WO2019111038A1

WO2019111038A1 - A safer and smooth landing mechanism for air-borne vehicles

Info

Publication number: WO2019111038A1
Application number: PCT/IB2017/057637
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gamini Senarath CHANDRASEKARA
Original assignee: Chandrasekara Gamini Senarath
Priority date: 2017-12-05
Filing date: 2017-12-05
Publication date: 2019-06-13

Abstract

This invention reveals a safer and smooth landing system for airborne vehicles. When an airborne vehicle lands on the ground, the wheels come out but are not rotating till they touch the ground. When the stationary wheels touch the ground, due to the enormous momentum of the vehicle and the inertia of the wheels, the wheels abrase heavily on the ground which is not desirable and may even lead to accidents. The present invention reveals a mechanism to rotate the wheels before they touch the ground thereby avoiding the heavy abrasion caused due to the enormous momentum.

Description

Title

A safer and smooth landing mechanism for air-borne vehicles

Description

An air craft is landing as its final event of the flight. Pilot is always trying to keep the landing speed minimum, but that speed is well over the stalling speed. Especially, large passenger and cargo air crafts are having large and heavy dead landing wheels.

Landing wheels of air crafts are always dead and do not have any means of driving power. They are meant just for rolling over. They have only a breaking system to decelerate and stop the air craft on ground.

Most larger air crafts are having large number of large wheels in main landing gears. For an example minimum 4, sometime 8, or 12main landing wheels. Boeing 747 is having 16, Boeing 767 is having 20 and Antonov 225 is having 28 number of large main landing wheels.

When a heavy dead mass of landing wheel touches the ground (although it is free to rotate) at a high speed, it makes a long skid on the tar mat, and due to inertia of wheels, and the air craft makes big jerk to the landing gear posts as well as to the air frame and make a high strain which leads to a crack if not inspected and changed at pre-determined intervals. Air Craft has to skid few hundred yards on the runway from the touching point until wheels acquire the required rotational speed, and till that time, it makes tire marks on runaway. Making the tire marks on runway means, tires are subjected to a high wear and tear, rubber burning high temperature with a rubbing smoke, hence a potential risk of bursting. In passenger air crafts, this is the most exciting and uncomfortable moment to the boarders. This invention suggests to make all landing wheels (main wheels and nose wheels) rotate at a correctly synchronized ground speed, prior to touching the ground to minimize the landing jerk, by some means of power. So that it will not skid on the runway at the touching point when landing. By a road speed sensor located on landing gear posts or underside of fuselage, it senses the landing speed of the air craft, at last moment but well before touching and adjust the power supply to the motors to synchronize the ground speed. This will help for a smooth touch down even at a higher landing speed because there are no rubbing wheels, everything is well synchronized.

Suggested two powering up methods for wheels:

1. Compressed air motor.

2. Electrical motor.

One of these systems can be employed to do the job. Both types of motors can have in form of 'Hub Motors'. Each wheel can have its own motor for simplicity. There should be a suitable arrangement to find and manipulate the space inside the hub in conjunction with disc-break system. When air craft is descending for landing, all (Jet) engines are having enough excess compressed air and electric power, as they have no big demand at this moment. Here it is suggested a very thin (Eg: about 2.5cm thick) compressed air or electric motor to fit inside the wheel hub. These motors need to have small power output as wheels are free to rotate and there is no load at all. The process can be started from the moment, once the landing gears are dropped down from the cages.

Other means of rotation is also possible. For an example, the wheels may be fitted with propeller blades which start rotating as soon as they come out. This method is self synchronizing.

Advantages of new system:

1. Smooth jerk free landing

2. Minimal strain to the landing gear posts

3. Less wear and tear of tires

4. Less or no damage to the touching point of runway

5. Safer landing on a wet runway

6. Easier landing in crosswind and in bad weather.

Claims

1. A mechanism for landing airborne vehicles on the ground wherein the said mechanism comprises landing wheels that rotate before they touch the ground.

2. A mechanism for landing airborne vehicles as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said mechanism comprises landing wheels rotating in synchronization to the ground speed.

3. A mechanism for landing airborne vehicles as claimed in claim 1 and 2 wherein the speed synchronization is done on the sensors fixed underside of the fuselage.

4. A mechanism for landing airborne vehicles as claimed in claim 1 and 2 wherein the speed synchronization is done on the sensors fixed in the landing gear posts itself.

5. A mechanism for landing airborne vehicles as claimed in claim 1 wherein the landing wheels are rotated using an electrical motor.

6. A mechanism for landing airborne vehicles as claimed in claim 1 wherein the landing wheels are rotated using an pneumatic power.

7. A mechanism for landing airborne vehicles as claimed in claim 1 wherein the landing wheels are rotated using a propeller mechanism attached to the wheels.

8. A mechanism for landing airborne vehicles as claimed in claim Ϊ, 2, 4 and 5 wherein the landing wheels are rotated in synchronization to the ground speed using the sensor signals generated by the senor signal alone the runway.