Aircraft Nose Landing Gear with Multi-Axis Deployment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional nose landing gear assemblies face challenges in achieving desired strut length and weight distribution due to spatial constraints, making it difficult to support aircraft effectively on the ground.
Innovation Solution
The proposed solution involves an elongate landing gear strut with a wheel assembly and a deployment structure that can transition between a stowed and deployed state, allowing for translation and rotation of the strut end regions relative to an aircraft mount, enabling flexible deployment and support.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If conventional nose landing gear assemblies use a simple pivot mount configuration, then the device complexity is reduced, but the ability to achieve desired strut length and weight distribution deteriorates due to spatial constraints
Solution Approach 1:
The landing gear assembly is segmented into multiple functional components: an elongate strut with first and second end regions, a wheel assembly, and a deployment structure with multiple mounts. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently, enabling the strut to achieve the desired length while maintaining manageable overall complexity through modular design.
2Device complexity
If conventional nose landing gear assemblies use a simple pivot mount configuration, then the device complexity is reduced, but the weight distribution on the nose landing gear deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The deployment structure introduces additional rotational dimensions by enabling the first strut mount to rotate about a first axis and the second strut mount to rotate about a second axis. This multi-axis rotation capability allows precise control over weight distribution and spatial positioning, optimizing the nose landing gear's weight balance while maintaining structural efficiency.
3Device complexity
If the oleo strut and wheel rotate downward and rearward about a single pivot, then the deployment mechanism is simplified, but the adaptability to different aircraft configurations deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The landing gear assembly incorporates dynamic rotational capabilities with the first strut mount rotating about a first axis and the second strut mount rotating about a second axis. This dynamic, multi-axis rotation system provides adaptability to different aircraft configurations and spatial constraints while maintaining a relatively simple deployment mechanism that can be actuated through coordinated rotational movements.
Data Source
AI summary
Aircraft landing gear assemblies, aircraft including the landing gear assemblies, and methods of deploying landing gear assemblies. The landing gear assemblies include an elongate landing gear strut, a wheel assembly, and a deployment structure. The elongate landing gear strut includes a first strut end region, an opposed second strut end region, and a wheel assembly mount. The wheel assembly is coupled to the wheel assembly mount. The deployment structure is configured to selectively transition the landing gear assembly between a stowed state and a deployed state.