Device for gripping and handling helicopters, particularly for ships' decks, platforms and the like

Abstract: A device for gripping, handling and transporting helicopters, particularly on board ships, platforms and the like, comprising a pair of gripping units (6) located parallel to the longitudinal axis (x-x) of the vessel and capable of moving transversally in relation to such axis, integrally with corresponding transverse guides (2), and of assuming a tilted position, but parallel with one another, in relation to such guides, under the action of drive units (7, 8a, 8b) which are independent of one another, and further traversing units (12, 13) parallel to the longitudinal axis (x-x) of the vessel, integrally with corresponding longitudinal guides (1), under the action of further independent drive units (13), there being furthermore provided combined gripping (6c, 10, 14b, 16) and lifting (20, 14a) assemblies integral with such gripping units (6) and traversing units (13) to lock and raise the helicopter from deck (3), as well as means for operating and controlling the entire device, both manually and automatically.

Description: The object of this invention is a device for gripping, handling and transporting helicopters, particularly on board ships, platforms and the like. It is known that the widespread use of helicopters on board ships poses the need for providing means to move a helicopter from a landing area located on the deck into a hangar situated on the deck of the same ship. Such operation is, however, extremely complicated because of numerous factors which bring about high unpredictability as regards both the landing position on the deck and the relative position between the helicopter, the said deck and the entrance to the hangar; additionally, the operation should be capable of being carried out in a manner ensuring full safety both for the helicopter and for the ship's crew, even under extremely hazardous conditions involving, for example, high winds and/or heavy seas which cause pitching and rolling of the vessel, resulting in unstable equilibrium of the helicopter. There are also known certain technical solutions which provide for a handling truck on deck to which the helicopter is hitched on landing so that such truck may, by means of suitable devices, manoeuvre the helicopter to the correct position for moving it into the hangar. Such devices, however, display numerous disadvantages, including the fact that it is necessary to arrange for a truck to be available on deck at the time of landing and for a link to be made thereto during such phase, which is undesirable because of the danger posed by an obstacle and a linking operation during the landing phase, especially under unfavourable conditions; furthermore, once the helicopter has landed and been secured, such devices, while holding the helicopter, allow it to rotate on its axis, with obvious risks of unbalance and tilting. Examples of said prior art are disclosed in US-A 4 529 152 and FR-A-2 462 341. There is therefore posed the technical problem of moving a helicopter from a position within a well-defined landing area on a ship's deck to a position inside a hangar located on the deck of the said ship, which operation should prove feasible, repeatable and reliable regardless of the position of the helicopter within the landing area in relation to the deck and in relation to the hangar. Such operation should furthermore be capable of being carried out automatically and/or manually, but without any handling crew being present on deck in the vicinity of the landing area, and should be possible with helicopters of both wheel-mounted and skid-mounted types. Such results are obtained with the present invention according to claim 1. Further details may be obtained from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show: In figure 1 : a diagrammatic plan view of the device for gripping and moving a skid-mounted helicopter according to this invention; In figure 2a : a diagrammatic cross-sectional view of the helicopter gripping unit with the relevant handling device; In figure 2b : the skid gripping unit in a cutaway plan view; In figure 2c : a partial cross-sectional view of the gripping unit attached to the skid of the helicopter; In figure 2d : a detail of the attachment of the gripping units to the guides; In figure 3a : a side view of the gripping unit used for wheel-mounted helicopters; In figure 3b : a plan view of the wheel gripping unit shown in figure 3a; In figure 3c : a detail of the gripping units integral with the longitudinal traversing trolleys, in the case of wheel-mounted helicopters; In figure 3d : a cross-sectional view according to plotting plane IIId-IIId of figure 3c; In figure 4a: a plan view of the trolley used for holding and transporting a skid-mounted helicopter; In figure 4b : a front view of the trolley shown in figure 4a attached to the helicopter; In figures 5a, 5b, 5c : the operating sequence of gripping, aligning and transporting a wheel-mounted helicopter from its landing position to its parking position within the hangar; In figures 6a, 6b, 6c : a similar sequence for skid-mounted helicopters. As shown in figure 1, the helicopter gripping and transporting device according to this invention consists essentially of a first pair of longitudinal rails 1 and of a second pair of transverse rails 2 made integral with deck 3 of the vessel, on which is also located hangar 4 the entrances 5 to which are symmetrically aligned with each longitudinal rail 1. Such rails (fig. 2d) are of substantially inverted "T" section in order to engage a corresponding sliding member and prevent it from becoming detached, as will be more fully described later. At each end of the pair of transverse rails 2, which ends substantially coincide with the extreme edges of the deck, there is located a gripping beam 6, set parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vessel, the ends 6a of which are articulated with a trolley 7 capable of running on the deck and in turn constrained by means of suitable links 7a which prevent it from skidding, with rails 2. Each trolley 7 is then operated independently of the other by means of cable-type unidirectional hauling devices marked 8 in the drawings and consisting, in the example shown, of two cables 8a, 8'a, one of which is a hauling cable and the other a trailing cable, ending at two motor-driven winches 8b, 8'b located at the relevant ends of the rails, which make it possible to haul the relevant trolley in both directions, the cables always being kept taut. The movement of each pair of winches is furthermore independent of the movement of the other pair, thus making it possible to handle each end of gripping beam 6 independently of the others. Each gripping beam is furthermore provided at one of its ends with a prismatic unit 9 which can be used to extend the beam, as will be explained later; additionally, at each end of the beams there is also fitted a hydraulic cylinder 20 which makes it possible to raise beam 6 in relation to the level of the deck. As shown in figs. 2a,b,c the gripping beams consist, in the case of skid-mounted helicopters, of substantially rectangular sections the inward-turned surface of which is provided with a groove 6c extending throughout the length thereof, such groove being designed to engage a mating member 17a projecting from skids 17 of the helicopter (fig. 2c). In the case of a wheel-mounted helicopter, gripping beam 6 is provided instead with shoes 10, normally located at the ends of beam 6 and sliding thereon (fig. 3a, 3b) by means of suitable drive units which are self-evident and therefore not shown in the detail, in order to engage wheel 11 of the helicopter and secure it. The device according to the invention is also provided with a longitudinal traversing system used for movement inside the hangar, substantially consisting of a first gripping trolley 12 fitted with units for gripping the helicopter and capable of running on rubber-tyred idler wheels 12a under the pulling action of a second motor-driven trolley 13 linked to the former by a rigid bar 13a. Both trolleys are also equipped with anti-skid links which are likewise constrained with each longitudinal rail 1. Gripping trolley 12 (figs. 4a, 4b), where used for skid-mounted helicopters, is fitted with four pairs of arms, two 14a of which are used for lifting the helicopter and two 14b for locking to prevent it from skidding. In the case of wheel-mounted helicopters, gripping is carried out instead (figs. 3c,3d) by two arms 16 rotating around a pin 16b integral with an arm 40 on gripping trolley 12; on such rotating arms 16 is provided a slot 16a capable of engaging the relevant pins 18 projecting inwardly from helicopter wheel 11, in such a way that when trolley 12 is in position under the fuselage there are made to rotate upward arms 16 which, via slots 16a, engage pins 17, thus locking the helicopter. Trolley 12a is furthermore provided with an end-of-stroke arm 15 which signals the arrival at the correct position under the fuselage of the helicopter. Lastly, the device according to the invention provides that each drive may be operated and controlled at a distance from the operator either manually or by means of automation programmes. The operation of the device, for example in the case of the skid-mounted helicopter described with reference to figs. 6a,b,c, is as follows: when the helicopter lands on deck 3 within the landing area, the operator positioned at a distance operates gripping beams 6, which undergo an initial stage of rapid approach until they reach the vicinity of skids 7; at this point a lifting and distance monitoring device, not shown, begins to provide information on the actual distance of each end of the gripping beam from the relevant skid, thus bringing about a change in the rate of advance of each of such ends; therefore, should the helicopter be wheeled into position relative to the longitudinal axis of the vessel, the beams would rotate so as to make it possible to approach and grip the skids, always in a fully parallel position, any variation in length of beam 6 caused by the different movement of one end in relation to the other being compensated by the lengthening action of telescopic prismatic unit 9 at end 6b. Once the helicopter has been secured, there come into operation cylinders 20 which slightly raise the gripping beams until the skids are no longer in contact with the deck, thus making it possible to commence the operation of manoeuvring the helicopter and positioning it in line with the rail 1 corresponding to the preselected hangar. When the helicopter is correctly positioned, there is operated motor-driven trolley 13 which positions gripping trolley 12 under the fuselage of the helicopter in order to be able to operate arms 14a and 14b to lift and lock the helicopter; at this stage gripping beams 6 are released and return to the starting position, while motor-driven trolley 12 drives the helicopter into the hanger and is then made ready for a new cycle. As illustrated in the sequence of figs. 5a,b,c, the sequence is entirely similar in the case of wheel-mounted helicopters; in this case, however, when gripping beams 6 are close to wheels 11 there are operated shoes 10 which perform the gripping action and, during the subsequent stages of manoeuvring of the helicopter, are shifted in a coordinated movement relative to the rotation of beams 6, in such a way as to maintain the longitudinal axis of the helicopter parallel to that of the beams. Many variants may be introduced, without thereby departing from the scope of the invention in regard to its general features.

Claims: A device adapted for gripping, handling and transporting helicopters over a substantially horizontal surface including a landing area, particularly on board ships, platforms and the like, the device comprising a plurality of independently operable drive units, transverse guides (2) fixed relative to said surface and a pair of gripping units (6) located, at rest, on opposing sides of the landing area and parallel to a longitudinal axis (X-X) of the surface, said gripping units (6) being capable of moving transversely relative to said axis along said transverse guides (2) and of assuming a horizontal orientation not parallel to said axis whilst remaining parallel to one another, under the action of some of said drive units (7, 8a, 8b), said device further including longitudinal guides (1) fixed relative to said surface and parallel to said axis, and traversing units (12) adapted to move along said longitudinal guides (1) under the action of the remainder of the drive units (13), there being furthermore provided combined gripping (6c, 10, 14b, 16) and lifting (20, 14a) assemblies integral with each of said gripping units (6) and of said traversing units (12) to lock on to the helicopter and raise it from the surface, as well as means for operating and controlling the entire device, both manually and automatically, the gripping units (6) making it possible to grip the helicopter regardless of its orientation on the landing area, to manoeuvre it and set it in line with at least one of such longitudinal guides (1) in order to move it away from the landing area by means of one of said traversing units (12). A device according to claim 1 characterized in that such gripping units are substantially comprised of two beams (6) the ends of which are articulated on relative trolleys (7) operated by pairs of cables (8a) actuated by pairs of winches (8b), of which one is a hauling cable and the other a trailing cable, such ends being furthermore actuated vertically by preferably hydraulic means (20) for the raising thereof in relation to deck (3), further means (9) being provided to allow the lengthening of beams (6). A device according to claim 1 characterized in that such transverse (2) and longitudinal (1) guides consist of rails (2) forming an inverted "T" guide capable of engaging in a vertical sense a mating member of similar section integral with trolleys (7, 12, 13) to prevent them from skidding during movement. A device according to claims 1 to 3 characterized in that such gripping units (6) preferably consist of beams of substantially rectangular section provided with a longitudinal groove (6c) capable of engaging corresponding projections (7a) on the skids of the helicopter. A device according to claims 1 to 3 characterized in that such gripping units (6) preferably consist of beams (6) of substantially rectangular section provided with shoes (10) moving longitudinally under the action of appropriate components and capable of engaging helicopter wheels (11). A device according to claim 1 characterized in that such gripping and longitudinal traversing units preferably consist of a pair of trolleys, one of which (13) is motor-driven and is articulated by means of articulated rigid means (13a) with a second non-driven trolley (12) capable of being placed under the fuselage of the helicopter and provided with means for locking and lifting the helicopter. A device according to claim 6 characterized in that such locking (14b) and lifting (14a) units preferably consist of arms (14b) and (14a) respectively , capable of acting in conjunction with helicopter skids.

Inventors: ORTELLI AURELIO, ORTELLI, AURELIO
Applicants: RIVA CALZONI SPA, RIVA CALZONI S.P.A.
Application year: 1992
Main classification: B64F1
IPC codes: B64F1