US 11,939,045 B2
Landing gear assembly for an aircraft, a landing gear system, and a method
Adam Ian Nadel, Vienna, VA (US); Andrew Leung, Philadelphia, PA (US); Alex Schonfeld, Wallingford, PA (US); and Anthony R. Amadio, Broomall, PA (US)
Assigned to The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US)
Filed by The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US)
Filed on Apr. 27, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/660,942.
Prior Publication US 2023/0348047 A1, Nov. 2, 2023
Int. Cl. B64C 25/30 (2006.01); B64C 25/14 (2006.01); B64C 25/60 (2006.01)
CPC B64C 25/30 (2013.01) [B64C 25/14 (2013.01); B64C 25/60 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A landing gear assembly for an aircraft, the landing gear assembly comprising:
an energy absorber including a housing and a piston movable within the housing along a first axis in a plurality of normal-operation stroke positions;
a land-contact assembly attached to the energy absorber, wherein the energy absorber and the land-contact assembly are movable together from an extended position to a retracted position;
a retraction assembly attached to the energy absorber via a pivot point, wherein the retraction assembly includes an actuator movable to a locked position which locks the energy absorber and the land-contact assembly in the extended position, and the actuator is movable to an unlocked position which releases the retraction assembly and rotates the energy absorber and the land-contact assembly relative to the pivot point to the retracted position;
a trigger assembly coupled to the energy absorber and the retraction assembly, wherein the trigger assembly is configured to retract the land-contact assembly from the extended position to the retracted position in response to the piston of the energy absorber reaching a maximum stroke position in which the trigger assembly triggers the actuator to actuate from the locked position to the unlocked position to release the retraction assembly in a controlled manner which rotates the energy absorber and the land-contact assembly relative to the pivot point to the retracted position, and wherein the maximum stroke position of the piston is beyond the normal-operation stroke positions of the piston; and
wherein the trigger assembly includes a switch incorporated into the housing of the energy absorber and configured to determine whether the maximum stroke position is reached, and wherein the switch provides active control of the trigger assembly.