Aircraft Wing Roller Unit for Misalignment Stress Relief
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional roller bearings used in aircraft wing high lift assemblies suffer from stress concentration and damage due to angular misalignment between the roller axis and engagement surface, leading to reduced lifespan and maintenance issues.
Innovation Solution
A roller unit with an internal elastic bearing that allows the roller surface to adapt its orientation and form, featuring a convexly curved design with increasing curvature radius from the edges to the center, providing a larger contact region and reducing stress concentrations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional roller bearing with constant diameter is used, then the structure is simple and manufacturing is easy, but angular misalignment causes stress concentration and reduced reliability
Solution Approach 1:
The roller bearing is designed with a crowned roller surface featuring variable curvature along its length, with maximum curvature at the center and reduced curvature at the ends. This curved geometry allows the roller to automatically adapt to angular misalignment between the roller axis and engagement surface, distributing contact stresses more evenly across the roller surface and preventing stress concentration that would occur with a constant diameter design.
Solution Approach 2:
The roller bearing implements parameter changes by varying the diameter along the length of the roller, creating a crowned profile where the radius changes from the center to the ends. This parameter variation enables the roller to maintain optimal contact geometry under angular misalignment conditions, transforming the fixed-parameter conventional design into an adaptive variable-parameter solution that improves reliability.
2Stress or pressure
If the roller surface has high curvature at the center, then contact area increases and stress concentration reduces, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The roller bearing applies local quality by concentrating maximum curvature at the center region where contact stress is highest, while reducing curvature toward the ends. This localized variation in geometric quality optimizes stress distribution at the critical contact zone without requiring uniform high precision across the entire roller surface, thereby balancing performance requirements with manufacturing capabilities.
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 adaptive roller unit design enhances the contact area and reduces stress concentrations, leading to improved durability and reduced maintenance requirements for aircraft wing high lift assemblies.
Implementation Method 1
The roller unit comprises an internal elastic bearing that allows the roller surface, when viewed in a cross section parallel to the roller rotation axis, to adapt its orientation or form
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
Descried is a wing (3) for an aircraft (1), as well as a high lift assembly for the wing (3), a roller unit (33) for the wing (3) and an aircraft (1) comprising the wing (3). The wing (3) comprises a main wing (5) and a high lift assembly, where the high lift assembly comprises a high lift body (7) and a connection assembly (9). The connection assembly (9) movably connects the high lift body to the main wing (5), such that the high lift body is movable between a retracted position and at least one extended position. The connection assembly (9) comprises an elongate track (110) that extends along a track longitudinal axis (112) between a first end (114) and a second end (116) and has an intermediate portion (118) between the first and second ends (114, 116). The first end (114) and/or the intermediate portion (118) of the track (110) is mounted to the high lift body, and the second end (116) and/or the intermediate portion (118) of the track (110) is mounted to the main wing (5) by a roller bearing such that the track (110) is movable along the track longitudinal axis (112). The roller bearing comprises at least one roller unit (120) that is mounted to the main wing (5) and that has a circumferential roller surface engaging an engagement surface (35) provided at the track (17). The roller unit (33) comprises an internal elastic bearing (92, 92a) that allows the roller surface (86), when viewed in a cross section parallel to the roller rotation axis (80), to adapt its orientation or form.