Patent ID: 8973725
Filing Date: 2015-03-10
Classification: B64C

Abstract:
1. An aircraft landing gear shock strut, comprising: a cylinder; a piston telescopically movable within the cylinder to provide a piston-cylinder assembly; a sealed chamber defined by an arrangement of the piston-cylinder assembly, the sealed chamber having an upper section and a lower section separated by an upper piston, the upper section and the lower section each having a compressible gas that resists movement of the piston relative to the cylinder in response to a load applied to the strut causing the piston to compress the compressible gas, wherein the upper piston is configured to move toward the upper section in response to pressure in the sealed chamber exceeding a first pressure threshold; and a relief device in fluid communication with the upper section, the relief device configured to release at least some of the compressible gas in response to the pressure in the sealed chamber exceeding a second pressure threshold that is higher than the first pressure threshold, wherein the second pressure threshold is above a maximum operating pressure of the aircraft landing gear shock strut, and wherein the amount of compressible gas released is sufficient to reduce the pressure in the sealed chamber and thereby permit the piston to extend telescopically further into the cylinder by an amount that increases at least a bending strength capability of the piston-cylinder assembly, and wherein the relief device includes an accumulator in fluid communication with the sealed chamber, the accumulator configured to receive a quantity of the compressible gas from the sealed chamber.