Damping arrangement

摘要

A damping arrangement comprises a drive member arranged to be driven for angular movement relative to a housing by a motor, and a damping device independent of the motor and operable to damp oscillating motion of the drive member relative to the housing.

主权项

1. A nosewheel steering system comprising an aircraft nosewheel landing gear drive tube having a longitudinal drive tube axis and supported by a support housing, the drive tube being arranged to be driven for angular movement about the longitudinal drive tube axis relative to the support housing by a motor to achieve steering, and a damping arrangement comprising:
a damping device independent of the motor that damps angular oscillating motion of the drive tube about the longitudinal drive tube axis relative to the support housing, the damping device being controllable, in use, to actively vary the magnitude of a damping load applied to the drive tube, and thereby permit the application of a variable magnitude damping load to the drive tube; an accelerometer for sensing the occurrence of shimmying motion; and a control unit arranged to monitor the output of the accelerometer, and to control the operation of the damping device in response to the output of the accelerometer to actively vary the configuration of the damping device.