US 12,454,357 B2
Freight carrier for being received in the freight region of an aircraft having displaceable roller elements
Thomas Grabow, Hamburg (DE); Dirk Meiranke, Hamburg (DE); Andreas Poppe, Hamburg (DE); Hermann Benthien, Hamburg (DE); and Ralf Schliwa, Hamburg (DE)
Assigned to Airbus Operations GmbH, Hamburg (DE)
Filed by Airbus Operations GmbH, Hamburg (DE)
Filed on Dec. 10, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/548,223.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2020 133 943.7 (DE), filed on Dec. 17, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0194585 A1, Jun. 23, 2022
Int. Cl. B64D 9/00 (2006.01)
CPC B64D 9/003 (2013.01) [B64D 2009/006 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A freight carrier for being received in a freight region of an aircraft, the freight carrier comprising:
a base element comprising:
a support side that comprises a plurality of rollers elements and is arranged such that the freight carrier can be positioned on a base surface of the freight region of the aircraft, with the support side opposite from the base surface;
a base face arranged at a side of the base element that faces away from the support side; and
a plurality of retainers;
wherein the freight carrier is movable over the base surface, which extends in a base plane, such that the support side faces the base surface;
wherein each of the roller elements is retained on a corresponding one of the plurality of retainers, such that each of the roller elements is to be rotatable about a rotation axis;
wherein each of the retainers is displaceable between a deployed position and a retracted position;
wherein a spacing of the roller elements from the base face is greater when the plurality of retainers are in the deployed position than when the plurality of retainers are in the retracted position;
wherein each of the rotation axes of the roller elements are arranged in a common rotation axis plane when the retainers are in the deployed position;
wherein the roller elements are retained on the base element such that the rotation axis of each of the roller elements can be rotated about a vertical axis that extends parallel with, and with spacing from, an axis that extends through the rotation axis of the roller element and perpendicularly to the common rotation axis plane;
wherein the roller elements comprise a plurality of groups of roller elements;
wherein the retainers, in which the roller elements of a first group of the plurality of groups of roller elements are retained, are retained in a manner configured for displacement, along a linearly extending first line on the base element, between the retracted and the deployed position; and
wherein the first line extends parallel with the common rotation axis plane.