CANOPY-TYPE AIRCRAFT CARGO DOOR AND ACTUATING MECHANISMS

摘要

Actuating mechanisms (39, 40 and 44) for closing/opening, latching/unlatching and locking/unlocking an aircraft outwardly opening canopy-type door (34) which is pivotally mounted along its upper edge to the fuselage body structure (36) of an aircraft (25) for movement into and out of an ingress/egress door opening (35) formed in the aircraft fuselage (29). The hinge actuating mechanisms (39) include an electrically powered power drive unit (46) and linkage assembly (50, 51) secured to the fuselage body structure (36) with all actuating components (45, 46, 48, 49, 50 and 51) being mounted on and carried by the door (34) and positioned in such a manner that when the door is in the fully opened position, all such actuating components are moved outwardly and upwardly to points outboard of and above the ingress/egress opening (35) except for the actuating links (51) which pass through the ingress/egress opening (35) adjacent the fore and aft upper corners thereof, thus defining an essentailly unobstructed clearance area for passage of containerized and/or palletized cargo. The latch cam assembly (40) employs a single electrically powered hook and latch actuator (90) for pulling in the door (34) to a fully closed position during the final increment of door closing movement and for latching/unlatching a plurality of bottom latches (99, 100) and a pair of mid-span latches (42, 109) and wherein the latch cam mechanism (40) is automatically sequenced to cause the cam latches (42, 99) to dwell in their unlatched condition while pull-in hooks (92) pull the door (34) into its fully closed position. The latch/lock actuating mechanism (44) is normally biased to the open or unlocked state by vent door (83) biasing means (84) and include locking segments (74) for preventing movement of the cam latches (99) when the door (34) is in the fully closed and latched position. Essentially all actuating components are mounted on and carried by the door (34) and may by actuated from the exterior of the aircraft (25) by ground personnel due to the positioning of a master latch/lock control mechanism (56) on the undersurface of the fuselage (29) where it is readily accessible. The mechanisms permit of essentially fail-safe reliable operation of aircraft doors (34) suitable for closure of relatively large ingress/egress openings (35) which may define essentially unobstructed clearance areas up to and in excess of 139 inches in width and 69 inches in height.