Corrugated Connecting Bracket for Aircraft Fuselage Frame Attachment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing aeroplane fuselage cell construction requires separate frame supports and additional brackets to prevent tilting or buckling of annular frames under high loads, leading to a complex design and increased weight.
Innovation Solution
A shell segment design featuring a connecting bracket with corrugations that mechanically connects transverse stiffening elements to the skin field, providing a simpler construction and preventing tilting or buckling, while allowing for the use of fibre-reinforced composite materials for weight reduction and improved corrosion resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate frame supports (cleats) and additional supporting brackets are provided to prevent tilting or buckling of annular frames, then the security against tilting or buckling is improved, but the device complexity and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the functions of frame support and anti-tilting/buckling support into a single integrated connecting bracket. This bracket features a corrugated structure where the corrugations provide structural rigidity to prevent frame deformation, while the bracket itself supports the frame at crossing regions. This eliminates the need for separate cleats and supporting brackets, reducing constructive complexity while maintaining reliability.
2Reliability
If separate frame supports (cleats) and additional supporting brackets are provided to prevent tilting or buckling of annular frames, then the security against tilting or buckling is improved, but the weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the functions of frame support and anti-tilting/buckling support into a single integrated connecting bracket. This bracket features a corrugated structure where the corrugations provide structural rigidity to prevent frame deformation, while the bracket itself supports the frame at crossing regions. This eliminates the need for separate cleats and supporting brackets, reducing constructive complexity while maintaining reliability.
3Ease of manufacture
If a traditional connecting bracket design is used to connect annular frames to skin fields, then the manufacturing process is simple, but additional supporting brackets are required to prevent tilting or buckling under high loads
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the geometric parameters of the connecting bracket by introducing corrugations with specific angles (α and β between 30° and 120°). These angular parameters optimize the bracket's load-bearing capacity and rigidity, enabling it to resist tilting and buckling forces. The corrugated structure transforms a simple flat bracket into a high-stiffness component that maintains manufacturing simplicity while dramatically improving reliability under high loads.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention concerns a shell segment for the purpose of manufacturing a fuselage cell section for a fuselage cell of an aeroplane, with at least one skin field and with a multiplicity of longitudinal stiffeners arranged thereon, in particular stringers, and also at least one transverse stiffening element running transverse to the longitudinal stiffeners, in particular at least one frame.In that the connection of the at least one transverse stiffening element to the at least one skin field is undertaken with at least one connecting bracket wherein the at least one connecting bracket has at least one corrugation, the supporting brackets for purposes of absorbing tilting moments of the frames, in forms of embodiment of shell segments of prior known art, can be omitted. By this means a considerable weight reduction is possible with, at the same time, a reduced production effort.