Patents Assigned to Airbus Operations
  • Laminar flow monitor
    Patent number: 8602361
    Abstract: A method of monitoring the performance of an aerodynamic surface of an aircraft. The aircraft is operated during a non-perturbed measurement period such that the flow of air over the surface is at least partially laminar. A parameter is measured which is indicative of the drag of the surface during the non-perturbed measurement period to provide non-perturbed drag data. Air flow is perturbed temporarily over the surface in a perturbed measurement period so that it undergoes a transition from laminar flow to turbulent flow. The parameter is also measured during the perturbed measurement period to provide perturbed drag data. The degree of laminar flow during the non-perturbed measurement period can then be estimated in accordance with the difference between the perturbed drag data and the non-perturbed drag data. An ice protection system can be used to perturb the air flow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations Limited
    Inventor: Norman Wood
  • Tool, tool set and method of setting the pitch of the blades of a model propeller
    Patent number: 8605272
    Abstract: A tool for tuning the pitch of blades on a model propeller with pivoting blades, the tool comprising a mount for the model propeller and a calculation module. The mount allows the propeller to be positioned such that the axis of the propeller coincides with a fixed reference axis of the mount and to place each blade of the propeller, successively, in a measurement position. The calculation module determines the angle between a chord of a blade in the measurement position and a fixed reference plane of the tool, the fixed reference plane being orthogonal to the fixed reference axis, based on optical sightings by the calculation model on a suction face of the blade in the measurement position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations S.A.S.
    Inventors: Jean-Marc Mercier, Philippe De Laroque, Thierry Bergeaud, Jean-Luc Larcher, Jean-Marc Prosper, Viken Mekhsian, Maurice Dufour
  • Framework wing box for a wing
    Patent number: 8602356
    Abstract: A wing box for an aircraft wing with a framework and a first shell. The framework is connected to the first shell such that a load acting on the first shell can be transferred by the framework.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations GmbH
    Inventor: Christian Maenz
  • Dual flow turboshaft engine and improved hot flow nozzle
    Patent number: 8601788
    Abstract: An improved bypass turbojet engine includes a particularly shaped hot flow nozzle arranged about a particularly shaped type of boss. The boss is bulbous in shape and is connected by a first connecting surface to a turbine casing. The hot flow nozzle is formed as a single skin that extends in a rearward direction from an engine cowl, with the hot flow nozzle being connected to the engine cowl along a second connecting surface. The hot flow nozzle and the bulbous boss are positioned relative to one another to delimit a nominal nozzle throat section and a nominal outlet section for hot flow from a hot flow generator. The hot flow nozzle single skin is also approximately bulbous in shape and widens from the second connecting surface in a direction toward the engine cowl's external wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS
    Inventors: Franck Crosta, Damien Prat
  • Aircraft nacelle including an optimised ice treatment system
    Patent number: 8602360
    Abstract: An aircraft nacelle includes a pipe, a peripheral wall, a lip connecting the pipe and peripheral wall and delimiting an air intake. A frost treatment system treats a zone extending along a longitudinal section of a point A at the peripheral wall at a point B at the pipe and includes a front frame delimiting with the lip a pipe circulating de-icing hot air. An acoustic pipe coating includes a reflective layer, at least one alveolar structure, and at least one acoustically resistive structure. The front frame includes a junction zone with the lip and/or the pipe offset toward the nacelle front relative to B. Pipes inside the lip and the pipe convey hot air from the pipe to circularly arranged discharges corresponding to B. The pipes extend beyond the junction between the front frame and the lip and/or the pipe and are delimited by at least one isolating partition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS
    Inventors: Alain Porte, Gilles Chene, Arnaud Hormiere
  • Trailing-edge flap system
    Patent number: 8602364
    Abstract: A trailing-edge flap system is described. The trailing-edge flap system includes a trailing-edge flap and a movement device. The movement device includes at least a translatory mover for the translation of the trailing-edge flap and at least a rotational mover for the rotation of the trailing-edge flap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations GmbH
    Inventors: Tom Dostmann, Bernhard Schlipf, Jochen Eichhorn
  • Aircraft wing
    Patent number: 8602355
    Abstract: The invention relates to an aircraft wing panel, for example, a trailing edge upper panel'1 which is joined to the wing skin (20) by means of spigots (19) which project and engage with slots (13). Preferably, the slots are provided in lips (10, 11, 12) which extend from the leading edge (5) of the panel and the spigots (19) are fastened to and extend from the wing skin (20).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations Limited
    Inventor: Geoffrey Peter McBroom
  • Monument with an autonomous water module
    Patent number: 8602353
    Abstract: An autonomous water module is provided for aircraft, preferably a water module embodied as a water trolley, and to a monument for aircraft, which includes, but is not limited to a device for receiving said type of water module, and finally, an aircraft equipped with said type of autonomous water module and/or said type of monument. The autonomous water module includes, but is not limited to a container having the standard dimensions of a trolley, and the container includes, but is not limited to a fresh-water tank, a device for dispensing fresh water, and a device for discharging gray water.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations GmbH
    Inventors: Christiane Lindauer, Axel Schreiner
  • Acoustic treatment panel with integral connecting reinforcement
    Patent number: 8602346
    Abstract: An acoustic treatment panel includes, from the inside to the outside, a reflective layer (50), at least one alveolar structure (52), and at least one acoustically resistive structure (54) that forms an aerodynamic surface, whereby the panel is connected at one edge to at least one second panel (46), characterized in that it includes, at the edge overlapping with the at least one second panel, a reinforcement (60) that is inserted between the reflective layer (50) and the acoustically resistive structure (54) forming the aerodynamic surface, whereby the reinforcement (60) ensures the uptake of forces between the layer (50) and the structure (54).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS
    Inventors: Alain Porte, Jacques Lalane
  • CAP FOR FORMING SEALED CAVITY AROUND FASTENER
    Publication number: 20130322982
    Abstract: A joint comprising: a structure; and a fastener passing through the structure. The cap has a body portion with an annular base terminating at an edge, the body portion forming an enclosure around an end of the fastener. The cap also has an annular flange which extends outwardly from the body portion and is set back from the edge of the base so as to define a pocket between the flange and the base. A sealant is provided in the pocket between the flange and the base, the sealant bonding the cap to the structure via a sealant/cap interface with the cap and a sealant/structure interface with the structure. The surface area of the sealant/cap interface is greater than the surface area of the sealant/structure interface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2012
    Publication date: December 5, 2013
    Applicant: Airbus Operations Limited
    Inventor: Richard Dobbin
  • Cyclone separator
    Patent number: 8596469
    Abstract: A preferred embodiment of the invention relates to a cyclone separator for a vacuum toilet system, with a casing; an input-side swirl generator, whose input openings impart a swirl to the inflowing fluid; a separating wall arranged in the casing, which encloses the fluid stream in the cyclone separator ring-like and whose interior cross section tapers downstream; and a collection tank in the casing for receiving and accumulating constituents separated out of the fluid. In addition, the invention relates to a wastewater tank and vacuum toilet system having such a cyclone separator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations GmbH
    Inventor: Wilhelm Lutzer
  • Distributed flight control system
    Patent number: 8600583
    Abstract: A flight control system for an aircraft, controlling a plurality of actuators adapted to actuate control surfaces of the aircraft, including: at least one communications bus; at least one computer situated in the avionics bay of the aircraft, and adapted to calculate flight commands and to transmit them over the bus in the form of command messages; and at least a first remote terminal connected to the bus, adapted to control a control surface actuator, and to acquire the state of the actuator from information provided by at least a first sensor, the first terminal receiving command messages from the computer and transmitting electrical orders to the actuator as a function of the command messages received in this way, and also transmitting messages to the computer, at its request, relating to the state of the actuator as a function of the information provided by the first sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations S.A.S.
    Inventors: Marc Fervel, Jean-Jacques Aubert, Antoine Maussion
  • Pressure bulkhead for purposes of arrangement in an aircraft fuselage
    Patent number: 8596578
    Abstract: A pressure bulkhead for a fuselage of an aircraft is configured for bounding a fuselage interior relative to an external environment. The pressure bulkhead includes a flat skin configured to span a cross-section of the fuselage and having a cavity disposed at a core region of the skin. The core region is radially bounded by a ring element. A plurality of radial stiffeners extend on the skin and provide stabilization of the skin. Each radial stiffener is fixed at an end to the ring element. A reinforcement element extends over the ring element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations GmbH
    Inventors: Torsten Noebel, Boris Ehrhardt, Diego Quintana-Ruiz
  • Method of designing a structure
    Patent number: 8600534
    Abstract: A method of designing a structure, such as an airfoil section. A first set of candidate designs is generated in a first optimisation process, each candidate design comprising a set of M design variables associated with an M-dimensional design space. A subset of the first set of candidate designs is selected. The selected subset of candidate designs is analysed by proper orthogonal decomposition or principal component analysis to generate an N-dimensional design space defined by N design variables, N being less than M. A second set of one or more candidate designs is then generated in a second optimisation process, each candidate design comprising a set of N design variables associated with the N-dimensional design space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations Ltd
    Inventors: Carren Holden, David J J Toal, Neil W. Bressloff, Andrew J. Keane
  • Method for manufacturing (partly) ring-shaped components, which comprise fibre-reinforced plastic, from fibre-composite semifinished products
    Patent number: 8597560
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing (partly) ring-shaped components, which include fiber-reinforced plastic, from fiber-composite semifinished products, involving the steps of: positioning a multitude of ring-shaped or partly ring-shaped mold pieces on a rotatable drum in such a manner that they include a reel-shaped mold with a ring-shaped channel for receiving the semifinished product, applying the semifinished product in the channel of the ring-shaped mold, rotating the drum in such a manner that as a result of the centrifugal forces the matrix material is pressed towards the outside and air contained in the channel moves inwards, and curing the semifinished product with the application of temperature to form a plastic ring, removing the plastic ring from the ring-shaped mold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations GmbH
    Inventor: Bernd Ewald Paspirgilis
  • Streamlined profile reducing the speed deficit in its wake
    Patent number: 8596574
    Abstract: A streamlined profile reducing the speed deficit in a wake, a pylon with such a profile, a propulsion assembly including such a pylon and an aircraft including this assembly. The profile has a device for suction of air from the boundary layer formed on this profile. This suctioned air is discharged with the aid of a nozzle the outlet of which is situated close to the trailing edge of the profile. Suction of the air and discharge thereof contribute to reducing the speed deficit downstream from the profile and therefore to reducing the turbulences in this zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations S.A.S.
    Inventors: Damien Prat, Camil Negulescu, Frederic Barrois, Bastien Caruelle
  • Nacelle with a displacement device for aircraft jet engine and aircraft including such nacelle
    Patent number: 8596037
    Abstract: A nacelle, for an aircraft jet engine having a high bypass ratio, in which a jet engine having a longitudinal axis is mounted. The nacelle includes a wall that concentrically, and at least partially, surrounds the jet engine and together defines an annular duct. The nacelle further includes a displacement device that controllably displaces a portion of the nacelle wall in order to modify the section of the flow outlet passage and form at least one longitudinally extending opening. A device for forming a fluid barrier along the at least one longitudinally extending opening is provided to counteract the natural exhaust.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations S.A.S.
    Inventors: Guillaume Bulin, Patrick Oberle, Thierry Surply
  • Method for detecting detachment of a reinforcing component
    Patent number: 8598892
    Abstract: A method for detecting detachment of a reinforcing component that is attached to a body skin component of a vehicle body of a vehicle, the body skin component and the reinforcing component forming an electric capacitor together with an intermediate adhesive layer, said capacitor having a capacitance that changes if there is at least partial detachment of the body skin component from the reinforcing component, the capacitance of the capacitor or a change in the capacitance of the capacitor being measured in order to detect detachment of the reinforcing component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations GmbH
    Inventors: Martin Bach, Marc Baulenas
  • Aircraft control system with integrated modular architecture
    Patent number: 8600584
    Abstract: An aircraft control system in which a plurality of elementary control systems, corresponding to different aircraft functions, can share one or more sensors due to a common AFDX network. The transmission of commands is carried out via AFDX messages sent to network-subscribed actuators. Advantageously, the computers of the different elementary control systems installed in the avionics bay include generic computers hosting software specific to execution of respective functions thereof (IMA architecture).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations S.A.S.
    Inventors: Marc Fervel, Arnaud Lecanu, Antoine Maussion, Jean-Jacques Aubert
  • High-lift system for an aircraft, method for displacing a lift flap, and aircraft having a high-lift system
    Patent number: 8596586
    Abstract: A high lift system is provided for an aircraft. The high lift system includes, but is not limited to a lift flap arranged on a wing and coupled to the wing so as to be movable relative to the wing, between a retracted position and at least one extended position. In the retracted position the lift flap rests against the wing, and in an extended position forms an air gap to the wing. The lift flap directed towards its trailing edge comprises at least one region of variable curvature, which region in an extended position of the lift flap extends towards the wing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Airbus Operations GmbH
    Inventor: Karsten Schroeder