A drive system for an aircraft landing gear is described. The drive system includes a drive pinion 60, a drive shaft 72 arranged to rotate the drive pinion about a drive axis X, and a casing 84 which rotatably supports the drive shaft. The drive pinion is rotatably supported on the casing by a self-aligning bearing 80. The drive pinion is coupled to the drive shaft by a flexible coupling 90 adapted to transfer torque between the drive pinion and the drive shaft and to permit tilting of the drive pinion relative to the drive axis. The flexible coupling may be a crowned spline joint, a constant velocity (CV) joint or a flexible diaphragm. The drive system may allow for a misalignment between the drive pinion and drive axis of up to 2.5 degrees. The drive system may comprise of more than one configuration, where in the first configuration the drive pinion is capable of meshing with a driven gear (20 fig.1) attached to a landing gear wheel (17 fig. 1) and when in a second configuration the pinion can be disengaged from the driven gear.
Drive system for aircraft landing gear
2015-10-14
Patent
Electronic Resource
English