Aircraft Flap Locking Device with Photoluminescent Coating
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing locking devices for aircraft flaps or doors, while designed to be aerodynamically flush and tool-free, often fail to provide adequate visual indication of their locked state, especially in low-light conditions, leading to safety risks due to potential mislocking and habituation to conventional conspicuous colors.
Innovation Solution
A locking device with internal surfaces coated in photoluminescent material that becomes visible in the open state, providing increased recognition under various lighting conditions, including dusk and darkness, and allowing for retrofitting without significant modification.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If fluorescent paint is used on locking devices to improve visibility, then detectability is improved, but visibility in low-light conditions deteriorates because fluorescent colors require short-wavelength UV light to achieve their high-visibility effect
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the optical parameter of the locking device by using photoluminescent material that absorbs UV light and emits visible light at different wavelengths. This allows the locking device to be invisible under UV lighting (blends with aircraft skin) but highly visible in daylight or after UV charging, resolving the contradiction between detectability and low-light visibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs color-changing material that appears as a natural color (blending with aircraft skin) under certain lighting conditions but changes to a highly visible color when charged with UV light. This color transformation enables the locking device to provide visibility only when needed, solving the contradiction between being detectable and visible in low-light conditions.
2Stability of the object's composition
If red or orange hues are used in aircraft exterior painting to maintain aesthetic consistency, then visual uniformity is improved, but detectability of locking devices deteriorates due to habituation to this color
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses photoluminescent material that changes color based on lighting conditions. In daylight or after UV charging, it emits a bright color that contrasts with the aircraft's red or orange exterior, making the locking device highly detectable. Under UV lighting, it blends with the aircraft skin, maintaining visual uniformity. This resolves the contradiction between visual uniformity and detectability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the optical parameters of the locking device by using material that absorbs UV light and emits visible light at different wavelengths. This allows the locking device to match the aircraft's exterior color under UV lighting but stand out in daylight or after UV charging, solving the contradiction between maintaining visual uniformity and improving detectability.
3Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If additional devices are added to improve detectability of unlocked locking devices, then detectability is improved, but device complexity and installation effort increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the visibility function directly into the locking device by coating it with photoluminescent material. This integration eliminates the need for separate detection devices, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining improved detectability. The locking device itself becomes the detection indicator through its optical properties.
Solution Approach 2:
The photoluminescent coating on the locking device provides self-service by automatically changing its visibility state based on lighting conditions. The material absorbs UV light and stores it, then emits visible light when needed, eliminating the need for external power sources, batteries, or complex electronic detection systems. This simplifies the overall system while improving detectability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances the visibility of the locking device's open state, ensuring safer aircraft operations by maintaining recognition even after maintenance lighting is off, and can be easily integrated into existing systems with minimal modification.
Implementation Method 1
at least a part of the surfaces of the locking device, which are located inside the surface in the locked state and are visible in the open state, are coated with photoluminescent material
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~5
AI summary
The invention relates to a locking device (10) which can be embedded flush into a surface (1) and is intended for locking flaps (2), in particular for aircraft, comprising a plate (11) and a locking element (12) which can be actuated thereby, wherein, in the locked state of the locking device (10), the plate (11) is flush with the surface (1) and, in the open state, projects from the surface (1), wherein at least part of the faces (14) of the locking device (10), which are situated to the inside with respect to the surface (1) in the locked state and are visible only in the open state, is coated with photoluminescent material. The invention further relates to a method for retrofitting a locking device (10) to form a locking device (10) according to the invention.