Dual-Door Thrust Reverser Actuation Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current thrust reverser systems with pivoting doors in aircraft nacelles are prone to maintenance burdens and risk untimely opening in flight, posing a safety hazard due to complex control mechanisms and potential failure modes.
Innovation Solution
A nacelle design featuring internal and external doors with a simultaneous actuation mechanism, utilizing a screw jack and dual-hinged connecting rods to ensure both doors move in tandem between retracted and deployed positions, ensuring closure in case of actuator failure, with dimensions and pressures maintaining stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If thrust reversers with pivoting doors are used, then thrust reversal capability is achieved, but the risk of untimely opening in flight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional door mechanism by using a blockage element that moves from an open position (extending into the air passage channel) to a closed position (retracted). Instead of opening doors to reverse thrust, a blockage element is inserted to obstruct the air passage channel, redirecting flow through alternative paths with deflectors. This inversion eliminates the risk of untimely opening while maintaining thrust reversal capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a blockage element as an intermediary component that mediates between the air passage channel and the deflectors. This blockage element redirects the air flow from the primary path through the engine to alternative paths that exit forward, enabling thrust reversal without requiring complex pivoting door mechanisms that could fail.
2Adaptability or versatility
If complex control mechanisms are used for thrust reverser doors, then thrust reversal functionality is improved, but maintenance burden increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex pivoting door mechanism and replaces it with a simpler blockage element system. The blockage element is a straightforward component that can be inserted and removed without complex control mechanisms, significantly reducing maintenance burden while preserving thrust reversal functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The blockage element is designed as a simple, potentially replaceable component rather than a complex mechanical assembly. This approach allows for easier maintenance and replacement, reducing the overall maintenance burden on the thrust reverser system.
3Shape
If pivoting doors are arranged within cowling thickness, then structural integration is achieved, but the risk of failure increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using pivoting doors that rotate within the cowling thickness (which creates failure risks), the patent uses a blockage element that translates along the axis of the air passage channel. This inverted approach with a linear motion blockage element eliminates the rotational joints and associated failure modes while maintaining structural integration.
Data Source
AI summary
A nacelle for double-flow engine with a cowling and at least one thrust reverser, the thrust reverser having an internal door and an external door arranged in the cowling, and means for simultaneously shifting these doors between a stable retracted position in which the doors are integrated in the cowling and a stable deployed position in which the internal and external doors are positioned at least partially inside and outside of the nacelle, respectively, to deflect the secondary flow and to generate a thrust reversal. The means for simultaneously shifting the doors comprise an actuator, one extremity of which is linked to one of the doors to shift this door between the extreme positions, and at least one linkage element linked to the doors to pivot by its extremities, so that the shifting of the door entails the shifting of the other door between these extreme positions.