Rope payout winch - for aircraft drag targets with tow rope of reinforced optical fibre with spiral spring

摘要

The rope for an aircraft drag target is paid out from a winch (1) which is supported in the bearings (2) of a fixture (3). The hollow hub (4) carries a wound-up composite tow-rope (5) which consists of an optical fibre cable, reinforced by a tensile strength element. A flat spiral spring (6) is attached between mount (2) and inside hub (4). One edge of this spring (6) carries a not reinforced flexible optical fibre (7), one end of which is joined to the wound-up optical fibre cable and the other to the optical connector (8) on the solid mount (3). The composite tow rope (5) has aramide fibres, stranded on an optical fibre in the opposite direction, with a primary coating of a silicone elastomer and the two rope can have an outer sleeve of an extruded elastomer. The optical fibre is a glass fibre with a triple coating of plastic material. ADVANTAGE - This overcomes all problems in the pay-out of tow ropes for aircraft drag targets and requires no sliprings.