Rotating Locking Device for Folding Wing Tip
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional locking mechanisms for folding wing tip devices on large passenger aircraft fail to provide secure fastening, leading to play and vibrations due to wear, which compromises the stability and safety of the aircraft during flight.
Innovation Solution
A rotatable locking mechanism with a guide surface that preloads a locking pin through a camming action, providing additional bearing surfaces to compensate for wear and reduce play, combined with a split bearing to minimize friction and torque requirements, and multiple locking mechanisms with different axes of rotation to enhance load-bearing capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional locking mechanisms are used to secure the folding wing tip device, then the wing tip device can be locked in the flight configuration, but wear in the locking mechanism results in play and vibrations that compromise stability
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism applies a preliminary preload force to the locking pin through the guide surface before flight operations begin. This preload compensates for future wear by maintaining constant contact between the locking pin and both the guide surface and the stop, ensuring that even as components wear, the pin remains firmly positioned without developing play or vibrations
2Device complexity
If a single locking mechanism is used, then the structure is simpler, but the load-bearing capacity and stability are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism is segmented into multiple independent locking pins, each capable of bearing load. This segmentation allows the system to distribute aerodynamic loads across multiple contact points (guide surface and stop), significantly increasing the overall load-bearing capacity while maintaining relative structural simplicity through modular replication of the basic locking element
3Ease of operation
If the locking pin is not preloaded, then the locking mechanism is easier to operate, but wear results in play between the wing tip device and the fixed wing
Solution Approach 1:
The guide surface is designed to automatically apply a preload to the locking pin during the locking operation itself. As the locking pin engages with the guide surface and moves into its final position, the geometry of the guide surface creates a camming action that pushes the pin against the stop, ensuring precise positioning and eliminating play without requiring additional adjustment operations or complex adjustment mechanisms
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 ensures secure fastening of the wing tip device in the flight configuration, reducing wear, vibrations, and maintenance needs, while allowing safe reduction of wing span for ground operations, thereby improving the stability and strength of the locking mechanism.
Implementation Method 1
the guide surface is shaped such that the locking pin is urged toward the rotation axis of the rotatable locking member by a camming action of the guide surface on the locking pin, thereby preloading the locking mechanism
Implementation Method 2
The rotatable locking member acts to preload the locking mechanism, such that any wear of the rotatable locking member and/or the locking pin is compensated for, thereby reducing the chances of play developing in the locking mechanism
Data Source
AI summary
The invention provides an aircraft wing, comprising a fixed wing and a wing tip device at the tip. The wing tip device is configurable between: (i) a locked flight configuration for use during flight and (ii) a ground configuration for use during ground-based operations. The wing further comprises a locking mechanism for locking the folding wing tip device in the locked flight configuration. A rotatable locking member is associated with one of the folding wing tip device and the fixed wing, and a locking pin associated with the other. The rotatable locking member comprises a guide surface to guide the locking pin to a locked configuration, in which the guide surface is shaped such that the locking pin is urged toward the rotation axis of the rotatable locking member by a camming action of the guide surface on the locking pin, thereby preloading the locking mechanism.