Multi-degree-of-freedom aerial oil receiving docking device and method

Abstract

The invention discloses a multi-degree-of-freedom aerial oil receiving docking device which comprises an oil receiving docking mechanism installed on an oil receiving machine, the oil receiving docking mechanism comprises an oil receiving pipe A (2), one end of the oil receiving pipe A (2) is connected with a spanwise telescopic driving mechanism (1) installed in the oil receiving machine, and the other end of the oil receiving pipe A (2) is connected with an oil receiving pipe B (9) through a two-degree-of-freedom rotation driving mechanism (3). The oil receiving pipe B (9) is connected with the oil receiving pipe connector (4) through the connector rotation driving mechanism (5), and an oil receiving opening (10) is formed in the oil receiving pipe connector (4). The device occupies a small space in an aircraft body.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the general technical field of aircraft, and in particular relates to a multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device and method. Background Art

[0002] Aerial refueling is an important technical means for aircraft to increase flight time and range. Conventional retractable aerial refueling devices occupy a large space in the fuselage, and the corresponding aircraft door is large and the retractable mechanism is complex. Since the door of the aerial refueling device needs to conform to the aircraft, the layout and installation of the conventional retractable aerial refueling device on the aircraft is limited by the aircraft shape, and a large part of its mechanism sweep envelope is located in the fuselage, which will cause a waste of internal space in the aircraft. Summary of the invention

[0003] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device and method. The present invention occupies little space in the aircraft body.

[0004] The technical solution of the present invention is as follows: a multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device, comprising a refueling docking mechanism installed on a refueling aircraft, the refueling docking mechanism comprising a refueling pipe A, one end of the refueling pipe A is connected to a span-wise telescopic driving mechanism installed in the refueling aircraft, and the other end is connected to a refueling pipe B via a dual-degree-of-freedom rotation driving mechanism, the refueling pipe B is connected to a refueling pipe joint via a joint rotation driving mechanism, and a refueling port is provided on the refueling pipe joint.

[0005] In the aforementioned multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device, the joint rotation drive mechanism is a single-degree-of-freedom or double-degree-of-freedom rotation drive mechanism.

[0006] In the aforementioned multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device, the refueling port is opened on the side wall of the refueling pipe joint and docks with the oil outlet of the refueling docking mechanism installed on the refueling machine.

[0007] In the aforementioned multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device, the refueling docking mechanism includes a refueling pipe, the end of the refueling pipe is connected to the telescopic refueling joint via the refueling joint telescopic drive mechanism, and the telescopic refueling joint is provided with an oil outlet.

[0008] In the aforementioned multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device, the side wall of the refueling pipe joint is a concave structure around the refueling port; the telescopic refueling joint is a convex structure around the oil outlet, and during refueling docking, the concave structure and the convex structure are matched.

[0009] In the aforementioned multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device, the refueling pipe joint is provided with an elastic locking mechanism at the inner concave structure, which is used to lock the inner concave structure and the convex structure during docking.

[0010] In the aforementioned multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling and docking device, the spanwise telescopic driving mechanism is an electric cylinder or a hydraulic cylinder.

[0011] A method for using the multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device as described above comprises the following steps:

[0012] S1. In the initial state, the entire refueling pipe is buried in the aircraft body, and the refueling device door at the refueling docking mechanism is closed;

[0013] S2. Open the door of the refueling device, and the spanwise telescopic drive mechanism drives the refueling pipe A to move in the spanwise direction, and the dual-degree-of-freedom rotation drive mechanism, the refueling pipe B and the refueling pipe joint are completely extended out of the aircraft body surface, and the dual-degree-of-freedom rotation drive mechanism drives the refueling pipe B to rotate with two degrees of freedom, and the two degrees of rotational freedom are: rotation around the vertical axis of the aircraft body to change the azimuth angle α, and rotation of the axis of the refueling pipe A to change the pitch angle β;

[0014] S3. The joint rotation drive mechanism drives the oil receiving joint to rotate so that the axis of the oil receiving joint forms an angle γ with the axis of the oil receiving pipe B;

[0015] S4. After the adjustment is completed, perform aerial refueling docking.

[0016] In the method of using the aforementioned multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device, during docking, the dual-degree-of-freedom joint rotation drive mechanism fine-tunes the rotation of the refueling joint's own axis to accurately align the refueling port with the refueling outlet.

[0017] Beneficial effects of the present invention:

[0018] (1) Compared with the conventional retractable aerial refueling device, the retractable aerial refueling device of the present invention has a simple retractable mechanism and significantly reduces the space occupied in the aircraft body, which can reduce the space occupied by 40% compared with the conventional one.

[0019] (2) Compared with the traditional retractable aerial refueling device, the hatch required by the retractable aerial refueling device of the present invention is significantly reduced. The reference scale for opening and closing the hatch is the length of the refueling pipe, while the reference scale for opening and closing the hatch is only the cross-sectional diameter of the refueling pipe. Compared with the traditional one, the hatch area is reduced by 70%.

[0020] (3) Compared with the traditional retractable aerial refueling device, the retractable refueling device of the present invention can be flexibly arranged in the fuselage, so it can significantly reduce the length of the fuel pipeline inside the fuselage. Compared with the traditional one, the length of the fuel pipeline from the refueling pipe to the refueling tank can be reduced by about 50%.

[0021] (4) Compared with the traditional retractable aerial refueling device, the retractable aerial refueling device of the present invention can be disconnected from the refueling pipe in an emergency, and the docking safety is significantly improved.

[0022] (5) Compared with the traditional rigid refueling pipe, the refueling pipe of the present invention is retractable. When the receiving aircraft and the refueling machine generate relative movement after docking, the free retraction and free rotation of the refueling pipe can reduce the impact load on the receiving aircraft or the refueling machine, thereby improving reliability.

[0023] (6) Compared with the conventional retractable aerial refueling device, the relative position between the refueling docking point and the refueling aircraft of the retractable aerial refueling device of the present invention can be flexibly adjusted.

[0024] (7) Compared with the traditional retractable aerial refueling device, the retractable aerial refueling device proposed in the present invention can be arranged on both sides of the aircraft, thereby receiving refueling from two refueling aircraft at the same time, greatly improving the refueling efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Figure 1 The retractable aerial refueling docking device of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the releasing process of the retractable oil receiving device;

[0027] Figure 3 Illustration of adjusting the oil receiving pipe to different docking pitch attitudes;

[0028] Figure 4 The diagram is a schematic diagram of using the device of the present invention to simultaneously refuel a receiving aircraft with two refueling aircraft;

[0029] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a dual-degree-of-freedom rotation drive mechanism;

[0030] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of an implementation form of a spanwise telescopic drive mechanism;

[0031] Figure 7 The figure shows an implementation form of the oil receiving pipe joint and the telescopic oil filling joint.

[0032] Among them, 1 is a spanwise telescopic driving mechanism, 2 is an oil receiving pipe A, 3 is a dual-degree-of-freedom rotation driving mechanism, 4 is an oil receiving pipe joint, 5 is a joint rotation driving mechanism, 6 is a telescopic refueling joint, 7 is a refueling joint telescopic driving mechanism, 8 is an oil refueling pipe, 9 is an oil receiving pipe B, 10 is an oil receiving port, 11 is an oil outlet, 12 is a concave structure, 13 is a convex structure, and 14 is an elastic locking mechanism. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0034] Example 1. A multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device and method, see Figure 1-Figure 7 , including an oil receiving docking mechanism installed on the oil receiving machine, the oil receiving docking mechanism includes an oil receiving pipe A2, one end of the oil receiving pipe A2 is connected to a span-wise telescopic driving mechanism 1 installed in the oil receiving machine, and the other end is connected to an oil receiving pipe B9 via a double-degree-of-freedom rotation driving mechanism 3, the oil receiving pipe B9 is connected to an oil receiving pipe joint 4 via a joint rotation driving mechanism 5, and an oil receiving port 10 is opened on the oil receiving pipe joint 4.

[0035] The aforementioned joint rotation drive mechanism 5 is a rotation drive mechanism with a single degree of freedom or a double degree of freedom.

[0036] The aforementioned oil receiving port 10 is opened on the side wall of the oil receiving pipe joint 4, and is connected to the oil outlet 11 of the oil filling connection mechanism installed on the oil filling machine.

[0037] The aforementioned refueling docking mechanism comprises a refueling pipe 8, the end of which is connected to a telescopic refueling joint 6 via a refueling joint telescopic driving mechanism 7, and an oil outlet 11 is provided on the telescopic refueling joint 6.

[0038] The side wall of the aforementioned oil receiving pipe joint 4 is a concave structure 12 around the oil receiving port 10; the telescopic refueling joint 6 is a convex structure 13 around the oil outlet 11. When refueling, the concave structure 12 and the convex structure 13 are matched.

[0039] The aforementioned oil receiving pipe joint 4 is provided with an elastic locking mechanism 14 at the inner concave structure 12, which is used to lock the inner concave structure 12 and the convex structure 13 when docking.

[0040] The aforementioned span-wise telescopic driving mechanism 1 is an electric cylinder or a hydraulic cylinder.

[0041] The method for using the aforementioned multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device comprises the following steps:

[0042] S1. In the initial state, the entire refueling pipe is buried in the aircraft body, and the refueling device door at the refueling docking mechanism is closed;

[0043] S2. Open the door of the refueling device (the size of the door is only slightly larger than the cross-sectional size of the refueling pipe), the spanwise telescopic drive mechanism 1 drives the refueling pipe A2 to move in the spanwise direction, and the double-degree-of-freedom rotation drive mechanism 3, the refueling pipe B9 and the refueling pipe joint 4 are completely extended out of the aircraft body surface, and the double-degree-of-freedom rotation drive mechanism 3 drives the refueling pipe B9 to rotate with two degrees of freedom, the two degrees of rotation freedom being: rotation around the vertical axis of the aircraft body to change the azimuth angle α, and rotation of the axis of the refueling pipe A2 to change the pitch angle β;

[0044] S3. The joint rotation drive mechanism 5 drives the oil receiving joint 4 to rotate so that the axis of the oil receiving joint 4 forms an angle γ with the axis of the oil receiving pipe B9;

[0045] S4. After the adjustment is completed, the aerial refueling docking is carried out as follows: after determining the appropriate α and β, the dual-degree-of-freedom rotation drive mechanism 3 is locked, and at the same time, γ is further adjusted to a suitable angle and the joint rotation drive mechanism 5 is locked; the receiving aircraft enters the refueling docking preparation state. The refueling aircraft drives the telescopic refueling joint 6 to extend the refueling pipe 8 through the refueling joint telescopic drive mechanism 7, and the telescopic refueling joint 6 approaches the refueling joint 4; the telescopic refueling joint 6 hooks the refueling joint 4 and forms a docking lock, and the refueling operation begins.

[0046] In case of emergency, the emergency unlocking joint rotation drive mechanism 5 returns the angle γ to zero, and the oil receiving joint 4 is disconnected from the telescopic refueling joint 6.

[0047] After refueling is completed, the fuel dispenser drives the telescopic fueling joint 6 to retract the fueling pipe 8 through the fueling joint telescopic driving mechanism 7, and then retracts the fueling pipe 8.

[0048] After refueling is completed, the receiving machine unlocks the joint rotation drive mechanism 5, the angle γ returns to zero, and the double-freedom rotation drive mechanism 3 drives the refueling pipe B9 to return to a state parallel to the horizontal axis of the machine body, that is, the angles α and β return to zero.

[0049] The spanwise telescopic driving mechanism 1 drives the refueling pipe A2 to retract into the aircraft body, and the refueling device door is closed.

[0050] During docking, the double-freedom joint rotation drive mechanism 5 fine-tunes the rotation of the oil receiving joint 4 itself, so that the oil receiving port 10 and the oil outlet port 11 are accurately aligned.

[0051] The above is only a specific embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is described in detail. The unexplained part is a conventional technology. However, the protection scope of the present invention is not limited to this. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily thought of by any technician familiar with the technical field within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention. The protection scope of the present invention shall be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device, characterized in that: The invention comprises an oil receiving docking mechanism installed on an oil receiving machine, the oil receiving docking mechanism comprising an oil receiving pipe A (2), one end of the oil receiving pipe A (2) is connected to a span-wise telescopic driving mechanism (1) installed in the oil receiving machine, and the other end is connected to an oil receiving pipe B (9) via a double-freedom rotation driving mechanism (3), the oil receiving pipe B (9) is connected to an oil receiving pipe joint (4) via a joint rotation driving mechanism (5), and an oil receiving port (10) is provided on the oil receiving pipe joint (4).

2. The multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The joint rotation drive mechanism (5) is a rotation drive mechanism with a single degree of freedom or a double degree of freedom.

3. The multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The oil receiving port (10) is provided on the side wall of the oil receiving pipe joint (4) and is connected to the oil outlet port (11) of the oil filling connection mechanism installed on the oil filling machine.

4. The multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device according to claim 3, characterized in that: The refueling docking mechanism comprises a refueling pipe (8), the end of which is connected to a telescopic refueling joint (6) via a refueling joint telescopic driving mechanism (7), and the telescopic refueling joint (6) is provided with an oil outlet (11).

5. The multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device according to claim 4, characterized in that: The side wall of the oil receiving pipe joint (4) is formed with a concave structure (12) around the oil receiving port (10); the telescopic oil filling joint (6) is formed with a convex structure (13) around the oil outlet (11); when the oil is filled, the concave structure (12) and the convex structure (13) are matched.

6. The multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device according to claim 5, characterized in that: The oil receiving pipe joint (4) is provided with an elastic locking mechanism (14) at the inner concave structure (12) for locking the inner concave structure (12) and the convex structure (13) during docking.

7. The multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The spanwise telescopic driving mechanism (1) is an electric cylinder or a hydraulic cylinder.

8. A method for using the multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The steps include: S1. In the initial state, the entire refueling pipe is buried in the aircraft body, and the refueling device door at the refueling docking mechanism is closed; S2. The refueling device door is opened, and the spanwise telescopic drive mechanism (1) drives the refueling pipe A (2) to move in the spanwise direction, and the double-degree-of-freedom rotation drive mechanism (3), the refueling pipe B (9) and the refueling pipe joint (4) are completely extended out of the aircraft body surface. The double-degree-of-freedom rotation drive mechanism (3) drives the refueling pipe B (9) to rotate with two degrees of freedom. The two degrees of rotational freedom are: rotation around the vertical axis of the aircraft body to change the azimuth angle α, and rotation of the axis of the refueling pipe A (2) to change the pitch angle β; S3. The joint rotation drive mechanism (5) drives the oil receiving joint (4) to rotate so that the axis of the oil receiving joint (4) forms an angle γ with the axis of the oil receiving pipe B (9); S4. After the adjustment is completed, perform aerial refueling docking.

9. The method for using the multi-degree-of-freedom aerial refueling docking device according to claim 8, characterized in that: During docking, the double-freedom joint rotation drive mechanism (5) finely adjusts the rotation of the oil receiving joint (4) itself to ensure that the oil receiving port (10) and the oil outlet port (11) are accurately aligned.

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