Ultralight Passenger Bridge with Cable-Pulley Articulation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing aircraft boarding piers face challenges in efficiently and manually articulating regional aircraft without motorized assistance, particularly in handling varying wind loads and ensuring passenger and baggage safety while maintaining ultralight weight configurations.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates an ultralight passenger bridge system with a confinement structure using cables and pulleys, allowing manual articulation by a single ramp worker, and includes a cab for baggage handling, with anchoring mechanisms for stability and wind resistance, enabling efficient docking and undocking of regional aircraft.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If motorized assistance is used for articulating aircraft boarding piers, then articulation speed and control precision are improved, but device complexity and operational costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The boarding pier system uses its own structural components (cables, pulleys, weights) to achieve articulation without external motorized assistance. The counterweight system provides self-balancing, allowing manual operation while maintaining control precision through the mechanical advantage of the pulley system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces motorized mechanical systems with a cable-pulley-counterweight mechanical system. This substitution eliminates motors, control electronics, and power systems while achieving comparable articulation functionality through pure mechanical means, thereby reducing device complexity.
2Ease of operation
If ultralight weight configuration is used for passenger bridges, then ease of manual articulation is improved, but structural strength and wind resistance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs counterweights that balance the weight of the ultralight passenger bridge, allowing a single worker to articulate it easily. The counterweight system compensates for the reduced structural mass, maintaining stability and wind resistance without requiring heavy bridge construction.
Solution Approach 2:
The boarding pier structure incorporates curved and aerodynamic forms that reduce wind resistance. The curved design allows wind to flow more smoothly around the structure, reducing the effective wind load on the ultralight bridge while maintaining structural integrity.
3Productivity
If a single worker operates the boarding pier, then operational costs are reduced, but the ability to handle varying wind loads and ensure safety deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system is designed to be self-regulating under wind loads through its counterweight and cable-tension system. The mechanical design inherently provides stability and safety margins that do not require multiple operators, allowing single-worker operation while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The cable-pulley system provides tactile feedback to the operator about wind loads and system state, allowing a single worker to sense and respond to varying conditions. The mechanical feedback loop enables the operator to maintain safety without complex instrumentation or multiple personnel.
4Stability of the object's composition
If conventional heavy boarding piers are used, then structural stability is improved, but manual articulation and operational flexibility deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The counterweight system provides stability comparable to heavy structures while maintaining ultralight bridge construction. The counterweights balance the bridge mass, creating a stable system that is equally resistant to unintended movement but requires far less force for controlled articulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from static heavy structures to a dynamic balanced system. The cable-pulley-counterweight assembly allows the bridge to move freely and easily when needed while maintaining stability at rest positions, providing both structural stability and manual articulation capability.
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 solution enables safe, efficient, and manual articulation of regional aircraft, reducing operational costs and enhancing passenger safety by allowing single-worker operation and effective wind-load management.
Implementation Method 1
a confinement structure using cables and pulleys, allowing manual articulation by a single ramp worker
Implementation Method 2
confinement structure using cables and pulleys, allowing manual articulation by a single ramp worker
Implementation Method 3
anchoring mechanisms for stability and wind resistance
Data Source
AI summary
An aircraft boarding apparatus has a passenger bridge that has a confinement structure coupled to a second passenger bridge. The confinement structure exerts a ground-anchoring effect on the second passenger bridge to offset the ultralight configuration of the passenger bridge.