Helicopter Collapsible Deck Anchoring Device
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Solution Overview
Problem
Helicopter decks currently transmit excessive energy to the crew and passengers during impacts, leading to potential harm and failing to meet certification requirements for energy absorption without transmitting it to occupants.
Innovation Solution
A collapsible deck design featuring a lattice frame with anchoring devices that incorporate local permanent deformation sections, allowing for energy dissipation at lower force values, reducing the maximum force transmitted to the tread surface and enhancing safety by distributing weight across nodes designed for localized deformation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a rigid frame structure is used to provide structural strength, then the deck can support crew and equipment, but excessive impact energy is transmitted to the crew and passengers
Solution Approach 1:
The frame is divided into longitudinal members and cross members that form a lattice structure, with anchoring devices at each node. This segmentation allows localized deformation at specific anchoring points while maintaining overall structural integrity, thereby dissipating impact energy without compromising the deck's load-bearing capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The anchoring devices incorporate sections with different mechanical properties - some portions are designed to deform permanently at lower force values while other portions maintain rigidity. This local differentiation of material properties enables the structure to absorb impact energy through controlled localized deformation while preserving overall structural strength.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the deck structure is made more rigid to maintain structural integrity, then the deck can better support loads, but the maximum force transmitted to the tread surface increases during impact
Solution Approach 1:
The anchoring devices are designed to transition from a rigid state during normal operation to a deformable state during impact. The connecting members can elastically deform and then permanently deform at controlled sections, allowing the structure to adapt its mechanical properties dynamically - maintaining rigidity when needed and absorbing energy when impacted.
3Reliability
If energy absorption capacity is increased to meet certification requirements, then passenger safety is improved, but the structural complexity of the deck increases
Solution Approach 1:
The energy absorption function is extracted from the main frame structure and concentrated in the anchoring devices at the nodes. By isolating the deformation capability to these specific anchoring points, the patent achieves the required energy absorption capacity without requiring the entire deck structure to be complex or overly engineered for crashworthiness.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The deck effectively dissipates impact energy without transmitting intolerable forces to the crew and passengers, meeting regulatory requirements for energy absorption and improving safety during impacts.
Implementation Method 1
a collapsible nature, which enables it to dissipate the energy acquired by the deck during an impact in the form of permanent deformation of the anchoring device, without transmitting the maximum force corresponding to the elastic limit of the anchoring device to the tread surface
Data Source
AI summary
A helicopter collapsible deck having at least one longitudinal member and at least one cross member, which extend respectively in a first and second direction intersecting at a point; the cross member is interrupted at the point of intersection; the deck also has an anchoring device for connecting the longitudinal member and the cross member at the point of intersection; and the anchoring device has at least one local permanent deformation section lying in a plane crosswise to the deck and for dissipating the energy transmitted to the deck in the event of impact.