APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MEASURING LOADS SUSTAINED BY A BEARING PIN

摘要

A pin bearing arrangement for use on an aircraft landing gear includes a pin (2) and means (5), including strain gauges (4) for measuring shear loads and accelerometers (17) for measuring loads sustained by the pin. The pin includes a self-contained data logging device for logging data concerning loads sustained by the pin. Thus, inside the pin, there is provided a processing unit (10), a memory store (12), and a battery-based power source (14). During normal operation of the aircraft fatigue loads can be monitored, the processing unit (10) receiving input signals from the means (5) for measuring loads and storing load data in the memory (12). The stored load data is periodically extracted from the memory (12) during maintenance of the aircraft.