner described previously.
In the exemplary embodiment, each thrust reverser sleeve is driven by three of the actuators
54
(FIG.
3
). It is important that each actuator
54
extend and retract the sleeve at the same rate to avoid causing the sleeve to bind along the tracks
51
. To accomplish this, operation of each of the three actuators
54
is synchronized by means of an interconnecting synchronizing shaft
80
. The sync shaft
80
(
FIGS. 5 and 6
) is a tube having a stationary outer sleeve and an internal rotating flexible shaft
81
which synchronizes motion of the three actuators. The outer sleeve of the sync shaft
80
is connected to the actuator
54
by a swivel coupling
82
.
Thrust reversers include various anti-deployment mechanisms to prevent in-flight deployment, such as locking actuators, non-locking actuators, synchronization shaft locks (sync lock), and auto-restow systems. Thrust reversers presently used on Boeing aircraft have three levels of anti-deployment mechanisms. For example, thrust reversers used on wide body aircraft illustratively have two locking actuators per nacelle and one sync lock per nacelle. Thrust reversers used on narrow body aircraft illustratively have one locking actuator per nacelle, one sync lock per nacelle, and an auto-restow system per nacelle.
It is an object of this invention to provide a thrust reverser sleeve lock that can be used as one of the levels of anti-deployment mechanisms on thrust reversers and that is located out of the plane in which other of the anti-deployment mechanisms are located.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A thrust reverser system for a jet engine has a thrust reverser sleeve lock, preferably for each thrust reverser sleeve, that provides at least one of the redundant anti-deployment mechanisms of the thrust reverser and that is located out of the plane in which the other anti-deployment mechanisms are located. The thrust reverser sleeve lock has a lock pin that engages a lock pin hole in a slider of the thrust reverser actuation system when the thrust reverser sleeve is in a stowed position and the thrust reverser sleeve lock is in a lock position to prevent the thrust reverser sleeve from deploying. In an embodiment of the invention, the thrust reverser sleeve lock includes an single-action hydraulically actuated actuator to which the lock pin is affixed, the actuator extending the lock pin into the lock hole in the slider when the thrust reverser sleeve is in its stowed position and the thrust reverser sleeve lock is in a lock position. The actuator is actuated by pressurized hydraulic fluid from the thrust reverser actuation system when it deploys the thrust reverser sleeves and retracts the lock pin from the lock pin hole in the slider, allowing the thrust reverser sleeve to be deployed. In an embodiment of the invention, a mechanical actuation mechanism is coupled to the actuator to provide manual actuation of the actuator.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiment of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4047682 (1977-09-01), Brownhill
patent: 4914905 (1990-04-01), Dubois et al.
patent: 5120004 (1992-06-01), Matthias
patent: 5243817 (1993-09-01), Matthias
patent: 5280704 (1994-01-01), Anderson et al.
patent: 5310117 (1994-05-01), Fage et al.
patent: 5524431 (1996-06-01), Brusson et al.
patent: 5547130 (1996-08-01), Davies
patent: 5720449 (1998-02-01), L

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