An undercarriage unit comprising a rotatable wheel (powered or freewheeling), electromagnet(s) 23a, 23c for releasably coupling the landing gear unit to an aircraft, and a controller (26, figure 5) to actuate a switch (27) for activating and deactivating the electromagnet(s). The switch may release magnetic bond with aircraft in response to a predetermined condition of the detachable undercarriage unit being detected with a sensor, e.g. inertial measurement unit (pitot tube and data processor), altimeter, tachometer, fuel gauge, capacity metre, or strain gauge. A failsafe may deactivate electromagnets when a power supply drops below a threshold level. Magnetic plates 31a, 31b on a wing member 6 may form a magnetic attachment with the electromagnets. Alternatively, a magnetic plate may be provided on the releasable undercarriage unit and electromagnets on an aircraft underside. The aircraft may be a high altitude long endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), spacecraft, or a glider.
Aircraft undercarriage
2022-07-06
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
IPC: | B64C AEROPLANES , Flugzeuge |
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1997
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