Patent Application
20070138353
The present invention generally speaking relates to the technical field of equipment installation in the fields of aircraft technology and space technology. In particular, the invention relates to a holder module for affixing lines of various thicknesses. Furthermore, the invention relates to a holder system comprising two of the above-mentioned holder modules. Moreover, the invention relates to a method that makes it possible to lead lines reliably and in an ordered manner through an aperture in a structural component of an aircraft. Finally, the invention relates to an aircraft that is equipped with a plurality of the above-mentioned holder modules, as well as to the use of a plurality of the holder modules according to the invention in an aircraft.
In modern aircraft it is common to install a plurality of different electrical cables and pipes for controlling and supplying various devices and consumers. Within the context of the present patent application the term “line” is to be interpreted in its widest possible definition so that it includes in particular electrical cables, fluid-conducting pipes and hoses, bunches of the aforesaid lines, as well as any other supply lines in an aircraft.
In order to route such lines in an orderly manner in an aircraft, normally attachment elements in the form of cable holders are used, by which attachment elements the lines are affixed, at certain distances from each other, to suitable attachment faces of the vehicle. In this arrangement the holders are adapted to specific connection conditions of the attachment faces. These attachment faces are, for example, transverse supports, frame elements, stringers, ribs, and any other construction components of an aircraft, which within the context of the present invention are collectively referred to as structural components.
However, since the various respective structural components differ greatly from each other, many different cable holders have to be kept at hand. The required number of different cable holders to be kept further increases in that, for lines of different diameters or thicknesses, differently sized cable holders have to be kept in stock in order to be able to reliably fix each line. Thus, known cable holders are, for example, simple cable grips (Kabelschellen) that are only suitable for accommodating lines of a certain diameter range, which is why a plurality of different cable grips have to be kept in stock.
Furthermore, these cable grips are associated with problems in that with their use, orderly line routing is not possible, or is possible only with inadequate results. Since, as a rule, known cable grips are made from aluminium, these known cable holders, in addition, are associated with undesirably heavy intrinsic weight. Since the attachment of lines frequently takes place on conductive structural elements, moreover, due to the known cable grips being made from metal, special insulation regulations have to be observed so that, frequently, an complex earth connection on the conductive structural components has to be provided, which in turn is associated, in a undesirable manner, with additional weight.
Finally, with these known cable grips it is not possible to lead bunches of lines leading upwards or downwards through structural components, such as for example transverse supports, so as to route these bunches of lines without collision over or under other structural components, as well as air conditioning pipes, water pipes and the like.
Starting with the problems, described above, associated with known cable holders there may be a need to state a solution of a line holder that at least partly solves the problems described above.
Therefore, according to a first exemplary aspect of the present invention, a holder module for affixing lines of different thicknesses may be provided, which holder module includes a basic body as well as at least one associated crosshead. In the basic body at least one bearing face for accommodating and/or supporting a line may be formed. Furthermore, the basic body may include a contact face by which said basic body may be attached to a structural component of an aircraft, for example to a frame element, stringer, transverse support or rib etc. Corresponding to the basic body, the crosshead, too, may include at least one counter-bearing face that interacts with the bearing face of the basic body. In order to possibly be able to reliably accommodate at least one line from the holder module, the at least one crosshead may be movably positioned in relation to the basic body such that the line, due to movement of the at least one crosshead may be affixed or arrested between the at least one bearing faceof the basic body and the at least one counter-bearing face of the crosshead, of which there is at least one.
Thus, movable positioning of the crosshead may be formed in such a way that said crosshead is at least able to move in a translatory manner towards the basic body and away from the basic body, and in doing so to possibly complete a tilting movement, in the manner of a balance arm, across the longitudinal alignment of the bearing faces of the basic body, during which tilting movement a counter-bearing face may approach the basic body while another counter-bearing face may move away from the basic body.
Movable positioning of the at least one crosshead or cross arm may in particular be such that the crosshead may undertake at least one translatory movement as well as three rotatory movements in the three possible degrees of freedom of rotation. Thus, the at least one cross arm may move in a translatory manner towards, and/or away from, the basic body, as well as at least to some extent be swung on all three coordinate axes. As a result of such movable positioning of the at least one cross arm good adaptation of the counter-bearing face of the cross arm to the lines to be accommodated may be achieved. In this way the cross arm may adapt to lines of different thicknesses. In particular, by a rockable or seesawable design of the cross arm in the form of a balance arm, accommodation of two lines of different thicknesses may become possible in the holder module.
To possibly avoid compulsorily having to comply with the previously mentioned insulation regulations, for example in the form of earth or ground connections on conductive structural aircraft components, the holder module according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention may, for example, be made from a plastic material. Because in the exemplary embodiment possibly both the basic body and the at least one cross arm are made from a plastic material, not only the above-mentioned insulation regulations may complied with, but in this way—different to the design of the holder module made of metal—weight reduction may be achieved, which may always be desirable in the field of aircraft- and space technology.
According to an exemplary embodiment, both the at least one bearing face of the basic body and the at least one counter-bearing face of the at least one cross arm may be conduit-shaped or trough-shaped. Using such a shape it might be possible to achieve line routing that is as regular or ordered as possible. The cross section of the bearing face or the counter-bearing face may be concave, U-shaped or, for example, V-shaped. Such a conduit-like design of the bearing face or the counter-bearing face may be associated with a positive effect in that a line that is to be affixed by the holder module may reliably be placed in the bearing face of the basic body in order to—due to the movement of the cross arm and the basic body towards each other—be able to reliably affix the line put in place in this way, with a counter-bearing face that corresponds to the bearing face.
According to an exemplary embodiment the basic body may comprise several parallel conduit-like bearing faces, wherein in this case also the at least one cross arm may comprise several corresponding parallel conduit-like counter-bearing faces. This arrangement may enable to possibly affix more than one line in the holder module, Since frequently no more than two lines have to be routed parallel along extended distances, the basic body as well as the at least one cross arm may comprise two parallel conduit-like bearing faces or counter-bearing faces that converge into each other in a wave-like manner. Such a design of several conduit-like bearing faces in one and the same holder module may save additional weight because it may obviate the need to attach each individual line with a single holder module to a structural component.
As already explained above, the holder module according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention among other things may also be used for its ability to reliably affix lines of different thicknesses. However, according to an exemplary embodiment in order to be possibly able to accommodate very thin lines, due to the design and shape of the at least one cross arm it may be necessary to provide at least one opening in the bearing face of the basic body, into which opening at least one cross arm may at least partly move when said cross arm, for affixing (Arretierung) a very thin line, approaches the bearing face of the basic body.
According to an exemplary embodiment the holder module may further include at least one tensioning element, by which the at least one cross arm is movably connected to the basic body. This may possibly cause the at least one cross arm to make a movement, in its translatory degree of freedom, in the direction of the basic body. This tensioning element may, for example, be designed in the shape of a screw with an associated nut so that by shortening the distance between the screw head and the nut a reduction in the distance between the at least one cross arm and the basic body may be achieved. To this effect the nut may be accommodated, for example in or on the basic body or in or on the cross arm, into which the screw shaft screws, starting from the respective other holder module part - either the basic body or the cross arm. According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the nut may be designed as a cylindrical body, a so-called barrel nut, through which a screw thread extends crosswise to accommodate the screw. Designing the nut as such a barrel nut may have a positive effect in that in this case the cylinder may act as a rotary axis, on which the cross arm may be tilted in the manner of a balance arm, so as to possibly accommodate two lines of different thicknesses, as has been described above.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention in the holder module the at least one tensioning element extends between a first abutment, which is formed in the at least one opening of the basic body and a second abutment, which is formed in the cross arm. This may possibly enabling to securely tension or fixing at least one bunch of lines between the bearing face of the basic body and the counter-bearing face of the cross arm. In this arrangement the two buttresses may be used to support the associated abutment bodies of the tensioning element, for example in the form of the above-mentioned nut and the screw head, when the tensioning element is shortened, so as to cause movement of the cross arm in the direction of the basic body due to shortening of the tensioning element. The first abutment may, for example, accommodate a ball segment, through which in turn the tensioning element, for example in the form of a screw, may reach. In this arrangement the ball segment in conjunction with the first abutment may form a ball joint that may provide three degrees of freedom. With such a design of a ball joint the tensioning element may not only be swung on two rotary axes that are perpendicular in relation to its longitudinal axis, but also may also be rotated on its longitudinal axis. In the case where the ball joint designed in this way is arranged in the at least one opening in the basic body, between the two parallel conduit-like bearing faces, symmetrical force impingement of the cross arm by way of the at least one tensioning element may be achieved.
As already mentioned, the nut associated with the screw may, for example, be designed as a cylinder. If this cylinder is arranged in the cross arm, it may form a hinge joint in conjunction with the second abutment that is also formed therein, which hinge joint may, for example, be arranged in the at least one cross arm between the two parallel conduit-like counter-bearing faces so that the swivelling axis of said hinge joint extends in the direction of the two parallel conduit-like counter-bearing faces. This design may make it possible for the at least one cross arm to form a balance arm that may be tilted such that the counter-bearing faces of said cross arm may be able to optimally adapt to lines of different thicknesses, which lines are to be accommodated by the holder module according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
According to an exemplary embodiment the bearing faces of the basic body can be of at least partially concave or convex shape, when viewed in longitudinal direction, so that, for example, line routing also in the region of already existing air conditioning pipes or water pipes may become possible without any collisions, because as a result of this shape of the bearing faces the lines to be routed may lead either over or under the existing lines. Thus, it may be possible to obtain the ordered possible routing of lines that lead upwards or downwards. Moreover, the at least one bearing face of the basic body may have a positive or negative inclination in relation to the contact face, which means that the bearing face meets the contact face at an acute (positive) or an obtuse (negative) angle. By such an inclination of the bearing faces neat bridging of height of a line bundle to be routed may be achieved.
As demonstrated by the above explanations, in one exemplary embodiment the present invention may provide a holder module that is designed for reliably and neatly affixing lines of different thicknesses. The movable arrangement of the cross arm may ensure easy placement of the lines on the bearing faces of the basic body, in that the cross arm may be brought to an unlocked position in which it extends so as to be essentially parallel in relation to the longitudinal direction of the bearing faces of the basic body. As an example in order to affix the lines in the holder module, starting from this unlocked position, because of its movable bearing arrangement the cross arm may be rotated, by approximately 90° on the longitudinal axis of the tensioning element, to a locked position in which the tensioning element is activated for affixing the lines between the bearing face of the basic body and the counter-bearing face of the cross arm. If the lines to be affixed differ as far as their thicknesses are concerned, when the tensioning element is activated, the at least one cross arm may tilt on its swivelling axis, which extends so as to be essentially parallel in relation to the two counter-bearing faces of the cross arm. As a result of this tilting of the cross arm, said cross arm may adapt to the lines of different thicknesses, so that reliably affixation of lines of different thicknesses may be ensured.
According to a further exemplary aspect of the present invention a holder system is provided that may make it possible to regularly lead lines of different thicknesses through an aperture in a structural component. The holder system is essentially comprised of two holder modules with the features described above, wherein the contact face of the first holder module is spaced apart from the contact face of the second holder module by the structural component to which the first holder module and the second holder module can be affixed by the associated contact faces, such that the at least one bearing face of the first holder module continues through the aperture in the at least one bearing face of the second holder module.
According to still another exemplary aspect of the present invention a method for the regularly leadthrough of lines through an aperture in a structural component is provided. To this effect, first a first holder module, as described above, is attached on one side of the aperture, with the contact face of said holder module resting against the structural component. Likewise, a second holder module, as described above, is attached on another side of the aperture, with the contact face of said holder module resting against the structural component. Already before, during or after attachment of the first and second holder modules to the structural component at least one line can be led through the aperture in the structural component so as to be placed on their bearing faces after the two holder modules have been affixed. Subsequently the cross arms of the two holder modules are moved from their unlocked position to the previously described locked position, in which the counter-bearing faces of the cross arms face the bearing faces of the basic bodies, spaced apart by the at least one line. The cross arms are then moved towards the basic body so that the at least one line is firmly clamped between the counter-bearing faces and the bearing faces, so that the at least one line is affixed.
According to yet another exemplary aspect of the present invention, an aircraft comprising at least one line is stated, which line is attached to structural components of the aircraft by a plurality of holder modules with the features described above, in order to route said line at least in part through the aircraft.
According to yet another exemplary aspect of the invention, the use of a plurality of holder modules with the previously described features is proposed in order to affix at least one line to structural components of an aircraft so that said line can at least in part be routed through the aircraft.
Below, the invention is explained by way of examples with reference to the attached drawings. The exemplary embodiment described in the figures only serves to provide a better understanding of the invention, and in particular must not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the patent in any way. The following are shown:
Across all the figures, the same or corresponding reference signs are used for identical or similar elements. The illustrations in the figures are not necessarily to scale, but they indicate qualitative size relationships.
Below, the present invention is described in detail with reference to
While
Below, reference is made to the same extent to FIGS. 7 to 9. As shown in these figures, and in particular in
By two articulated mechanisms 12, 13 the cross arm 3 is connected, so as to be articulated, to the basic body 2 with the use of a tensioning element 11 in the form of a screw, which will be discussed in more detail later.
As shown in particular in
On the underside of the recess 8 a first abutment 14 in the form of a cupola is provided, in whose underside a ball segment 16 is fitted. Through the ball segment 16 a tensioning element 11 in the form of a screw extends in the direction of the cross arm 3 in order to connect said cross arm 3 to it. In the cross arm 3 a second abutment 15 in the form of a through-opening is formed into which the barrel nut 9 is fitted. In order to connect the cross arm 3 in an articulated manner to the basic body 2, the tensioning element 11 in the form of the screw shown is screwed from below into the barrel nut 9 so that the cross arm 3 has three rotational degrees of freedom and a translatory degree of freedom along the tensioning element. The cross arm 3 is thus able to move in a translatory manner towards the bearing face 4 of the basic body 2 and away from it, as well as being able to rock in the drawing plane of
Thus, as shown in
FIGS. 7 to 9 each show the locked positions of the holder module, which positions are characterised in that the counter-bearing faces 5 of the cross arm 3 face the bearing faces 4 of the basic body 2 at a distance. However, since in these locked positions it is not possible to position a line 10 on a bearing face 4 it is possible to move the cross arm 3 from its locked position to an unlocked position in which the cross arm 3 is rotated from the locked position on the longitudinal axis of the tensioning element 11 by approximately 90° so that the cross arm 3 extends so as to be essentially parallel in relation to the main direction of extension of the bearing faces 4 so that these bearing faces 4 are readily accessible from above. In this unlocked position an exchange of lines or initial installation of a line can be undertaken, with the line subsequently being fixed in the holder module in the activation position of the cross arm 3 in that the cross arm 3 is again rotated by 90°, and subsequently the tensioning element 11 is tightened.
Finally,
In conclusion, with reference to
It should be noted that the terms “comprising” or “including” do not exclude other elements or steps and the “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. Also elements described in association with different embodiments and aspects may be combined. It should also be noted that reference signs in the claims shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2005 039 652.6 | Aug 2005 | DE | national |
This application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/710,071 filed Aug. 22, 2005 and of German Patent Application No. 10 2005 039 652.6 filed Aug. 22, 2005, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60710071 | Aug 2005 | US |
