Aircraft Landing Gear Strut Servicing Without Jacking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Servicing unseparated aircraft landing gear shock absorbers while the aircraft is on the ground is challenging due to the difficulty in determining the correct oil and gas quantities, leading to potential errors in shock absorber length assessment and increased pressure, which can compromise landing performance, necessitating time-consuming jacking procedures.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a mixer to uniformly saturate the liquid with gas within the shock absorber's chamber, allowing for accurate measurements and operations without jacking the aircraft, by mixing the liquid and gas until the liquid is fully saturated, enabling precise determination of gas content and facilitating faster, simpler servicing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the aircraft is jacked up to remove weight from the wheels for servicing, then the shock absorber can be serviced more accurately, but the servicing time increases and the procedure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the physical state of the liquid by uniformly saturating it with gas before servicing. This parameter change (liquid saturation) allows accurate measurement and servicing of the shock absorber while the aircraft remains on the ground, eliminating the need to jack up the aircraft and thereby reducing servicing time while maintaining measurement accuracy.
2Measurement precision
If the aircraft is jacked up for servicing, then measurement accuracy improves, but the procedure complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
By changing the parameter of liquid saturation uniformly with gas, the invention enables accurate shock absorber servicing while the aircraft remains on the ground. This eliminates the need for jacking procedures and other complex setup steps, thereby reducing procedure complexity while maintaining measurement accuracy.
3Ease of operation
If the liquid is not uniformly saturated with gas, then the servicing procedure is simpler, but the determination of gas content becomes inaccurate
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies preliminary action by uniformly saturating the liquid with gas before performing any servicing operations. This preliminary saturation step establishes a known equilibrium state, making subsequent gas content determination accurate while keeping the overall servicing procedure simple and straightforward.
4Productivity
If the shock absorber is serviced without uniform gas saturation, then the servicing process is faster, but the shock absorber performance may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the liquid saturation parameter uniformly throughout the liquid before servicing. This ensures accurate determination of gas content and proper shock absorber performance while maintaining a relatively fast servicing process, as the uniform saturation can be achieved efficiently and eliminates the need for time-consuming jacking procedures.
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
This method allows for accurate and efficient servicing of unseparated shock absorbers while the aircraft is supported, reducing servicing time and increasing accuracy by establishing a known equilibrium state, thereby avoiding the need for jacking and minimizing errors in shock absorber performance.
Implementation Method 1
using a mixer to mix the liquid and the gas within the chamber until the liquid is uniformly saturated with the gas
Data Source
AI summary
A method of servicing a shock absorber of an aircraft landing gear shock absorbing strut, the shock absorber including a sealed, variable volume chamber containing a liquid and a gas in fluid communication with one another, the method comprising: using a mixer to mix the liquid and the gas within the chamber until the liquid is uniformly saturated with the gas; and subsequently performing one or more servicing actions.