SAFE AND EASY LANDING GEAR CHANGE

The landing gears of the world’s largest commercial aircraft the A380 can support a weight of close to 570 tonnes on take-off and over 390 tonnes on landing. This is why you need to rely 100 percent on its proper function.

 

 

Depending on the aircraft model, overhauls typically occur every 8 to 12 years; the exact interval is based on the need to inspect or treat corrosion. A typical landing gear maintenance program can take upwards of 45 days, leaving your airplane out of commission during the overhaul process and making for costly downtime.

 


Most of today’s landing gear changes are operated with landing gear specific chain hoists. For moving the load hard physical manpower and a team of four to six operators are needed. The lack of repeatable process stability makes it impossible to plan work and staffing efficiently. This existing process is time consuming, not predictable and, therefore, expensive.

 

 

What if you could use One Landing Gear Robot for all commercial aircraft?

The new electrically powered Landing Gear Robot from HYDRO, with its huge work space and six degrees of freedom (six axes), enables all landing gears of an unprecedented wide range of commercial aircraft to be changed. Its outstanding maneuverability allows precise and easy positioning. The time for exact pre-positioning is over: the huge working space of the LGR compensates for inadequate positioning.


As well as landing gear changes the Landing Gear Robot is suited to a wide variety of other installation applications.

 

 

What makes the Landing Gear Robot unparalleled?

The LGR has four hydraulic support struts equipped with electrically lowerable ground plates. All hydraulic cylinders are equipped with magnetostrictive sensors for accurate distance measurement. A special cardan shaft is equipped with electric and hydraulic coupling interfaces. For load balancing a simultaneously extractable counterweight has been implemented, which is also used as the battery container. For safety reasons the load forces are permanently measured and controlled, and the levelling of the LGR works fully automated.


The LGR is powered electrically and can be charged within three hours.

 

 

How can you benefit from this new innovation in landing gear change?

 

One-of-a-kind accuracy

Accuracy/fineness of ± 0.1 mm (± 0.0039 in) at the cardan shaft fixture can be achieved


Have you ever experienced a landing gear pin up position not matching? With the accuracy of our LGR this will be a thing of the past…

Inverse kinematics
  • The Landing Gear Robot comes with inverse kinematics
  • The integrated computer system transfers all operator commanded movements to optimized, synchronized movements of the hydraulic actuators
  • The Landing Gear Robot comes with six degrees of freedom (DOFs), which means six axes
  • The operator can rotate the a/c nose landing gear around its center point
  • The operator stands on the working platform close to the NLG fixture point and commands the Landing Gear Robot with the remote control

All this leads to significant reduction of handling complexity.

Highest process safety level

Splitted work process:

  • The landing gear can be lifted “quickly” with 30 to 50 mm (1.2 to 2 in) per second
  • Subsequent installation movements are driven sensitively slowly with 0.5 mm (0.02 in) per second
  • Landing gear unpinning is executed sensitively slowly
  • 0.5 mm (0.02 in) per second

Safety lock: In the event of hydraulic pressure loss all hydraulic actuators will be blocked

Easy positioning

Precision positioning once for the entire installation procedure. The huge working space compensates for inadequate positioning

  • “Drive small and stand tall”
    • For positioning under the aircraft the Landing Gear Robot pushes or pulls the Landing Gear Rack
    • Reaching the lifting position the four hydraulic support struts are expanded manually and its ground plates are lowered electrically
    • The Landing Gear Robot’s platform then levels automatically
    • This leads to a small dimension in driving mode
    • A huge standing footprint with expanded support struts ensures greatest safety against overturning
  • Outstanding manoeuvrability: The four driven, 180° steerable wheels, enable sideward-, crab-driving and rotation around the center point axis
Unprecedented universality and modularity
  • “One for all”: All landing gears of a wide range of aircraft (E170 to A380) can be changed
  • Various attachments to the cardan shaft plate, which is equipped with electric and hydraulic coupling interfaces, can be hooked up
  • The Landing Gear Robot is suited to a wide variety of installations
  • Landing gear loading onto a transport trolley:
    • The trolley (LG-Rack) is used as a rigging rack
    • The trolley comes with an interface for locking the universal adapter interface to the cardan shaft
    • By using one adapter for all racks this leads to significant cost optimization
Hugest work space

The huge extractability as well as the six DOF (degrees of freedom) movability enable an outstanding working space.

In a nutshell: The Landing Gear Robot will reduce operating staff requirements, asset costs and it will also reduce the time your aircraft checks take as it is the first installation tool providing the accuracy to install the landing gear right first time, every time.

Interested in the Landing Gear Robot? Contact your local Area Sales Manager

Contact your ASM

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