Passenger Boarding Bridge Cab with Movable Flap for Downward Opening Aircraft Doors
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing passenger boarding bridges are unable to dock with regional aircrafts that have doors designed to open downwards, as they are typically designed for aircrafts with doors that open leftwards or rightwards, leading to interference issues.
Innovation Solution
A passenger boarding bridge cab with an active floor body, a movable flap, and an actuating device that can adjust to accommodate aircraft doors opening downwards, equipped with a semi-automatic latching mechanism and pressure sensing device to ensure safe and secure docking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the cab is designed for aircrafts with doors opening leftwards or rightwards, then the docking function for these aircrafts is achieved, but the cab interferes with the aircraft door when serving aircrafts with doors opening downwards
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the floor body configurable between different states. The active floor body can be transformed into a first state for aircraft with left/right opening doors and a second state for aircraft with downward opening doors. This dynamic reconfiguration allows the cab to adapt to different door configurations without causing interference, resolving the contradiction between versatility and door interference.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the cab structure is modified to accommodate downward opening doors, then the adaptability to regional aircrafts is improved, but the structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The floor body is designed as a dynamic structure that can transform between different states through actuators. This allows the cab to accommodate different door configurations without requiring completely separate structures for each aircraft type. The dynamic transformation capability provides versatility while managing structural complexity through a unified, reconfigurable design.
Solution Approach 2:
The cab is designed with universal functionality to serve multiple aircraft types with different door configurations. The active floor body can assume different states to accommodate various door opening directions, making a single cab structure capable of performing multiple docking functions. This multi-functionality approach improves adaptability without proportionally increasing overall structural complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A cab of a passenger boarding bridge comprises: an active floor body having a back end connected to the front end of a cabin and a front end provided with a notch that accommodates a downwards or upwards opened door of an aircraft; a flap disposed corresponding to the notch and movably connected to the active floor body, the flap being turnable relative to the active floor body between a first position in which the flap closes the notch and a second position in which the flap exposes the notch; and an actuating device for driving the flap to turn. The cab is mounted to a front end of a cabin such that it serves not only aircraft having doors to be opened leftwards or rightwards but also those having doors to be opened downwards. Also disclosed are a passenger boarding bridge having the cab and a docking method thereof.