A tiltrotor aircraft having a telecentric linkage tilt mechanism

Abstract

The application discloses a tilt-rotor aircraft provided with a telecentric connecting rod tilting mechanism, which is connected with parallelogram mechanisms arranged in parallel and at intervals between a cabin seat and a mounting seat, each group of the parallelogram mechanisms is formed by a driving rod, the mounting seat and two connecting rods, the cabin seat is provided with a rotating shaft, a worm wheel, a worm and a driving element, the rotating shaft is rotatably installed on the cabin seat, the worm wheel is fixedly connected with the rotating shaft, the worm is in mesh transmission with the worm wheel, one end of the driving rod is fixedly connected with the rotating shaft, the other end of the driving rod is hingedly connected with the two connecting rods, the two connecting rods are arranged in parallel and at intervals and away from one end of the nacelle, and the other end of the two connecting rods is hingedly connected with the mounting seat, the output shaft of the driving element is drivingly connected with the worm, the driving worm wheel rotates around the rotating shaft, the parallelogram mechanism is driven to move, and the mounting seat is tilted. The application effectively solves the problem of the position deviation of the paddle disc plane, improves the flight stability and the tilting precision, and optimizes the overall performance of the tilt-rotor aircraft.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of aircraft technology, and particularly relates to a tiltrotor aircraft equipped with a telecentric link tilt mechanism. Background Technology

[0002] With the rapid development of the low-altitude economy, applications such as urban air traffic, emergency rescue, and short-haul logistics place dual demands on aircraft: the flexibility of vertical takeoff and landing combined with the stability of high-speed cruise. Against this backdrop, tiltrotor aircraft, due to their unique flight mode switching capabilities, have become a focus of technological research. One of the core technologies of tiltrotor aircraft is the tilt mechanism, which enables the switching of flight modes and therefore plays a crucial role in flight safety and reliability.

[0003] However, existing tilting mechanisms often cause a significant shift in the rotor disk plane's position when switching flight modes, thus reducing the aircraft's stability and reliability. Chinese Patent CN113443136A discloses a multi-link rotorcraft tilting mechanism that extends the nacelle through complex linkage movements to achieve precise tilting. However, this extension causes a change in the rotor disk's plane position, consequently affecting flight stability. Furthermore, Chinese Patent CN118144990A discloses a fully tilting large-flap rotorcraft tilting mechanism that achieves tilting by rotating the nacelle around the wing axis, causing the rotor disk to shift from directly forward to directly upward. However, this positional change is too large, and the aerodynamic interference directly above is strong, similarly reducing flight stability. In addition, Chinese patent CN113291467A discloses a tilting device that relies on toothed friction blocks to lock the wheel and fix the tilt angle. Although this design can reduce the risk of damage to the drive device, it cannot achieve continuous adjustability of the tilt angle, and the device has a complex structure and poor overall reliability.

[0004] Therefore, existing tilting mechanisms generally suffer from significant displacement of the propeller disk plane position, which not only affects the stability of the aircraft but also challenges flight safety. To improve the stability and reliability of aircraft, there is an urgent need for a reliable tilting mechanism that can maintain the propeller disk plane position and has continuous adjustment capabilities. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This invention provides a tiltrotor aircraft equipped with a telecentric linkage tilting mechanism to solve existing technical problems.

[0006] To solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the technical solution proposed by this invention is as follows: A tiltrotor aircraft equipped with a telecentric linkage tilting mechanism includes a wing, a nacelle, and a rotor. The nacelle is mounted on the wing and has a nacelle seat. The rotor is connected to a mounting base. Each nacelle seat has a rotating shaft, a worm gear, a worm, and a drive component. A parallelogram mechanism connects the nacelle seat and the mounting base. The parallelogram mechanism is formed by connecting a drive rod, the mounting base, and two connecting rods. The rotating shaft is rotatably mounted on the nacelle seat. The worm gear rotates around the axis of the rotating shaft. The worm meshes with the worm gear for transmission. One end of the drive rod is fixedly connected to the rotating shaft, and the other end of the drive rod is hinged to the two connecting rods. The two connecting rods are arranged parallel and spaced apart, and their ends away from the nacelle are both hinged to the mounting base. The output shaft of the drive component is driven by the worm and drives the worm gear to rotate around the axis of the rotating shaft, thereby causing the parallelogram mechanism to move and tilt the mounting base.

[0007] As a further improvement to the above technical solution: A rotating shaft is rotatably mounted on the cabin, and a swing rod is connected to the rotating shaft. The ends of the two connecting rods away from the mounting base are hinged to the swing rod, and drive the swing rod to swing.

[0008] The cabin is equipped with a limiting block, and the swing rod abuts against the limiting block when it swings, thereby limiting the swing range.

[0009] The swing range is 0°-95°.

[0010] Each group of parallelogram mechanisms has a connecting rod connecting the two links.

[0011] The portions of the drive rod, swing rod, and connecting rod located between the connecting rods are all arc-shaped.

[0012] In the two sets of parallelogram mechanisms, multiple reinforcing rods connect the two links on the same side.

[0013] Each of the connecting rods is provided with a clearance section, which is spaced apart from the worm gear.

[0014] Two sets of parallelogram mechanisms are connected between the cabin and the mounting base, and the two sets of parallelogram mechanisms are arranged in parallel and spaced apart.

[0015] The centers of the two rotating shafts located on both sides of the cabin and the centers of the two rotating shafts are collinear with the center of the rotor hub.

[0016] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: By incorporating a parallelogram mechanism, the problem of rotor disk plane misalignment in existing technologies is effectively solved. This structure ensures that the mounting base moves synchronously during tilting, and the rotor disk plane does not shift, thereby significantly reducing aerodynamic coupling interference during flight attitude control and improving flight stability. Furthermore, the worm gear and worm drive system allows for precise control of the tilt angle, ensuring continuous and stable tilting motion and further optimizing the performance of the tiltrotor aircraft. Attached Figure Description

[0017] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0018] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a tiltrotor aircraft equipped with a telecentric linkage tilting mechanism; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the telecentric linkage tilting mechanism; Figure 3 This is a structural diagram of the nacelle; Figure 4 A simplified diagram illustrating the mechanism principle of a telecentric linkage tilting mechanism; Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the tilt attitude conversion of a tiltrotor aircraft equipped with a telecentric linkage tilt mechanism.

[0019] Legend: 1. Wing; 2. Nacelle; 3. Rotor; 31. Mounting base; 4. Cabin seat; 41. Rotating shaft; 42. Worm gear; 43. Worm; 44. Drive component; 45. Rotating shaft; 46. Swing rod; 47. Limiting block; 5. Drive rod; 6. Connecting rod; 61. Clearance section; 62. Connecting rod; 63. Reinforcing rod. Detailed Implementation

[0020] To facilitate understanding of the present invention, the present invention will be described more fully and in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and preferred embodiments, but the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited to the following specific embodiments.

[0021] Unless otherwise defined, all technical terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art. The technical terms used herein are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

[0022] Unless otherwise specified, all raw materials, reagents, instruments and equipment used in this invention can be purchased from the market or prepared by existing methods.

[0023] Example: Figures 1-3 As shown, the tiltrotor aircraft with a telecentric linkage tilting mechanism in this embodiment includes a wing 1, a nacelle 2, and a rotor 3. The nacelle 2 is mounted on the wing 1 and has a nacelle seat 4. The rotor 3 is connected to a mounting base 31. Each nacelle seat 4 is equipped with a rotating shaft 41, a worm gear 42, a worm 43, and a drive component 44. A parallelogram mechanism connects the nacelle seat 4 and the mounting base 31. The parallelogram mechanism is formed by connecting a drive rod 5, the mounting base 31, and two connecting rods 6. The rotating shaft 41 is rotatably mounted on the nacelle. On seat 4, worm gear 42 rotates around the axis of rotating shaft 41, and worm 43 meshes with worm gear 42 for transmission. One end of drive rod 5 is fixedly connected to rotating shaft 41, and the other end of drive rod 5 is hinged to two connecting rods 6. The two connecting rods 6 are arranged in parallel and spaced apart, and the ends away from nacelle 2 are both hinged to mounting seat 31. The output shaft of drive component 44 is driven and connected to worm 43, and drives worm gear 42 to rotate around the axis of rotating shaft 41, driving the parallelogram mechanism to move and tilt mounting seat 31. The telecentric linkage tilting mechanism of this embodiment adopts a parallelogram mechanism, consisting of drive rod 5, mounting seat 31 and connecting rods 6. This structural design effectively solves the problem of significant displacement of the rotor disk plane position in existing technologies. In traditional tilt rotor mechanisms, the rotor disk plane usually shifts position with tilting action, which not only increases aerodynamic interference during flight but also leads to a decrease in flight stability. In this embodiment, the parallelogram mechanism ensures that the mounting base 31 maintains a stable arc trajectory during tilting, so that the propeller disk plane only changes direction and does not shift position, thereby significantly reducing aerodynamic coupling interference during flight attitude control and improving flight stability.

[0024] Furthermore, this embodiment achieves precise drive control through the meshing transmission of the worm gear 42 and the worm 43. The output shaft of the drive component 44 is connected to the worm 43, driving the worm gear 42 to rotate, thereby driving the movement of the parallelogram mechanism and causing the mounting base 31 to complete the tilting action. This transmission structure not only makes the control of the tilting action more precise, but also ensures that the angle adjustment has sufficient continuity and stability during the tilting process, avoiding problems such as unstable tilting or poor control accuracy caused by the instability of the drive system.

[0025] In summary, the telecentric linkage tilting mechanism of this embodiment, through a reasonable parallelogram mechanism design and precise transmission of the worm gear, solves the problem of rotor disk plane offset during tilting in existing tilting mechanisms, significantly improving flight stability and tilting control accuracy, and providing more reliable technical support for the application of lightweight tiltrotor aircraft.

[0026] In this embodiment, a rotating shaft 45 is rotatably mounted on the cockpit 4, and a swing rod 46 is connected to the rotating shaft 45. The ends of the two connecting rods 6 away from the mounting base 31 are hinged to the swing rod 46, causing the swing rod 46 to swing. Through the connection between the rotating shaft 45 and the swing rod 46, the two connecting rods 6 can swing during tilting, thus making the movement of the parallelogram mechanism smoother and more synchronized. This design effectively transmits the power of the drive component 44. Through the action of the swing rod 46, the movement of the two connecting rods 6 is more coordinated, ensuring a smooth transition of the tilting action of the mounting base 31 at different angles. This structural design makes the power transmission during tilting more uniform, avoiding the uneven transitions or inconsistent movements that may occur in traditional designs, and helps to further improve the stability and response accuracy of the aircraft. The introduction of the swing rod 46 makes the tilting action more flexible, enabling a larger tilt angle with less driving force, reducing the system load, and further optimizing the working efficiency and reliability of the entire tilting mechanism.

[0027] In this embodiment, a limiting block 47 is provided on the cabin 4. The swing rod 46 abuts against the limiting block 47 during swinging, and the limiting block 47 restricts the swing range. By providing the limiting block 47, the swing range of the swing rod 46 is precisely controlled, preventing excessive swinging that could cause instability or damage to the mechanism. The limiting block 47 effectively restricts the range of motion of the swing rod 46, thereby ensuring the controllability and safety of the tilting action. This design improves the reliability of the mechanism, avoids potential failures caused by excessive structural movement, and enhances the stability of the system.

[0028] In this embodiment, the swing range is 0°-95°. When the rotor tilts to the two extreme positions of 0° and 95°, the swing rod 46 can be limited by the two limiting blocks 47 installed on the cabin 4 to achieve the tilt amplitude within a fixed angle range.

[0029] In this embodiment, a connecting rod 62 connects the two links 6 in each parallelogram mechanism. This effectively enhances the structural stability between the links 6. The connecting rod 62 ensures that the relative positions of the two links 6 remain consistent, thereby ensuring the motion synchronization of the parallelogram mechanism and avoiding inaccurate or unstable tilting due to relative motion between the links. This design improves the overall rigidity and reliability of the tilting mechanism, optimizes the accuracy of the tilting action, and ensures a smooth transition of the aircraft in different modes.

[0030] In this embodiment, the portions of the drive rod 5, swing rod 46, and connecting rod 62 located between the connecting rod 6 are all arc-shaped. This effectively optimizes the motion trajectory of each component. The arc-shaped structure allows each rod to move along a smoother path during tilting, thereby reducing friction and interference during movement and ensuring the smoothness of the mechanism's motion. This design also improves the space utilization of the mechanism, reduces structural complexity, and enhances the response speed and stability of the tilting system.

[0031] In this embodiment, multiple reinforcing rods 63 connect the two links 6 on the same side of the two sets of parallelogram mechanisms. This effectively enhances the structural rigidity and load-bearing capacity of the links 6. The addition of the reinforcing rods 63 allows the links 6 to better resist external loads and vibrations during tilting, reducing deformation and instability of the mechanism. This design improves the durability and stability of the entire tilting mechanism, ensuring precise control and reliability in different flight modes.

[0032] In this embodiment, each connecting rod 6 is provided with a clearance section 61, which is spaced apart from the worm gear 42. This effectively avoids interference between the worm gear 42 and the connecting rod 6, ensuring smooth operation of all components during the tilting mechanism's movement. By setting the clearance section 61, friction and wear between the connecting rod and the worm gear can be reduced, extending the system's service life. This design further optimizes the tilting mechanism's motion accuracy and stability, avoiding problems such as unstable power transmission or unsmooth operation caused by component interference.

[0033] In this embodiment, two sets of parallelogram mechanisms connect the cabin 4 and the mounting base 31, and the two sets of parallelogram mechanisms are arranged parallel to each other. The use of two sets of parallelogram mechanisms can provide more robust support and stable drive.

[0034] In this embodiment, the driving component 44 is a hydraulic motor or a servo motor.

[0035] In this embodiment, the nacelle 2 is provided with a nacelle cover, which can prevent damage to its internal power unit and tilting unit.

[0036] In this embodiment, the worm gear 42 is connected to the flange of the rotating shaft 41 and fixed to the center hole by bolts to ensure torque transmission. The rotating shaft 41 is provided with a keyway or spline, and is connected to the drive rod 5 by keyway or spline.

[0037] In this embodiment, the connection between the drive rod 5, the mounting base 31, the two connecting rods 6 and the swing rod 46 is a rolling bearing hinge.

[0038] In this embodiment, the rotor is connected to a fairing rotor motor. The fairing is connected to the rotor to regulate the airflow, and the rotor motor is connected to the rotor to directly drive the rotor to rotate and provide flight power.

[0039] In this embodiment, the centers of the two rotating shafts 41 and the two rotating shafts 45 located on both sides of the cockpit 4 are collinear with the hub center of the rotor 3. This ensures that the rotation center of the tilting mechanism is aligned with the hub center of the rotor. By making the rotating shafts collinear with the hub center, it is ensured that the rotor 3 always rotates around the hub center during tilting, avoiding rotor disk position deviation and instability. This design optimizes the aircraft's attitude control, enhances flight stability and accuracy, and ensures minimal aerodynamic disturbances during tilting.

[0040] like Figure 4 As shown, the principle of realizing the tilting motion of the telecentric link in this example is based on... , The parallelogram mechanism provides basic constraints for the frame with fixed hinges, ensuring motion synchronization. With quadrilateral All are parallelograms. When the drive rod 5 rotates, the motion is transmitted through two connecting rods 6. Through the motion coupling of the parallelogram mechanism, the mounting base is constrained and forms a [structure / structure]. The motion follows a circular trajectory with an instantaneous center of rotation, while eliminating translational degrees of freedom. The following relationship exists: , , In addition, simultaneously change the line segment The length will not cause the centroid to... The position changes, but this will cause the line segment to... and the center The distance change allows for adjustments to the rotor assembly layout in the example design. The nacelle 2 is cantilevered and fixed to the end of the wing 1 via the nacelle base 4; the nacelle 2 remains fixed and does not rotate. The rotor 3 is mounted above the mounting base 31 via bolts or other connections and rotates along with the mounting base 31. For example... Figure 5 As shown, driven by the drive component 44, the telecentric link tilting mechanism drives the rotor to achieve 0°, 45°, 90° and 95° tilting attitudes around the center point of the rotor hub, which correspond to the level flight mode, transition mode, helicopter mode and inverted flight mode of the gyroplane, respectively, to realize the full-angle tilting attitude conversion of the tilt rotor.

[0041] The absence of positional offset in the rotor disk plane of this embodiment significantly reduces aerodynamic coupling interference during flight attitude control, thereby improving flight stability. Regardless of the flight mode, the rotor hub center remains always above and in front of the wing. The downwash airflow from rotor 3, being far from the wing, experiences significantly reduced aerodynamic interference, thus improving aircraft stability. Secondly, the tilting motion is transformed into rotor 3 rotating around the geometric hub center, keeping the nacelle 2 in a fixed position and achieving the advantage of minimal dynamic center of gravity shift. This not only contributes to flight attitude stability but also reduces the difficulty of flight control system design and improves system reliability. Thirdly, the use of a parallelogram mechanism for tilting results in a simpler structure and lighter weight, making it particularly suitable for lightweight tiltrotor aircraft. The lightweight design effectively reduces the aircraft's weight, improves energy efficiency, and meets the weight and performance requirements of modern lightweight aircraft. Finally, the use of worm gear 42 and worm shaft 43 for transmission allows for precise control of the tilt angle, meets self-locking requirements, and provides a more accurate and stable drive effect. This transmission method effectively ensures the stability and long-term reliability of the tilting mechanism, avoiding potential errors and instability issues. Overall, this invention significantly improves the performance of the aircraft in various flight modes by optimizing structural design and enhancing drive precision and stability, thereby enhancing the aircraft's comprehensive performance and reliability.

Claims

1. A tilt-rotor aircraft provided with a telecentric linkage tilting mechanism, comprising a wing (1), a nacelle (2) and a rotor (3), said nacelle (2) being provided on the wing (1) and being provided with a seat (4), characterized in that, The rotor (3) is connected to a mounting base (31). Each of the cabins (4) is provided with a rotating shaft (41), a worm gear (42), a worm (43), and a drive component (44). A parallelogram mechanism is connected between the cabin (4) and the mounting base (31). The parallelogram mechanism is formed by connecting a drive rod (5), the mounting base (31), and two connecting rods (6). The rotating shaft (41) is rotatably mounted on the cabin (4). The worm gear (42) rotates around the axis of the rotating shaft (41). The worm (43) meshes with the worm gear (42) for transmission. One end of the drive rod (5) is fixedly connected to the rotating shaft (41), and the other end of the drive rod (5) is hinged to the two connecting rods (6). The connecting rods (6) are arranged in parallel intervals and the ends away from the nacelle (2) are all hinged to the mounting base (31). The output shaft of the drive component (44) is driven to connect with the worm gear (43) and drives the worm wheel (42) to rotate around the axis of the rotating shaft (41), causing the parallelogram mechanism to move and tilt the mounting base (31). A rotating shaft (45) is rotatably mounted on the nacelle (4). The rotating shaft (45) is connected to a swing rod (46). The ends of the two connecting rods (6) away from the mounting base (31) are all hinged to the swing rod (46), and cause the swing rod (46) to swing. The center of the two rotating shafts (41) and the center of the two rotating shafts (45) located on both sides of the nacelle (4) are collinear with the center of the rotor hub (3).

2. The gyroglider with a remote-centre-link tilting mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that, The cabin (4) is provided with a limiting block (47), and the swing rod (46) abuts against the limiting block (47) when swinging, and the swing range is limited by the limiting block (47).

3. The gyroglider with a remote-centre-link tilting mechanism according to claim 2, characterized in that, The swing range is 0°-95°.

4. The gyroglider with a remote-centre-link tilting mechanism according to claim 2, characterized in that, In each group of parallelogram mechanisms, a connecting rod (62) connects the two links (6).

5. The tilt-rotor aircraft provided with a telecentric linkage tilt mechanism according to claim 4, characterized in that, The portions of the drive rod (5), swing rod (46), and connecting rod (62) located between the connecting rod (6) are all arc-shaped.

6. The gyroglider with a remote-centre-link tilting mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that, In the two sets of parallelogram mechanisms, multiple reinforcing rods (63) are connected between the two connecting rods (6) on the same side.

7. The gyroglider with a remote-centre-link tilting mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that, Each of the connecting rods (6) is provided with a clearance section (61), and the clearance section (61) is spaced apart from the worm gear (42).

8. The gyroplane provided with a telecentric linkage tilt mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that, Two sets of parallelogram mechanisms are connected between the cabin (4) and the mounting base (31), and the two sets of parallelogram mechanisms are arranged in parallel intervals.

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