Dropping device

(54) (56) (57)

PATENT HOLDER INVENTOR

SAAB AB, 581 88 Linköping SE Christer Zätterqvist, Uppsala SE

AGENT Carl-Göran Forsberg

DESIGN Airborne traps for spreading disturbances

MENTIONED PUBLICATIONS:

SE B 435 964 (F41H 13/00), GB A 846 579 (F16D 11/06)

SUMMARY:

The present invention relates to a trap carried preferably by a carrier aircraft for spreading interfering means and then mainly radar interference strips. The device according to the invention constitutes in principle an improvement of the device known from SE 8302508-0 and it is characterized in part by the fact that it is provided with separately rotatable splash shafts (14, 15), which have the dual function of firstly acting as a span for a non-rotating desired discharge of disturbance packages (4) and secondly that when a discharge is activated carry it out and give the dispensed disturbance package (4) an increased discharge speed, partly because it is equipped with a completely new indexing device specially designed.

<img file="SE517872C2_D0001.tif" />

The numbers in parentheses indicate international identification code, INID code. Letter in parentheses indicates international document code.

<td rowspan="2">/ PRV code</td><td colspan="3">Patents use the following document codes for their patents</td><td rowspan="2">X |</td>

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<td>B</td><td>spelling *</td><td>tl</td><td>translation of the requirements of the European patent application</td><td></td>

<td>B5</td><td>corrected spelling *</td><td>T2</td><td colspan="2">correction of the translation of the requirements of the European patent application</td>

<td>C</td><td>patent specification *</td><td>T3</td><td>translation of European patent specification</td><td></td>

<td>Cl</td><td>patent specification *</td><td>T4</td><td>translation of European patent specification in amended version</td><td></td>

<td>C2</td><td>patent</td><td>T5</td><td>corrected translation of European patent specification</td><td></td>

<td>C3</td><td>corrected patent specification</td><td>T8</td><td>corrected translation of European patent specification</td><td></td>

<td>C5</td><td>corrected patent specification *</td><td>T9</td><td rowspan="2">corrected translation of European patent specification</td><td></td>

<td>C8</td><td>corrected front page to patent specification</td><td></td><td></td>

<td>E</td><td>patent specification in amended wording</td><td></td><td></td><td></td>

<td>E8</td><td>corrected front page to patent specification in amended wording</td><td></td><td></td><td></td>

<td>vL</td><td>corrected patent specification in amended wording</td><td colspan="2">* published under older legislation</td><td>J</td>

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<td>EP</td><td>European Patent Office</td><td>CY</td><td>Cyprus</td><td>KW Kuwait</td><td>SD</td><td>sudan</td>

<td></td><td>(EPO)</td><td>CZ</td><td>The Czech Republic</td><td>KY Cayman Islands</td><td>SEE</td><td>Sweden</td>

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<td>VILLAGE</td><td>Belarus</td><td>IQ</td><td>Iraq</td><td>OM Oman</td><td>YD</td><td>South Yemen</td>

<td>BZ</td><td>belize</td><td>IR</td><td>Iran</td><td>PA Panama</td><td>YE</td><td>Yemen</td>

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517 in

<img file="SE517872C2_D0002.tif" />

The present invention relates to a flyer carried preferably by a carrier aircraft, for spreading interfering means and then mainly radar interference strips and interfering means with an infrared (IR) signature, comprising a magazine provided with a rear discharge opening seen in the direction of flight of the carrier aircraft and a number arranged one after the other in the magazine. of a dispensing device contained therein on command, through the dispensing opening, one and one dispensable packages of interfering means.

The basic principles of such a trap are known in advance by, for example, SE B 8302508-0, while various types of adapted pesticide packages are described in EP 0 278 568 and SE B 505 070.

The hanger described in SE B 8302508-0 thus also includes where a magazine provided with a rear discharge opening seen in the direction of flight of the carrier aircraft, within which successively arranged packages of interfering means can be fed stepwise backwards towards and out of the discharge opening of a feed piston driven by two parallel runs drive belts attached to the front and rear edges of the piston, which run along the opposite sides of the magazine, on either side of the packages of disturbing means arranged therein, partly running back over in the front and rear part of the magazine, respectively, arranged break wheels, whereby they form closed loops. Said front breakers are further connected via gears to each other and to the motor which drives the entire discharge system. The rear break wheels are then in turn driven by the feed belts. At the height of the discharge opening are further on the same axes as the rear by-wheels and driven in parallel with these arranged special gears, which by cooperating with gear means on the packages partly, as long as they stand still, function as a stop barrier for the rear package and turn a feed step, acts as a dispensing means for the same package and finally, in connection with the dispensing of the rearmost package, also separates it from the next package with which it is originally intended to be connected.

517 872

<img file="SE517872C2_D0003.tif" />

The device described above has been widely used in a number of air forces around the world and has proven to be both reliable and functional. A potential risk that has been noticed recently, however, is that if both drive belts fail, the feller in this design could drop its entire load of packaging with anti-fouling agent in a single sweep, and this even without command. This theoretical possibility is in fact built into the system in that it is the gears that function as both locks and discharge means and these in the event of a double belt break will be completely without both locking and driving function. Thus, like most other constructions that exist, the device according to SE B 8302508-0 is not better than that it can also be improved and the present invention now relates to a modified variant of this device, which, on the one hand, gives a higher discharge speed for the packages in question. secondly, a new indexing or drive function for the conveyor belts, ie the de facto feed piston and the packages with interfering means. In its new modified variant, the device also has the advantage that no output can take place at all unless the tractor's drive motor is in operation.

According to the invention, the higher discharge speed of the packages with interfering means has been achieved by replacing the gears of the older construction co-rotating with the conveyor belts by separately mounted splash or camshafts arranged in the side edges of the magazine discharge opening. which are admittedly parallel to the rear break axle axles of the drive belts but whose movement is shifted up a number of integer multiples relative to said break axle axes and which are provided with the same number of brake and separation / acceleration cams corresponding to the part of a revolution which it is to rotate to perform a discharge of a package of disruptors.

The bounce or camshafts are designed with brake and separation / acceleration combs which have the task of blocking the discharge of packages when no discharge is to take place, partly exposing the discharge opening when the discharge is bent and also separating the outermost package from its original soluble compound with the next package. and finally to give the outermost package one last accelerating push away from the faller.

As previously indicated, the dispensing device according to the invention also comprises a securing function which prevents any form of involuntary dispensing of pesticide packages.

517 872

<img file="SE517872C2_D0004.tif" />

<img file="SE517872C2_D0005.tif" />

after a drive belt break. This securing function has been achieved by making the bouncing shafts in the carrier's direction of flight self-inhibiting against the pesticide packaging. Namely, in the rest position of the device, the packaging of the extreme disturbance agent in the direction of discharge will always, with its feed lugs arranged on either side of it, abut against sub-cylindrical locking surfaces on the splash shafts. These locking surfaces in turn form the outer periphery of either of the respective comb shaft axes. Between these sub-cylindrical locking surfaces, the bounce shafts are then provided with their special feed grooves, which when the bounce shaft is rotated around by its own drive function engage the feed lug at the agitator package which is in turn to be discharged.

In other respects, the faller according to the invention for its function requires a secure indexing mechanism. The indexing mechanism now developed for the faller according to the invention has several advantages which make it particularly suitable for use under the conditions for which the faller is intended and the special loads to which it may be subjected, but at the same time the indexing mechanism in question is also more generally useful. for example in packaging machines and other devices that require a functionally safe, stepwise and continuously repeated feeding function.

The current indexing mechanism is thus dynamically balanced, making it independent of external vibration and G influences, which is essential when it comes to details included in modern combat aircraft. It also requires very small volume to transmit large moments. It has high repeatability and because the indexing takes place through mechanical connection of basically a single detail, its indexing becomes independent of the friction for force / torque transmission.

The function of the current indexing mechanism is that one or more revolutions of the rotation of an input shaft are passed forward as indexing to a second output shaft. By selecting the number of revolutions that you wish to take out of the output shaft, a number of different indexings can thus be obtained. This gives the indexing mechanism in question a great deal of flexibility.

The stepwise feeding or indexing is thus achieved according to the invention by mechanical coupling between a rotating input motor shaft and a driver, which in turn is

517 872

<img file="SE517872C2_D0006.tif" />

connected to a second output shaft, which is in line with the motor shaft but completely free from it and wherein this second output shaft after engagement follows the rotation of the motor shaft one or more full turns, depending on the setting, to then be disengaged and braked with immediate effect. According to a preferred embodiment of this system, the motor shaft is directly connected to a cylindrical drive drum arranged concentrically around it, which is internally provided with a groove in the form of grooves or pits against which a carrier which can be switched between two different positions can be switched on or off. In its normal position, the carrier, which is thus connected to the second output shaft, is held by an eccentric in engagement with a system-fixed stop lug. As soon as the eccentric is adjusted so that its effect on the carrier ceases, the carrier will enter the engaging position against the grooves of the drive drum and follow in this one or more full turns, so that as soon as it comes into contact with the eccentric it is disengaged from the drive drum and with its opposite end in engagement with the stop lug, whereby it itself and the output shaft are simultaneously braked transversely. The only control function in addition to the purely mechanical control of the eccentric engagement and disengagement required in this system is a delay between the activation command and the engagement of the driver, which allows the engine to reach full speed before the driver is engaged with the drive drum. In cases where the drive motor is always switched on, of course no delay is required at all. In addition, the eccentric must be returned to its original position before the carrier has completed the number of laps referred to.

The carrier characteristic of the device according to the invention is pivotally mounted about a crank longitudinal axis parallel to the output shaft and relatively similarly thereto, while the carrier itself extends tangentially across this shaft about which it is tiltable between its two operating positions. that is, alternatively with its end edge facing the direction of rotation of the engine in abutment against the grooved inside of the drive drum or with its end edge facing in the direction of rotation of the engine in abutment against the fixedly arranged brake lug. In order to tip over the carrier from its position in abutment against the grooved inside of the drive drum, in which position it can be held by, for example, a spring, to its second locked position where its other end abuts against the brake lug, the previously mentioned mechanically adjustable in a fixed storage immediately outside the outer edge of the drive drum arranged eccentric by means of which the carrier can be forced into its second position. In this case, the eccentric completely disgustingly lifts the actual end of the carrier out of its engagement with the groove of the drive drum, the carrier end of the carrier in the direction of rotation hitting the stop lug. By having the eccentric fixed

517 872 ₅ ii: ·. ··.:. . 1. '.: 1st i.^; storage and the drive drum and the carrier when this is connected rotate around the current axes, the carrier and the eccentric have one possibility per revolution for contact.

The invention has been defined in the following claims and it is to be noted that the indexing mechanism, as previously pointed out, can also be used in connection with other devices where a similar stepwise function is desired.

The invention will now be described somewhat further in connection with the accompanying figures.

Of these shows

Fig. 1 the basic principles of the hem according to the invention

Fig. 2-4 on a larger scale a detailed view of the output function Fig. 5 a section through the indexing function

Fig. 6-9 The main parts of the indexing function and

Fig. 10 the main parts of the indexing function in braked position and Fig. 11 the main parts of the indexing function when the indexing is switched on.

The principle layout for the hanger according to the invention thus comprises, as can be seen from Fig. 1, a magazine 1 in which a displaceable feed piston 2 is arranged provided with an integrated resilient front piston plate 3.1. The packages in the magazine are preferably connected to one unit, but they can be relatively easily disconnected from each other. The movement of the feed piston 2 is controlled and controlled by two feed belts 5, 6, one on each side of the magazine. The feed belts 5,6 are attached at their ends to the front and rear edge of the piston, respectively, and the belt loops thus obtained overflow into the breaking rollers 7,8 and 9,10, respectively, arranged in the front and rear edge of the hem. In addition, two clamping rollers 11,12 are included. The rear breaker rollers 9,10 in the direction of flight of the carrier are connected to an indexing function by means of which the feed belts 5,6 and thus also the piston 2 and the packages 4 can be displaced inside and out of the magazine. In the trailing edge of the hem, this is formed with a discharge opening 13. The flight direction of the carrier aircraft is indicated in the figure by the arrow F. The feeding of the packages 4 within the magazine thus takes place backwards in the direction of flight.

On each side of the discharge opening 13 of the magazine 1 there are further splitting or camshafts 14, 15, which are driven via gear gears 16,17 by the breaker rollers 9,10 but at a higher speed.

517 872

<img file="SE517872C2_D0007.tif" />

In a hanger designed in accordance with the example shown, 1/12 turn of the breaking rollers 9,10 is required to dispense a package of disturbing material. At the same time, the bounce or camshafts go 14.15 1/3 revolutions, ie at 4 times as high a speed.

The function of the splash or camshaft lams 14,15 is shown in Figs. 2-4, of which Fig. 2 shows the initial position where the first cam 18 of the camshaft 14 blocks the discharge of the containers 4 'and 4'. As can be seen from Figs. 2-4, the containers 4 'and 4 are provided with special discharge lugs 19 and 20 with flanks 21 and 22.1 bevelled in the discharge direction backwards, their outermost stopping position abuts the outermost package 4' with its inclined flank 21 of its stop lug 19 against the bounce or camshaft 14 sub-cylindrical outer periphery 23.1 this position, the device is thus self-inhibiting locked. When the camshaft 14 starts to move in the direction of the arrow B, the cam 18 first releases the package 4 'in that its feed lug 19 is allowed to enter the space between the first cam 18 of the camshaft 14 and its second cam 24, then the leading edge 25 of the cam 24 in engagement with the upper corner 26 of the feed lug 19 at the same time as its sub-cylindrical flank 27 stops the feed lug 20 of the container 4 in that the inclined flank 22 of the latter comes into abutment against the same. The result is that the container 4 is stopped at the same time as the container 4 'is pryed loose from it and is given an extra push in the discharge direction, which is shown in Fig. 4, after which the bounce or camshaft 14 is braked in the position shown in Fig. 2 but with the cam 24 as braking cam and with the container 4 '' in the position for the next discharge.

The camshafts 14,15 thus operate at the same time as the entire amount of packages 4 is fed towards the dispensing opening 13 (see Fig. 1), but the camshafts operate so much faster. Due to the specific design of the camshafts 14 and 15 with the sub-cylindrical flanks 27 of the feed combs and the interaction of these flanks with the feed jaws 19,20 of the packages 4, it has become possible to give the drive system self-inhibiting properties.

Compared with an older folder designed in accordance with SE B 8302508-0, the discharge speed has in principle been able to double, which is essential because this gives such a much faster spread of the disturbant in the package.

517 872 ;··, ,,,, ,,, ,., · ^{; ;} ·· ······· ·:·:·· ····:· : :

In order for the device described above to function completely satisfactorily, a very precise indexing or feeding of the break gears 9,10 is required, from which all functions emanate by being connected there via direct-acting gears.

This current indexing device will now be described in more detail in connection with Figures 5-

11.

Directly connected to the drive shaft 28 by an electric motor is a drive drum 29. This has an internal cylinder surface 30 provided with a larger number of "pits" 31 separated by embankments 32.

Furthermore, a carrier 33 is included which is connected via a through shaft hole 34 to a carrier plate 35 via a cylindrical shaft 36 fixed in the latter. The carrier plate 35 has an output shaft 37 which is in line with the shaft 28 but which is free from it. The carrier 33 has a drive edge 38 which in mounted condition faces the pits 31 of the drive drum 29, and a brake edge 39 facing in opposite direction.

A movable brake caliper 40 is further arranged between the drive drum 29 and the carrier disc 35. As can be seen from Fig. 10, this has a brake lug 41 against which the carrier 33 can be moved in abutment of an eccentric 42 similarly arranged between the drive drum 29 and the carrier disc 35. The carrier 33 is internal provided with a spring not visible in the figures which seeks to rotate it about the axis 36 in the arrow E direction.

The eccentric 42 can be switched by means of a link 44 and a lever 45 between the initial rest position shown in Fig. 10 and the starting position shown in Fig. 11.

When a container of disturbing agent is to be discharged, the motor driving the feed drum 29 is started and when the motor has reached full working speed in the direction of the arrow M, the lever 45 in the direction of the arrow S acts, the eccentric 42 releasing its grip on the driver 33. the spring is brought into abutment with the nearest pit / cam 31/32 in the drive drum 29 and the carrier 33 thereby carries the carrier disc 35 and the shaft 37 in its thereby rotating rotational movement. As soon as the eccentric 42 is released past the carrier 33, if only one index of indexing is desired, it must be returned to the original position, which means that as soon as the carrier 33 has completed one revolution, it will slide up on the eccentric 42 and thus be disengaged from

517 872

<img file="SE517872C2_D0008.tif" />

the drive drum 29 at the same time as its brake edge 39 is brought into abutment against the brake edge 41 of the caliper 40 which provides a direct stop of rotation for the shaft 37.

This device thus provides a very precise indexing which always gives one or more full feed turns. This exact indexing in the form of one or more feed turns can then be converted via a direct-acting gear into any form of desired feed movement. desired for each particular function.

1 7₉ 8 7 2