Methods and guide members to transfer a wheel assembly
Methods and guide members to transfer a wheel assembly are disclosed. An illustrated method employs using the guide member to displace the wheel assembly relative to an axle assembly to maintain a continuous linear alignment of the wheel assembly with the axle assembly.
This disclosure relates generally to methods and guide members to transfer a wheel assembly and, in particular, to methods and guide members to transfer the wheel assembly relative to an axle assembly to maintain a continuous linear alignment of the wheel assembly with the axle assembly.
BACKGROUNDTypically, an aircraft wheel assembly and an associated brake assembly (e.g., a wheel and brake assembly) are designed for easy transfer onto or off an axle assembly. Usually the wheel assembly has a pair of axially spaced-apart bearing assemblies which position rotatably the wheel and brake assembly upon the axle assembly during operation of the aircraft. The axle assembly includes an axle sleeve surrounding the axle, and an axle end with threads extending axially beyond the axle sleeve. Typically, a brake guide member is used to mount the brake assembly upon the axle assembly at a lateral position toward the inboard end of the axle sleeve. The piston housing and the torque tube pedestal of the brake assembly have inner diameter portions that engage large diameter parts of the inboard end of the axle sleeve. The brake guide is removed prior to the transfer of the wheel assembly. During the transfer and handling of the wheel assembly relative to the axle assembly, the wheel assembly may not be linearly aligned continuously with the axle assembly. This misalignment of the wheel assembly may cause one or both of the inboard (IB) or outboard (OB) bearing assemblies to engage and damage the threads at the axle end. During the transfer of the wheel assembly onto the axle assembly, the engagement of the OB bearing assembly with the threads and/or the axle sleeve end may also cause the outboard grease seal to unseat and result in the unseating or separation of the OB bearing assembly from the wheel assembly. In a similar manner, during the removal of the wheel assembly from the axle assembly, the engagement of the IB bearing assembly with a bearing land on an axle sleeve can cause the IB grease seal to unseat and result in the unseating or separation of the IB bearing assembly from the wheel assembly. All of these problems can occur as a result of the wheel assembly not remaining in linear alignment with the axle during the transfer of the wheel assembly. Additionally, the transfer of a non-braked wheel assembly (i.e., a wheel assembly that does not contain therein a brake assembly) onto or off of an axle assembly may also experience the same problems.
The example methods and guide members to transfer a wheel assembly disclosed herein may be utilized with various types of wheel assemblies mounted on various types of axles or axle assemblies. Additionally, while the examples disclosed herein are described in connection with aircraft applications in the aerospace industry, the examples may also be more generally applicable to a variety of braking applications in different industries.
The brake assembly 210 of the illustrated example is contained within the inboard wheel half 120 and includes a piston housing 212 having therein a plurality of piston assemblies 214, a torque take-out connection 215 for connection to a landing gear torque take-out arm (not shown), one or more hydraulic connections 217 (only one shown) for connection with a hydraulic braking system (not shown), a torque tube 220 attached to the piston housing 212 by a plurality of bolts and nuts 216, and a brake disc assembly 218 having carbon-carbon composite brake discs. The torque tube 220 includes a plurality of splines 222, a backing flange 224, and a torque tube pedestal or foot 226 adjacent a bushing assembly 228. The brake disc assembly 218 includes a plurality of stator discs 230, a nonrotating pressure plate disc 232, and a nonrotating backing plate disc 234, all located on the torque tube 220. Each of the stator discs 230, the pressure plate disc 232, and the backing plate disc 234, has a plurality of slots 236 receiving the splines 222 of the torque tube 220. The brake disc assembly 218 also includes a plurality of rotor discs 240 interleaved with the stator discs 230. Each rotor disc 240 has a plurality of slots 242 located about an outer circumference of the rotor disc 240. The slots 242 of the rotor discs 240 receive the drive keys 124 to attach nonrotatably the rotor discs 240 to the wheel assembly 110.
In the example illustrated in
In operation, the example aircraft wheel and brake assembly 100 of
The example non-braked wheel assembly 310 of
As depicted in
As depicted in
When positioned upon the guide member 500 such that the inboard bearing assembly 350 and the outboard bearing assembly 360 are engaging the continuous outer surface 504, the wheel assembly 310 is in linear alignment with the axle assembly 400. The wheel assembly 310 may be transferred or moved further in the direction of the arrow 600 in
During this movement, the outboard bearing assembly 360 engages slidingly the continuous outer surface 504 of the guide member 500, and then engages the bearing land 424 to enable the wheel assembly 310 to remain in continuous linear alignment with the axle assembly 400. Because the guide member 500 is attached to the axle threads 412 of the axle assembly 400, the wheel assembly 310 remains in continuous linear alignment with the axle assembly 400 and neither the inboard bearing assembly 350 nor the outboard bearing assembly 360 can engage, catch on, and/or damage the axle threads 412 and/or the axle sleeve end 429. Preventing the outboard bearing assembly 360 from engaging the axle threads 412 also prevents the grease seal 368 from being unseated and/or causing the outboard bearing assembly 360 to be unseated or separated from the wheel 310.
Once the wheel assembly 310 is fully transferred to or mounted upon the axle assembly 400, the guide member 500 may be detached from the axle 410 by utilizing the turning rod to rotate the guide member in the opposite direction. An axle nut assembly (not shown) is then threaded onto the axle threads 412 to retain the wheel 310 in operational position on the axle assembly 400.
To remove the wheel assembly 310 with a tire mounted thereon (not shown) from the axle assembly 400, the procedure disclosed above is reversed. Specifically, after removal of the axle nut assembly from the axle threads 412, the guide member 500 is attached to the axle assembly 400 by mating together the threads 508 and 412 and rotating the guide member 500. The wheel assembly 310 is then moved laterally in a direction opposite to the arrow 600 in
In the absence of the guide member 500, the transfer of a wheel assembly such as, for example, the wheel assembly 310, from an axle assembly such as, for example, the axle assembly 400, may cause the wheel assembly 310 to tilt and misalign relative to the axle assembly 400. This tilting or misalignment occurs because the central portion or web of the wheel assembly 310 is heavy. As soon as the outboard bearing assembly 360 is off of the axle assembly 400, the weight causes the inboard bearing assembly 350 to catch or jam on the step 428 of the axle sleeve 420. The use of the guide member 500 prevents the inboard bearing assembly 350 from catching or jamming on the step 428 and also prevents the grease seal 358 from being unseated and causing the inboard bearing assembly 350 to be unseated from the wheel assembly 310 and remaining on the axle assembly 400.
Once the wheel assembly 310 has been transferred to the guide member 500, the wheel assembly 310 with a tire thereon (not shown) may remain positioned entirely upon the guide member 500. The wheel assembly 310 is removed periodically from the axle assembly 400 for the replacement of the tire and, thus, the wheel assembly 310 can be inspected while positioned on the guide member 500. When the wheel assembly 310 has been removed further or transferred from the guide member 500, the guide member 500 may be detached from the axle 410 by utilizing the turning rod to rotate the guide member 500 in the opposite (i.e., release) direction.
As previously described herein, the wheel assembly 110 in
An example method and guide member to transfer a wheel assembly have been described with reference to the flow chart illustrated in
The example method 700 and the example guide member 500 disclosed in
Additionally, the example guide member 500 is structured to support simultaneously both of the bearing assemblies 150 and 160 of the wheel assembly 110 or 350 and 360 of the wheel assembly 310, at off-axle positions while the guide member 500 is attached to the axle assembly 400. When attached to an axle assembly, neither the brake guide member nor the short length threaded end cap are capable of supporting entirely at off-axle positions the wheel assembly 110 or 310.
Although certain example methods apparatus and articles of manufacture have been described herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the appended claims either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.
Claims
1. A guide member to transfer a wheel assembly relative to an axle assembly, the wheel assembly having axially spaced-apart bearing assemblies, the guide member comprising:
- a body having an outer surface to maintain the wheel assembly in constant linear alignment with the axle assembly during displacement of the wheel assembly relative to the axle assembly, the body having a length enabling the axially spaced-apart bearing assemblies to be located simultaneously upon the guide member,
- a first body end attachable to the axle assembly; and
- a second body end opposite the first body end.
2. A guide member as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second body end has a cone shape to guide the axially spaced-apart bearing assemblies onto the guide member.
3. A guide member as claimed in claim 1, wherein the outer surface is continuous and permits unimpeded displacement of the bearing assemblies along the length of the continuous outer surface.
4. A guide member as claimed in claim 1, wherein body includes a longitudinally-extending, constant diameter, cylindrical shape.
5. A guide member as claimed in claim 1, wherein the body has an outer surface in substantial linear alignment with an adjacent bearing surface of the axle assembly.
6. A guide member as claimed in claim 1, wherein the body defines therein a longitudinal through opening.
7. A guide member as claimed in claim 1, wherein the axle assembly has threads at an end thereof and the first body end of the guide member is attachable to the axle assembly via the threads.
8. A guide member as claimed in claim 7, wherein the wheel assembly is displaceable relative to the axle assembly without the bearing assemblies engaging the threads.
9. A guide member as claimed in claim 1, further comprising at least one opening in the outer surface to receive a tool to rotate the body.
10. A guide member as claimed in claim 1, wherein the axle assembly includes an axle and a sleeve located about the axle, the sleeve having a reduced diameter portion, the guide member maintaining the linear alignment of the wheel assembly with the axle assembly so that at least one of the bearing assemblies does not engage the reduced diameter portion.
11. A guide member as claimed in claim 1, wherein when the first body end is attached to the axle assembly, the wheel assembly can be positioned upon and supported entirely by the guide member at an off-axle position.
12. A guide member as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wheel assembly includes a brake assembly.
13. A method to transfer a wheel assembly relative to an axle assembly, the wheel assembly having axially spaced-apart bearing assemblies, comprising:
- attaching a guide member to the axle assembly, the guide member having an outer surface in substantial linear alignment with the axle assembly; and
- displacing the wheel assembly relative to the axle assembly such that the bearing assemblies simultaneously engage slidingly the outer surface of the guide member with the wheel assembly in substantial linear alignment with the axle assembly.
14. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein displacing includes moving the wheel assembly to be located entirely on the guide member at an off-axle position or to be located only on the axle assembly.
15. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the outer surface of the guide member comprises a constant diameter surface.
16. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the axle assembly has a threaded end and the wheel assembly is displaced relative to the axle assembly without the bearing assemblies engaging threads of the threaded end.
17. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the axle assembly has threads at an end thereof and attaching the guide member comprises threading the guide member onto the threads of the axle assembly.
18. A method as claimed in claim 17, wherein an end of the guide member has a cone shape to assist in guiding the wheel assembly onto the guide member.
19. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the guide member includes at least one opening in the outer surface to receive a tool to rotate the guide member to at least one of attach or detach the guide member to or from the axle assembly.
20. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the axle assembly includes an axle having a sleeve located about the axle, the sleeve having a reduced diameter portion, the guide member maintaining the linear alignment of the wheel assembly with the axle assembly so that at least one of the bearing assemblies does not engage the reduced diameter portion.
21. Method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the wheel assembly includes a brake assembly.
Type: Application
Filed: May 25, 2006
Publication Date: Nov 29, 2007
Inventors: Douglas S. Bingham (Mishawaka, IN), Stephanie Guitteny (Toulouse)
Application Number: 11/440,858
International Classification: B21D 53/26 (20060101);