Aeronautics and astronautics – Aircraft propulsion and steering on land or water
Patent
1990-10-18
1992-01-07
Peters, Jr., Joseph F.
Aeronautics and astronautics
Aircraft propulsion and steering on land or water
B64C 2550
Patent
active
050783408
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates generally to a system for automatic transportation of heavy airliners on the ground. Especially when the aircraft cannot, for different reasons, use their own engines in areas where the operating space in limited, for example normally when the aircraft is to be backed out from its parking place (gate) adjacent an airport arrivals building, where the aircraft has been parked, inter alia, to let passengers leave and board etc.
The system which today is mainly used practically all over the world for transporting an aircraft, for example out of a parking place adjacent an arrivals building, means that one end of a steel tube is connected to a large and heavy tractor and the other end thereof to the nose wheel of the aircraft. Normally, two men are necessary of this operation. Then the tractor pulls th aircraft away from the parking place. This operation is usually called "push back". After the aircraft has been transported out of the parking place, the steel tube is disconnected from the aircraft, and then the aircraft can use its own engines to taxi further out of the gate area.
Among other systems used for transporting (backing) an aircraft out of its parking place after having been parked nose-in, three will be briefly described as follows:
1. The Power Back system. This means that the aircraft reverses its engines and leaves the parking place. It may be mentioned that there are a great number of aircraft which do not have sufficient reverse power to be capable of backing, and also a number of aircraft which cannot reverse their engines.
2. The Finnish system. It comprises a driving means which by great force is connected via rollers to one of the main landing gears of the aircraft and which, via the rollers, rotates the wheels of the aircraft, usually on the port-side, and then moves the aircraft away from the parking place.
3. The French sytem. It comprises a big tractor, one end of which is provided with a plate and a locking device. The plate is moved under the nose wheel of the aircraft, whereupon the nose wheel is locked to the plate. Subsequently, the tractor raises the nose wheel to go clear of the ground and transports the aircraft away from the parking place.
All prior art systems suffer from considerable drawbacks, inter alia since they cannot, without considerable expense, be automated and accurately position the aircraft. They also suffer from the following drawbacks:
A. The engine exhaust gases pollute the environment.
B. The environment is polluted in that the ground is de-iced by, inter alia, Orea (a fertiliser) to improve the friction surface for tractors.
C. As an alternative to using Orea, the area where the tractor is operating, is heated to improve friction, and for this large quantities of energy are required.
D. The Finnish system is said to give unfavourable asymmetric moments of load on the aircraft.
E. All prior art systems are labour-intensive.
F. None of the prior art systems can, in a reasonably short time, accurately park the aircraft at a passenger loading device, and therefore the passenger loading devices must be made larger to compensate for the variation in tolerance which is connected with today's systems.
G. There is a risk of collision between tractor and aircraft and other equipment in the airport.
H. All systems are capital-intensive in respect of initial expenses as well as operative and maintenance expenses.
I. In all prior art systems, check-blocks must be manually disposed at the wheels of the aircraft.
The primary object of the invention is to provide a system of the type indicated, which also satisfies all requirements for environmental aspects, reliability, flexibility, security, and accuracy and which is specifically adapted to all types of aircraft arriving at civil airports. The system serves to transport, with great accuracy, a passenger aircraft to a passenger loading device or some other equipment and then to firmly keep the aircraft in an exact parking position. The system also serves to transport the aircraft away from its
REFERENCES:
patent: 3459134 (1969-08-01), Shepheard
patent: 4121788 (1978-10-01), McMahon
patent: 4842220 (1989-06-01), Versteeg
FMC Trade International AB
Paloman Linda L.
Peters Jr. Joseph F.
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