SELF-ORIENTING AIRCRAFT LANDING GEAR

摘要

An aircraft landing gear self-orients so to align itself within a plane parallel to the plane defined by the aircraft's roll and yaw axis. A nose gear of a tricycle landing gear configuration includes the ability to not only caster 360 degrees but also self-orient itself to be aligned parallel with the plane defined by the aircraft's roll and yaw axis once removed from any interaction with the ground. A simple and efficient mechanical design provides the landing gear with a substantially constant centering torque that neither impedes nor impairs ground movement yet returns the nose gear to a proper alignment for retraction and stowage.

主权项

1. A self-orienting aircraft landing gear, comprising:
a landing gear assembly; a wheel rotatably coupled to a wheel fork wherein the wheel fork is coupled to the landing gear assembly by a cylindrical shaft such that the wheel fork is operable to caster about a longitudinal axis of the shaft; a cam associated with the wheel fork and circumscribing the cylindrical shaft wherein the cam possesses a planar modified cardioid shape having a top cam surface, a lower cam surface and a cam sidewall wherein the cam sidewall is substantially perpendicular to the upper cam surface and the lower cam surface; and a cam follower linked to the landing gear assembly and operable to continually engage the cam sidewall of the cam so as to create a substantially constant centering torque driving the cam follower to a cusp of the planar modified cardioid.