IMPROVED MOVING COVER ASSEMBLY FOR AIRCRAFT AND AIRCRAFT EQUIPPED WITH SUCH AN ASSEMBLY.

Abstract

The invention relates to a positioning assembly (10) for a movable cowling (101) of an aircraft engine (100), the positioning assembly (10) comprising a male locator-type positioning element (12), fixed rigidly to said movable cowling (101), and a female locator guide (13) having an opening (13a), which female locator guide (13) is fixed to a rear bulkhead (102a) of an air intake cowling (102) of said engine (100), the opening (13a) being configured to receive at least a portion of said male locator element (12), and said assembly being characterized in that said female locator guide (13) is arranged in direct contact with said rear bulkhead (102a) of said air intake cowling (102). Advantageously, the assembly of said positioning assembly is simplified and its cost is reduced. Fig. 2

Description

Title of the invention: IMPROVED POSITIONING ASSEMBLY FOR A MOVABLE AIRCRAFT COWL AND AIRCRAFT EQUIPPED WITH SUCH AN ASSEMBLY. Technical field

[0001] The invention relates to an assembly for positioning a movable aircraft cowl. The invention relates more particularly to an assembly for positioning an aircraft engine fan cowl configured to ensure good relative positioning of this cowl and a partition of an aircraft engine air intake cowl. STATE OF THE PRIOR ART

[0002] Systems for positioning and / or guiding a movable cowl of an aircraft fan engine exist and are such that projecting elements integral with the movable cowl, arranged inside the latter, near its front edges are introduced into openings of guide elements fixed to the rear partition of an air intake cowl of the aircraft engine. Such projecting elements are sometimes called "locators" and their size differs depending on whether the movable cowl which carries them is equipped or not with support and positioning cylinders. These systems make it possible in particular to achieve translational locking of the lateral movable fan cowls in a direction of movement in flight of the aircraft, and sometimes guidance during the closing of a movable cowl, in the absence of support and positioning cylinders.They ensure, where appropriate, good relative positioning of the movable cowl with respect to the air intake cowl, which is important for preserving the aerodynamics of the aircraft concerned. The guide elements having the openings receiving the projecting elements arranged on the movable cowls are assembled on the rear partition of the air intake cowl using intermediate parts forming supports, which requires assembly operations inherent to these supports and involves a cost specific to these supports and their assembly.

[0003] The situation can be improved. Statement of the invention

[0004] An object of the present invention is to provide an assembly for precise positioning of a movable aircraft fan cowl without such supports, so as to facilitate assembly operations and reduce the cost of the assembly and the assembly cost.

[0005] To this end, there is proposed an assembly for positioning a movable aircraft engine cowl, the assembly comprising a male locator type positioning element, fixed integrally to said movable cowl, and a female locator guide. having an opening, which guide is fixed to a rear partition of an air intake cover of said engine, the opening being configured to receive at least a portion of said male locator-type positioning element, and said assembly being characterized in that said female locator guide is arranged in direct contact with said rear partition of said air intake cover.

[0006] It is thus advantageously possible to directly assemble a female locator guide on the rear partition of the air intake hood, without requiring specific supports, the female locator guide being without support.

[0007] The positioning assembly according to the invention may also comprise the following characteristics, considered alone or in combination:

[0008] - The rear partition of the air intake hood has at least a first surface supporting an edge of the movable cover, the first supporting surface having a surface of complementary shape to a shape of a surface of the edge of said movable cover, and a second surface of said rear partition, in contact with which said female locator guide is fixed, is arranged set back from the first supporting surface in the direction of insertion of the male locator element into the female locator guide.

[0009] - The female locator guide is arranged in a recess in the rear bulkhead of the air intake hood.

[0010] - The opening of the female locator is a through opening arranged opposite from a through opening in the rear bulkhead of the air intake hood.

[0011] - The male locator type positioning element is oriented perpendicularly larly to a longitudinal axis of the aircraft.

[0012] The invention also relates to a cowling assembly comprising at least one aircraft engine air intake cowl, a movable aircraft engine cowl, and an assembly for positioning a movable cowl as previously described.

[0013] Another object of the invention is an aircraft engine comprising a cowling assembly as mentioned above.

[0014] The invention further relates to an aircraft comprising at least one positioning assembly as previously described, a cowling assembly as mentioned above, or an aircraft engine as mentioned above. Brief description of the drawings

[0015] The above-mentioned features of the invention, as well as others, will appear more clearly on reading the following description of an exemplary embodiment, said description being made in relation to the attached drawings:

[0016] [Fig-1] illustrates an aircraft comprising an improved positioning assembly of a movable aircraft fan cowl according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0017] [Fig.2] schematically illustrates implementation details of the set of posi improved operation, according to one embodiment of the invention; and,

[0018] [Fig.3] schematically illustrates arrangement details of a female locator guide element in the rear partition of the air inlet cover, according to one embodiment of the invention.

[0019] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0020] [Fig. 1] schematically and symbolically represents an aircraft 1 comprising at least one positioning assembly 10 (detailed in [Fig. 2]) of a movable aircraft fan cowl according to an embodiment of the invention. The aircraft 1 has a longitudinal axis X parallel to the direction of movement in flight of the aircraft 1 when its flight is symmetrical. According to an embodiment of the invention, each of the lateral movable fan cowls of the engines of the aircraft 1 comprises four positioning assemblies according to the invention, two of which are located near the front part of the movable fan cowl and two of which are located near the rear part of the fixed fan cowl. Furthermore, for each of the front and rear pairs of positioning assemblies of a movable fan cowl, one of the two positioning assemblies occupies an upper position and the other of the two positioning assemblies occupies a lower position.For the purposes of simplification, the present description describes only one of these positioning assemblies whose function is to carry out precise guidance and positioning of a movable cowl of an aircraft engine fan when this movable cowl is closed. Obviously, the four positioning assemblies of a movable cowl according to the aforementioned embodiment cooperate with each other to increase the precision of guidance and positioning of said movable cowl when it is closed. Advantageously, the precise guidance and positioning assemblies, each referred to herein as a "positioning assembly", maintain the movable fan cowls in position in the X direction.

[0021] In the present description, the term "front" defines a relative position located towards the front end of the aircraft, i.e., the side towards which the aircraft is moving in flight, and the term "rear" defines a relative position located towards the rear end of the aircraft, i.e., the side from which the aircraft is coming when it is moving in flight. Furthermore, a so-called "upper" position is located higher than a so-called "lower" position (relative to the ground) when the aircraft is on the ground.

[0022] [Fig. 2] schematically and symbolically illustrates a power unit 100 of the aircraft 1, also often called an aircraft “propulsion unit”. According to a non-limiting example of implementation, the propulsion unit 100 is of the turbojet type. However, in the remainder of the description, the term “engine” designates an aircraft propulsion unit, whatever its type (turbojet or not) and it is note that the invention applies to any type of engine. The engine 100 is arranged under the wing of the aircraft 1 by means of a mast 100p. The engine comprises two movable lateral fan cowls, one of which, the movable fan cowl 101, is visible in [Fig. 2] and the other of which is not visible in [Fig. 2] since it is arranged on the other side (the opposite side) of the engine 100 relative to the movable cowl 101. The movable fan cowl 101 of the engine 100, also called here movable cowl 101 of the engine 100, is shown in the open configuration (or position) in [Fig. 2], which makes it possible in particular to materialize the boundary between the rear part of the air intake cowl 102 of the engine 100 and the front part of the movable cowl 101. The front edge of the movable cowl 101 is arranged to bear on a surface portion of the rear partition 102a of the air intake cowl 102.Thus, an inner surface of the front edge of the movable cowl 101 has a shape complementary to a surface of the rear partition 102a of the air intake cowl 102, at the periphery of the latter. The front edge of the movable cowl 101 of the engine 100 comprises two precise guiding and positioning assemblies, one of which, the positioning assembly 10, is arranged between the upper part of the front edge of the movable cowl 101 and the upper part of the rear partition of the air intake cowl 102. This positioning assembly 10 is detailed in an enlarged portion of [Fig. 1]. In this enlarged portion, it is possible to observe details of the arrangement of the precise guiding and positioning assembly of the movable cowl 101 relative to the air intake cowl 102.A projecting element 12 is arranged on the inner wall of the movable hood 101, near its front edge, and projects by extending in a plane perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis X. The projecting element 12 is here called the male locator-type positioning element 12. It is fixed integrally to the movable cover 101. According to a non-limiting example of embodiment, the locator-type positioning element 12 is welded to the inner wall of the movable cover 101 of the engine 100. Opposite this male locator-type positioning element 12 is arranged, fixed integrally to the rear partition 102a of the air intake cover 102, a female locator guide 13 having an opening 13a configured to receive the male locator-type positioning element 12, or at least a portion thereof, when the movable cover 101 is in the closed position and its front edge is positioned in abutment along the rear edge of the air intake cover 102.Advantageously, the guidance and precise positioning jointly guaranteed by the male locator type positioning element 12 and the female locator guide 13 make it possible to guarantee good positioning in the closed position of the movable cover 101. Indeed, in the case where any deformation of the movable cover 101, or even a problem with the hinge of this movable cover exists, such as not to allow normal insertion of the element of . male locator type positioning 12 in the opening 13a of the female guide 13, the support of the positioning element 12 elsewhere than in the opening 13a of the female guide 13 causes a joint defect between the air inlet cover 102 and the edge of the engine cover 102. In other words, this causes in such a case a flagrant discontinuity of the cowling surface of the engine 100.

[0023] Advantageously, and cleverly, the positioning assembly 10 is arranged so that the female locator guide 13 is mounted in direct contact with the rear partition 102a of the air inlet cover 102, without any intermediate support. In other words, the positioning assembly 10 is devoid of intermediate supports between the female locator guide 13 and the rear partition 102a of the air inlet cover 102. According to one embodiment, the female locator guide 13 is assembled in a recess (or cavity) 102r itself arranged at the edge of the rear partition 102a of the air inlet cover 100. According to an exemplary embodiment, the recess 102r is obtained by stamping this portion of the rear partition 102a of the air inlet cover 102.

[0024] According to an embodiment illustrated in [Fig. 3], the portion 102r of the rear partition 102a which constitutes this recess is arranged set back from a bearing surface of the rear partition 102a, according to the direction and the sense of insertion of the element 12 in the opening 13a, on which the edge of the movable cover 101 bears when the movable cover 101 is closed. According to one embodiment, the female locator guide 13 is a molded part made of composite material, positioned in an opening of the rear partition 102a and held in position by anti-return mounting elements (commonly called “clips”). The male locator type positioning element is then integrated into the rear partition 102a of the air intake cover 102, and no longer attached to this partition.

[0025] According to one embodiment, the opening 13a of the female locator guide 13 is arranged opposite an opening arranged in the rear partition 102a of the air inlet cover 102, which possibly allows the end of the male-type locator element 12 to engage further than the thickness of the rear partition 102a of the air inlet cover 102 in the insertion direction. According to an alternative embodiment, the opening 13a is not a through opening, but a cavity of complementary shape to the male locator-type positioning element 12.

Claims

Claims

1. Positioning assembly (10) of a movable cowl (101) of an aircraft engine (100) (1), said positioning assembly (10) comprising a male locator-type positioning element (12), fixedly attached to said movable cowl (101), and a female locator guide (13) having an opening (13a), which guide (13) is fixed to a rear partition (102a) of an air intake cowl (102) of said engine (100), the opening (13a) being configured to receive at least a portion of said male locator element (12), and said positioning assembly (10) being characterized in that said female locator guide (13) is arranged in direct contact with said rear partition (102a) of said air intake cowl (102).

2. Positioning assembly (10) according to claim 1, wherein said rear partition (102a) has at least a first bearing surface of an edge of said movable cover (101), said first bearing surface having a surface of shape complementary to a shape of a surface of said edge of said movable cover (101) and wherein a second surface of said rear partition (102a), in contact with which said female locator guide (13) is fixed, is arranged set back from said first bearing surface along the direction of insertion of the male locator element (12) into the female locator guide (13).

3. Positioning assembly (10) according to one of claims 1 and 2, wherein said female locator guide (13) is arranged in a recess (102r) of said rear partition (102a) of said air inlet cover (102).

4. Positioning assembly according to one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said opening of said female locator is a through opening arranged opposite a through opening of said rear partition of said air inlet cover.

5. Positioning assembly according to one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said male locator type positioning element (12) is oriented perpendicular to a longitudinal axis (X) of the aircraft (1).

6. Cowling assembly comprising at least one air intake cowl (102) of an aircraft engine (100) (1), at least one movable cowl (101) of an aircraft engine (100) (1), and at least one positioning assembly (10) for said movable cowl (101) according to one of claims 1 to 5.

7. An aircraft engine (100) comprising a cowling assembly according to claim 6.

8. Aircraft (1) comprising at least one positioning assembly (100) according to one of claims 1 to 5, a cowling assembly according to claim 6, or an aircraft engine according to claim 7.

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