Foldable Radome Support for Precise On-Site Maintenance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing aircraft radomes are fragile and prone to damage during impacts, requiring precise maintenance that necessitates transportation to a manufacturer's facility, leading to high costs and downtime.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight, foldable, and demountable support system for aircraft radomes that allows for on-site maintenance, featuring adjustable feet and hinged retaining elements with integrated templates for precise positioning and drilling/cutting operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If high-precision radome maintenance equipment is configured to enable reconstruction of interface points with the aircraft fuselage, then manufacturing precision is improved, but device complexity and transportation requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The maintenance support is divided into modular components: an annular element with a flat surface, multiple adjustable feet, and articulated retaining elements. This segmentation allows the complex precision maintenance function to be distributed across simpler, transportable modules that can be assembled at the maintenance site.
Solution Approach 2:
The articulated retaining elements act as intermediaries between the radome and the support structure. These elements feature bearing surfaces that interface with the radome's outer surface, enabling precise positioning and maintenance operations without requiring the entire complex equipment to be transported.
2Manufacturing precision
If damaged radomes are transported to manufacturing workshops for repair, then manufacturing precision is improved, but loss of time and transportation costs worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The maintenance support is designed with articulated retaining elements that can be pre-positioned to match the specific radome model. This preliminary configuration allows the support to be transported in a compact state and quickly assembled at the maintenance site, enabling repairs to begin immediately without waiting for radome transport to manufacturing workshops.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of transporting the radome to the manufacturing workshop, the invention inverts the approach by bringing the manufacturing-precision equipment to the radome's location. The maintenance support with articulated retaining elements provides the necessary precision positioning capabilities directly at the remote maintenance site.
3Ease of operation
If the radome support structure is made lightweight and foldable for easy transport, then ease of operation is improved, but structural strength worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure incorporates adjustable feet and articulated retaining elements that can change their configuration and positioning. The feet can be adjusted to different positions and angles, and the retaining elements can articulate to accommodate the radome's curvature. This dynamic adaptability allows a relatively lightweight structure to provide sufficient support strength for precision maintenance operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The structural parameters of the support are optimized to balance portability and strength. The annular element, feet, and retaining elements are designed with specific dimensional parameters that allow the structure to be lightweight and foldable for transport, while still providing adequate strength and stability when assembled and loaded with the radome for maintenance operations.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to a support (10) for the maintenance of an aircraft radome (20), comprising an annular element (12) having a flat surface (12s) and from which at least three feet (14) extend. The support is characterized in that it comprises a plurality of articulated retaining elements (16), for example, articulated fittings operating a locking function and each comprising a bearing surface on a portion of the surface of an aircraft radome (20), for example, an interface fitting, when said radome (20) is placed on said flat surface (12s) of said annular element (12). Thus, it is advantageously possible to easily perform maintenance positioning operations on an aircraft radome without having to send the radome to a maintenance site dedicated to such operations.