Method for opening/closing an aircraft electric door for a pressurized airframe and door for implementing same

An aircraft electric door including a locking system for actuating a safety catch for locking the door, a system for moving the door between open and closed positions, and a single electric motor for actuating both the locking system and the system for moving the door.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a national stage entry of PCT/Ep2013/003429 filed Nov. 14, 2013, under the International Convention claiming priority over French Patent Application No. 1260893 filed Nov. 16, 2012.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a method for opening/closing an aircraft electric door for a pressurized airframe, together with an electric door intended for implementing this method. This door can be a passenger door, a service door, a cargo door, in nominal or emergency use, or even an emergency exit door.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The opening of an aircraft door can generally be broken down into several phases that succeed each other: unlocking and releasing the safety catch, lifting, pivoting and disengaging the door along the external side of the aircraft fuselage. In particular, triggering the lifting phase can enable the ice that may be present on the external side of the fuselage to be broken before continuing with opening the door through the pivoting and disengaging phases. For closing, the phases take place in the reverse order and according to inverse kinematics.

In emergency situations, it is necessary to be able to trigger door opening in a single operation. Due to operability constraints on airline personnel, the opening or closing force on the door actuation handle must be limited in normal utilization conditions and in emergency conditions.

In particular, slight icing of the door (for example, of the order of 2.5 mm thickness of ice on the fuselage) already causes opening difficulties, which does not allow an emergency evacuation of passengers in the safety conditions required in the event of evacuation to be performed. Heavy icing of the door (for example, of more than 6 mm thickness of ice) makes it difficult to open the door, which necessitates the intervention of several operators and causes a delay in disembarking the passengers.

The doors are therefore advantageously equipped with electric motors that will act to guarantee their opening through an appropriate supply of power. These motors control actuators that guide the door according to pre-established kinematics, with a lifting phase to break the ice on the exterior of the fuselage.

An aircraft electric door is known from the patent document EP 0 465 785, whose opening and closing kinematics are implemented by a dozen electric motors. These motors are digitally controlled to perform different functioning phases in a coordinated manner: pivoting, closing and locking, as well as the reverse functions.

The patent document U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,639 furthermore describes an aircraft electric passenger door equipped with two electric motors for controlling the operations: a motor for controlling the rotation of the door and a motor for controlling the means of opening/closing the door.

The electric door of the patent document EP 1 090 834 is also equipped with two electric motors actuated by a control and management unit. This unit transmits control signals to a first motor to lock/unlock and to lift a door lifting and (un)locking arm, and to a second motor to pivot the door and bring it to its final open position.

In critical emergency exit situations—fire risk, unsecured landing, serious technical problem—the door must be capable of releasing itself automatically from the fuselage after having actuated the handle. This actuation is generally provided by a pneumatic jack linked with a gas supply.

These solutions present major drawbacks with regard to safety, especially in cases of emergency opening, and more generally, with regard to the kinematics sequence. These problems are related to the coordination complexity between the motors in performing the different door opening/closing phases, and also to the presence of a pneumatic jack with its gas supply for activation in the event of an emergency. Moreover, breaking the external ice is not the subject of any special treatment in the motorized solutions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention aims to remedy these drawbacks of the prior art by integrating the activation of the different phases of releasing the door and harmonizing its movements by means of a single electric motor, including the treatment of the external ice that may be present.

More precisely, the object of the present invention is a method for opening/closing an aircraft electric door for a pressurized airframe, passenger or service door, being driven by a single electric motor controlled by a door computer:

for opening the door, after disarming the toboggan, to successively link the sequential phases of unlocking, lifting and pivoting the door by:

unlocking the safety catch of the door by releasing locking means of a locking system;

electrically lifting the door with a door arm hinged on a vertical hinge mounted on the door, and driven by the electric motor, with mechanically forced guidance along the vertical axis by preventing a horizontal rotational drive along the same axis;

releasing a horizontal guideway when the vertical guideway comes against the stop, then pivoting the door arm on a horizontal guideway along a cylindrical surface of a vertical axis of rotation in order to disengage the door along the external aircraft fuselage;

for closing the door, to rotate the door arm and the door in the reverse direction to that for opening, by horizontal guidance along the cylindrical surface, to stop the horizontal guidance for pivoting the door arm when this guidance comes to the stop, then of lowering the door arm and the door1, with mechanically forced guidance along the vertical axis by preventing the rotational drive.

The door can be opened just as well from the exterior as from the interior of the aircraft, after disarming the toboggan and unlocking the safety catch, by lifting the door with the door arm then by rotating the door arm.

According to preferred implementations:

lifting is initiated by an accelerated phase using a lever for multiplying from a few millimeters to about ten millimeters that produces a sufficiently high force to break the ice that may have formed on the aircraft, between the perimeter of the door and the fuselage;

the door computer manages the movements of the door according to the information transmitted by all of the position sensors fitted opposite the rotating parts equipped with roller bearing Hall effect tracks;

in the event of an emergency, the unlocking of the door safety catch is triggered in a single operation by actuating an internal handle, which, through detection of its movement, transmits an unlocking signal to the door computer.

The invention also relates to an aircraft electric door for a pressurized airframe, namely a passenger or service door, comprising a locking system provided with means for locking a safety catch and a system for coordinating door movements having a single electric motor driving a mobile cylindrical support having a vertical rotation axis, managed by a door computer, and a fixed guide, the mobile support and fixed guide being intended to control and coordinate the movement of the door arm. The support has at least one guideway linked with the arm, this guideway being at least partially helical along the vertical axis of the support. The door arm is capable of pivoting around a vertical hinge and is linked with door lifting means mounted between a shaft of the safety catch and the door arm. The fixed guide, likewise cylindrical with a vertical axis, possesses at least one double, vertical and horizontal, camway for guiding the arm successively in these two directions, respectively to prevent it from lifting vertically and then to pivot it.

According to preferred embodiments:

at least one lifting slider is associated with a lifting ramp of the door in order to form at least one lever for multiplying the initiating force for lifting the door in order to break the ice that may have formed on the aircraft, between the perimeter of the door and the fuselage;

a triggering device, internal or external to the aircraft, is capable of actuating the unlocking of the safety catch, the triggering device includes a handle (4) associated with a detection sensor (C1) for detecting the end of travel of the handle (4) and a push-button triggering an electrical signal linked with the door computer;

position sensors are fitted opposite the rotating parts equipped with roller bearing Hall effect tracks and are linked with the door computer in order to transmit position information about these parts;

in the event of an emergency opening, only the internal handle is capable of directly triggering the unlocking of the safety catch, this triggering being provoked by a signal from a sensor situated at the end of travel of the handle;

a multiplying lifting lever is placed at each extremity of the safety catch shaft;

the horizontal camway (9h) of the fixed cam (9) is a raised edge of a support in order to keep the door lifted and to prevent it from lowering;

the means of locking the safety catch comprise locks mounted on a lock shaft and associated with counter-locks mounted on the safety catch shaft, the locking link between the locks and the counter-locks being released by the triggering means;

the cylindrical support is a sleeve, rotationally mobile, comprising a camway formed from a helical portion, globally slanting, linked with a guiding slider coming from the door arm; and the sleeve is surrounded by a cylindrical cam support, forming the fixed guide having a double, vertical and horizontal, camway linked with the same guiding slider;

the mobile cylindrical support is a sleeve rotated by the motor via a vertical column, this sleeve comprising a camway formed from a helical portion, globally slanting, linked with a guiding slider coming from the door arm; and the fixed guide is constituted from a second sleeve coaxial with the first sleeve, forming the double, vertical and horizontal, camway linked with a second guiding slider coming from the door arm via a hinge arm with the motor vertical column passing through it;

the vertical column is driven by a reducing gear associated with the electric motor;

the cylindrical support is a screw rod rotated by a back-geared motor via a nut mounted on the rod, this threaded rod forming a helical guideway; and the fixed guide is constituted from a guideway sleeve coaxial with the rod and a hinge plate coming from a fuselage fitting. This sleeve forms a camway, vertical and horizontal, linked with a guiding slider coming from the rod, and the hinge plate forms a horizontal camway linked with another slider coming from the rod;

the threaded rod is a rod with balls and the nut is a nut with balls.

In this text, the term “slider” designates both a bearing part such as a roller, rotationally mobile as it moves in a camway or slide, and a non-rotating finger moving in translation in a camway or a slide. The term “motor” or electric motor includes the driving motors used in the field, the motors associated with reducing gears and back-geared motors.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In all of this text, the qualifiers “vertical” and “horizontal” (and their derivatives), relative to the position of items in use, refer to the direction of the Earth's gravity, in relation to land or on water, and to a plane perpendicular to this direction. Furthermore, identical reference characters on the figures refer to the same items with the same functions and the paragraphs that describe them.

With reference toFIG. 1, which illustrates an overall view of the internal side1aof an example of an aircraft door1for passengers according to the invention, a single actuating electric motor2is managed by a digital control data processing unit3, known by the name “door computer”. An internal locking handle4allows a locking system S4to be released. A sensor C1is placed at the end of travel of the handle4in order to directly trigger the starting of the motor2in the event of an emergency opening. In normal conditions, this starting is triggered by a dual push-button B4of the “on/off” (open/closed) type.

The electric door likewise comprises a system for coordinating movements110, vertical lifting movement and horizontal door pivoting movement. This system110comprises the single actuating electric motor2, a cylindrical sleeve50having a vertical rotation axis Z′Z, intended to be rotated by the motor2, and a fixed cam9.

The electric motor2is likewise linked with a mobile cam5formed in the cylindrical sleeve50having the vertical rotation axis Z′Z. This mobile cam5is intended to perform the lifting of the door1and it's pivoting. It has a guideway, called the camway51, of a door arm6. The arm6is hinged on a vertical hinge61mounted on the door1, in order to pivot the door1around the fuselage (see the description referring toFIGS. 5aand 5b). The door arm6thus remains free in vertical translation along the axis Z′Z. In particular, during the flight phases, the arm6is not loaded by the weight of the door1.

This arm6is furthermore linked, in axial rotation along the axis X′X, with a central linking lever8, itself linked in axial rotation on a safety catch shaft43.

A fixed cam9fitted in a cylindrical sleeve around the sleeve50of the mobile cam5is likewise intended to guide the door arm6in two directions.FIGS. 3ato 3cand 5ato 5cwill more accurately illustrate these guideways in two directions.

Moreover, a set of guide links102is provided on the upper part of the door1in order to ensure circular translation when the door opens.

The perspective view ofFIG. 2is a detailed illustration of the locking system S4of the safety catch.

In this system, a lifting action (arrow F1) through 180 degrees of the internal safety handle4(or the actuation of the push-button B4ofFIG. 1) unlocks the safety catch consisting of the tight contact of locks in the form of locking stops41of a lock shaft42against counter-locks44of the safety catch shaft43. The shaft43is then electrically released from the stop41by rotation of the lock shaft42. The shaft43is driven by the motor2actuated by the door computer3(seeFIG. 1).

The rotation of the shafts42and43is detected and electronically monitored by position sensors C2and C3(FIG. 1), respectively fitted opposite an extremity of the shafts42and43. These sensors receive a variable induction emitted by Hall effect tracks integrated in the shaft bearings. The sensor C3sends the angular position of the shafts42and43to the door computer.

More generally, the computer manages the movements of the door according to the information transmitted by all of the position sensors fitted opposite the rotating parts, especially—in the illustrated example—opposite the sensors of the shafts42and43and also that of the motor column (see below).

This figure also shows the linking lever8mounted to rotate axially on a lever roller81arranged in a fitting62linking with the door arm6.

The lifting operation of the door arm6, which starts door opening, is illustrated by the perspective views ofFIGS. 3ato 3c. In these figures (and also inFIGS. 5ato 5c), the door arm6appears as transparent in order to avoid masking the components situated behind.

The end of unlocking the safety catch43, described above, transmits, via the door computer3, a command to the electric motor2to rotate the mobile cam5of vertical axis of rotation Z′Z. To do this, the angular position of the lock shaft42is detected, for example by the Hall effect sensors of the lock shaft42.

For this lifting operation, a traveler, presented in the example as a set63of coaxial rollers coming from the door arm6, is positioned in the helical and globally slanted camway51formed on the sleeve50. The roller63is likewise inscribed in a vertical guideway called the camway9vof the fixed cam9.

With reference toFIG. 3a, in which the safety catch is unlocked but the safety catch shaft43remains in the “door closed” position, the roller63is simultaneously placed at the low extremity of the slanted camway51and the vertical camway9v.

After actuation of the rotation of the cam5(arrow F2) by the electric motor2and unlocking of the safety catch shaft43(see the later passage referring toFIG. 4b), the roller63rises in the slanted camway51of the mobile cam5, and also in the vertical camway9vof the fixed cam9(seeFIG. 3b). This vertical camway9vbeing fixed, the roller63rises vertically in the direction Z′Z and, in this rise, drives the door arm6, which therefore likewise rises vertically. The linking lever8is then axially rotated by the door arm6, and releases the safety catch shaft43from its locked position.

The door arm6likewise drives a vertical lifting of the door1, and this lifting continues until the roller63(FIG. 3c) reaches the upper extremity of the slanted camway51and that of the vertical camway9v.

Respectively at the same moments when the views ofFIGS. 3ato 3cwere taken,FIGS. 4ato 4cillustrate more accurately, in side views in the frame100of the door1, the rotation of safety catch levers4aplaced at the extremities of the safety catch shaft43in the aim of unlocking the safety catch shaft43. InFIG. 4a, the shaft43is in the locked position relative to safety catch ramps4band to unlocking rollers40fitted on the safety catch levers4a. Unlocking the rollers40releases the safety catch shaft43(FIG. 4b). The rotation of the linking lever8then rotates the safety catch levers4a. InFIG. 4c, the door is lifted to the upper position, this lift corresponding to that of the linking fitting62.

During this rotation, lifting rollers7a, mounted at the extremity of the safety catch shaft43, bear against lifting ramps7b, which allows a significant lifting force to develop, in order if it is necessary to break the ice covering the external skin of the aircraft (FIGS. 4band 4c). The moment exerted by the short lever arm formed between the rollers7aand the ramps7bsupplies a large force, which, guided by the lifting ramp7b, increases the lifting force: the door is raised by a few millimeters with a force sufficient to break, mainly by shearing, the ice localized between the perimeter of the door and the fuselage.

With reference toFIGS. 5aand 5b, which illustrate the pivoting operation of the door1, when the door1is in the upper position at the end of the lifting operation (as illustrated byFIG. 3c), the cam5continues to turn (arrow F2). The set of coaxial rollers63, which abut the extremity of the slanted camway51, is no longer guided by the vertical camway9v. Driven by the sleeve50, it turns with the latter around the vertical axis Z′Z, while still bearing against a horizontal guideway, called the camway9h, of the cam9. This rotation causes the door arm6to pivot around the hinge61of the door1(seeFIG. 1) and move forward towards the aircraft fuselage.

The partial sectional view ofFIG. 5cmore particularly illustrates the installation of the rollers63aand63bconstituting the set63. The rollers63aand63bare mounted coaxially on a single axle6x.

For door closing, the operations of door pivoting, door lowering, safety catch locking and immobilizing, take place in the reverse order through a control of the motor2in inverse rotation and through closing the internal safety handle4(FIG. 1).

A second embodiment of a system for coordinating door movements with two separate rollers is illustrated inFIGS. 6ato10.FIGS. 6aand 6bshow two complementary perspective views of this system200in the door closed position. These complementary views6aand6b, and also views7aand7bdescribed below, make it possible to illustrate the relative positions of the rollers.

In this second embodiment, the camway sleeves are separate: the coordination system200comprises a mobile cylindrical sleeve501, mounted on the vertical column20, which is rotated by the motor2via a reducing gear21, and a fixed cylindrical sleeve91coaxial with the mobile sleeve501along the axis Z′Z. The rotation of the column20is monitored by a Hall effect sensor C4(FIG. 1), as are the lock shaft42and the safety catch shaft43.

The mobile sleeve501comprises a camway511formed from a helical portion, globally slanted on the axis Z′Z, linked with a first door movement guide roller631coming from the door arm6.

The fixed sleeve91, coaxial with the first sleeve501, furthermore forms a double camway91hand91v, respectively vertical and horizontal, linked with a second door movement guide roller632. This second roller632comes from the door arm6via a lower yoke in which a bore601has been made such that the vertical column20of the motor can pass through it.

The complementary perspective views ofFIGS. 7aand 7billustrate an intermediate lifting position of the door arm6(and therefore of the aircraft door). InFIG. 7a, the first roller631appears to move forward in the slanted camway511, this camway rotating around the vertical axis Z′Z. Because the second roller632is vertically guided in the camway91v(FIG. 7b), the first roller631can only move likewise in a vertical movement when it travels the slanted camway511.

With reference to the perspective view ofFIG. 8, the rollers631and632are at the upper stops of the camways511and91v. The door arm6(and therefore the aircraft door), is then in the upper lifting position.

As illustrated by the perspective view ofFIG. 9, the first roller631is then driven in rotation around the axis Z′Z by the reducing gear21via the mobile sleeve501. In fact, the second roller is simultaneously guided through the horizontal camway91h, which extends as a continuation of the vertical camway91v.

During this rotation, the door arm6pivots andFIG. 9illustrates the arm6in the intermediate pivoted position. When the second roller632has reached the stop of the horizontal camway91h(FIG. 10), the door arm6has fully pivoted and the door is fully disengaged along the external skin of the fuselage.

A third embodiment of the system for coordinating movements of doors with rollers and with ball rods is illustrated inFIGS. 11 to 15b.

In the perspective view ofFIG. 11, the system for coordinating movements300corresponds to the position of the door arm6when the door is closed. This coordination system300comprises a vertical rod23, forming a threaded rod502with balls, and a fixed guideway sleeve92coaxial with the rod23. The coordination system300rests on fittings330sand330ivia cylindrical hinge plates: two upper hinge plates331aand331blinked with an upper fitting330s, an intermediate hinge plate331cand a lower hinge plate331dlinked with a lower fitting330i. The sleeve92, which is part of the lower fitting330i, has the intermediate hinge plate331cas its base.

The rod23, intended to be rotated by the back-geared motor210, forms a helical guideway512linked with a ball nut633for lifting the door arm6.

Also illustrated inFIG. 11are the upper and lower hinge yokes64and65for rotationally mounting the door arm6on the rod23, and also an intermediate yoke66. These yokes are mounted on guide rings (not illustrated).

With reference to the perspective and sectional views ofFIGS. 12ato 12c, which illustrate the door arm6in the initial door closed position, the ball nut633appears to be mounted around the rod502of the rod23. The nut and rod with balls assembly forms a rotation system around the rod23that is virtually devoid of any friction.

The fixed sleeve92of the intermediate fitting331ccomprises a vertical camway92v(FIGS. 12band 12c). This vertical camway92vis devoted to a guide roller634mounted on a portion24aof a transverse rod24, consisting of two coaxial portions24aand24b, and integral with the rod23. This transverse rod24is made to lift the door arm6vertically via the intermediate yoke66. Another upper transverse rod25, mounted above the intermediate yoke66of the door arm6, passes through the rod23. This upper transverse rod25is terminated by two rollers635and636mounted to turn around this transverse rod25.

After the back-geared motor has been triggered by the push-button B4or by the sensor C1(FIG. 1), the rod23is driven in translation in the direction of lift (arrow F3) along the axis Z′Z, via the ball nut633linked with the threaded rod502(FIG. 12a). The perspective and sectional views ofFIGS. 13aand 13billustrate a position of the rod23ready to lift the door arm6.

From the initial door closed position (FIGS. 12ato 12c) to the position of the rod23ready to lift the door (FIGS. 13aand 13b), the rod502is mechanically prevented from rotating by the vertical guidance imposed by the roller634moving in the vertical camway92vof the fixed sleeve92. In the ready-to-lift position (FIGS. 13aand 13b), the transverse rod24has become embedded in the intermediate yoke66in order to lift it vertically. The transverse rod25lifts with the rod23.

Such a vertical lifting of the door (still according to the arrow F3along the axis Z′Z), via the intermediate yoke66of the door arm6, finishes at the door lifting position called upper. This position is illustrated by the perspective and sectional views ofFIGS. 14aand 14b. At this stage, the roller634has exited the vertical camway92vof the fixed sleeve92, and coaxially along the vertical axis Z′Z, the upper transverse rod25has become embedded in the upper hinge plate331b.

With reference to the perspective and sectional views ofFIGS. 15aand 15b, the movement coordination system300is in the rotation phase for pivoting the arm6and opening the door along the external skin of the aircraft fuselage.

During this phase, the exit of the roller634from the vertical camway92v(FIGS. 14aand 14b) releases the rotational drive (arrow F4) of the rod23through the nut633. Until then, this rotation was mechanically prevented by the vertical camway92v. The rollers635and636then move in a horizontal camway92hformed in the upper hinge plate331b(FIG. 15b). The vertical translation along the axis Z′Z is then blocked by the hinge plate331b. Furthermore, the lower transverse rod24is likewise driven in horizontal rotation in a toric groove provided in the intermediate yoke66.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment examples described and illustrated. A battery can therefore be provided to supply electrical energy if the on-board network is no longer capable of supplying electrical current, especially in the event of an emergency. It is, moreover, possible to provide a substitute manual device to open the door if neither the on-board network nor the battery is capable of supplying electrical current. Such a device is not directly accessible, so that it cannot be deregulated, and is connected directly to the motor or back-geared motor.

The airborne vehicle is usually an aircraft, but it could be a cargo airplane and, more generally, any flying machine capable of transporting passengers.

Several parallel camways can furthermore be formed on the sleeves, these camways and the corresponding sliders being vertically aligned in the vertical camway of the fixed cam.