Aircraft Nose Connecting Frame for Landing Gear Door Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing designs for aircraft nose landing gear housings are inefficient in terms of assembly and maintenance, requiring costly and time-consuming adjustments for door positioning and alignment, especially during assembly and maintenance operations.
Innovation Solution
A connecting frame is introduced between the landing gear housing and the fuselage outer skin, featuring a skirt that defines a passage for the landing gear and supports the doors, allowing for precise positioning without relying on the accuracy of the aircraft's constituent components, thus simplifying assembly and maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If doors are mounted directly on the landing gear housing attached to the fuselage, then the structure is simple, but the door positioning accuracy deteriorates due to assembly tolerances
Solution Approach 1:
A connecting frame is introduced as an intermediary component between the landing gear housing and the fuselage outer skin. This connecting frame serves as a mediator that provides precise positioning references for door mounting, isolating the door positioning accuracy from the cumulative assembly tolerances of the housing and fuselage. The connecting frame includes positioning features such as recesses or surfaces that directly locate the doors, ensuring accurate positioning independent of the overall assembly tolerances.
2Ease of operation
If door positioning is adjusted using wedges and hinge plates, then the door position can be adjusted, but the assembly time and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting frame is designed with pre-integrated positioning features and door support structures during the manufacturing stage. The positioning recesses, support surfaces, and attachment points are built into the connecting frame before assembly, eliminating the need for field adjustments using wedges and hinge plates. This preliminary action ensures that doors can be directly mounted in the correct position during assembly, significantly reducing assembly time and operational complexity.
3Manufacturing precision
If the connecting frame extends around the opening in the outer skin, then the door positioning is improved, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting frame is designed as a segmented or modular structure that can be manufactured separately and then assembled to the landing gear housing and fuselage. The frame may be divided into sections that can be produced using standard manufacturing processes and then joined together, reducing the complexity of manufacturing a single large precision component while maintaining the overall positioning accuracy through the segmented architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
In order to assist fitting of doors to the landing gear housing and adjusting their position, an aircraft nose is provided comprising a connecting frame between the landing gear housing and the outer skin of the fuselage, the connecting frame extending around an opening in the outer skin and comprising a skirt bearing against the outer skin of the fuselage and attached thereto, the skirt defining a passage for landing gear which is configured to be closed off by doors when the landing gear are in a closed position, and supporting members extending between the fuselage and the doors.