UWE Bristol Engineering showcase 2015

Marcius Antonio
Meng Mechanical Engineering
Project Supervisor
Dr. Tushar Dhavale
Design of a storage rack for aircraft wheel and tyre assemblies
Introduction
The increasingly number of aircrafts, be it for civil
or military purpose has increased large enterprises’
concerns with respect to the management,
maintenance and care with components that are
replaced or removed from these aircrafts.
Based on these needs aircraft company’s hangars
raised the need of a system to accommodate
replaced assemblies of aircrafts. In the aircraft
industry, there is the recurring need that the wheel
assemblies be stored in adjustable racks. It is also
required that the rack presents a feature allowing
assemblies to be rotated and inspected easily
about every two or three months
Aircraft tyre care and maintenance
It is crucial for the proper tyre performance that
had taken the necessary precautions with the
assembly regarding to its storage and
transportation. Due to operational carelessness,
or negligence to follow the instructions, some
defects may develop on the tyre, as follows:
Design of structure
The main frame of the rack has a rectangular
shape. This layout was chosen mainly due to the
fact that it should be stackable. Two types of
frames were modelled to execute simulations and
evaluate which would be the definitive frame.
Once the structure
was designed with
hollow profiles (1020
steel) having 30x40x2
mm the main profile
and 30x30x2 mm the
trusses, applicable
B.C for static loads
were set.
Simulation results
The mechanism works similarly to dumpers,
however, without any viscous fluid inside. The
spring, with not very high stiffness, is coupled to a
rounded plate in one side and the other end is
fixed to an adjustable plate. A soft roller engaged
to the inner edge is responsible for supporting the
assembly in an upright position and rotates
together with the tyre.
Traceability device and program
When started up, the program stores user name.
Only authorised personnel must be allowed to
access the registry and make any change and then
give five buttons with the following features:
store or remove a wheel, logoff, shut down the
device and research on database. In order to
store, the user must fill the serial number of the
tyre, internal pressure, current date, the number
of rack and in which bay it will be stored. There is
also the possibility to add extra information about
the tyre condition, such as defects or
imperfections noticed by the operator.
Project summary
This work aims to design from an storage rack
for tyre and wheel assemblies to be used in
aircraft hangars and develop a device and
software to assist the assemblies traceability
and management.
Project Objectives
• Design an optimum rack to store and
protect aircraft tyres
• Design mechanisms assist stored tyre
rotation manually or automatically
• Develop traceability device and program
• Implement components that will fill
requirements
Project specifications and requirements
• Protection from UV light;
• protection from damage when moving tyre
• protection from spilled degrading fluids;
• Place tyre on flat surface to prevent permanent
distortion
• do not allow tyre to rest one upon the other.
removal turns a difficult task.
• storeroom must be free from air current, as
these bring in fresh sources of ozone;
• Store away from fluorescent lights and electric
generators, battery chargers.
The highest Von Mises stress observed for the left
frame is approximately 6.237x10 7 N/m² and
3.567x10 7 N/m² for the right side one, which gives
almost 10 of factor of safety.
Rotation mechanisms
The manual rotation will be performed using a crank
system engaged directly to the roller shaft (when
black pin is out). When the pin is inserted, the outer
translucent cylinder, welded to the pulley, will
transfer the torque to the crank handle shaft, which
is engaged to the roller’s shaft; thus, the drill, with
hexagonal tip can engage to the hexagonal hole and
perform the rotation.
Final Design
It has a relatively
compact area in relation
to the amount of
assemblies that it can
store. The total
dimensions of the rack
are 2.020x3.629x1.898
m, which is suitable to
airplanes’ hangars.
Project Conclusion
The project goals were achieved satisfactorily,
fulfilling most of the requirements that were
stablished by the aviation companies and tyre care
and maintenance manual. The deliverable at the
end of the project is a design of a storage rack for
aircraft tyre and wheel assemblies, which were
developed according to specifications and
requirements from the stakeholder and conditions
for proper storage.
The traceability program and device were
successfully developed with robustness and an
interface with easy operation.