JPH0818596B2 - Water spray / spraying boom for air vehicles - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is used in air vehicles such as fire-fighting helicopters, tree-planting helicopters, and farm helicopters when spraying water for extinguishing fire and spraying chemicals such as insecticides and herbicides. Regarding the boom (cylindrical body).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a water discharge / chemical spraying boom (not shown) has a fixed boom having a nozzle at its tip and is attached to the lower part of a small helicopter, for example, to discharge water for extinguishing water or to exterminate pine worms. It is used when applying chemicals for weeding. In this case, in order to prevent the spray from being disturbed by the wind blown down by the rotating rotor of the helicopter, the fixed boom is lengthened and the nozzle provided at the tip of the fixed boom is projected outside the rotation region of the rotor.

[0003]

However, such a water spraying / spraying boom has a problem that it may interfere with the ground especially at the time of takeoff / attachment because the long fixed boom extends from the lower part of the helicopter. ing. Also, because the fixed boom is long, there is a risk that the fixed boom will be vibrated and damaged due to the influence of air resistance and air flow during flight of the helicopter, or the flight balance of the helicopter may be lost, increasing the flight speed of the helicopter. It also has a problem that it is not possible.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is, firstly, a pipe-shaped cylinder boom provided in a flying body and provided with a ring body at its tip, and a ring-shaped piston sliding in the cylinder boom. A pipe-shaped piston boom that is provided at both ends with a water discharge nozzle and penetrates the ring body to enter and exit the cylinder boom, and compressed air supply formed in the cylinder boom between the ring body and the piston, The above problem has been solved by a boom having an exhaust hole.

[0005]

In the boom, a kind of cylinder is formed by the space surrounded by the ring body and the piston, the inner circumference of the cylinder boom, and the outer circumference of the piston boom. When compressed air is sent into the space from the air supply hole, the piston is pushed by the compressed air and slides in the cylinder cylinder boom toward the air vehicle, and the piston boom is drawn into the cylinder boom. As a result, the piston boom is stored in the cylinder boom, and is kept in this state during the flight of the aircraft. When spraying water or spraying chemicals,
Send fire extinguishing water or chemicals to the cylinder and piston booms. While extinguishing water or chemicals flows into the cylinder boom, it pushes the piston and causes the piston boom to project from the cylinder boom. Fire extinguishing water or chemicals are sprayed and sprayed from the tip of the piston boom.

According to the second aspect of the invention, when the piston boom is retracted in the cylinder boom, the needle shaft enters the piston boom and closes the hole of the pipe-shaped piston boom. Therefore, the fire-extinguishing water or chemicals sent to the cylinder boom and the piston boom do not immediately spout from the tip of the piston boom, but press the piston, causing the piston boom to project from the cylinder boom,
When the piston boom comes out of the needle shaft, it is ejected and sprayed from the tip of the piston boom.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Water discharge boom (water discharge / chemical spraying boom, see Fig. 1)
33 is used when fire extinguishing work is performed by discharging water for extinguishing fire from the air, and is provided on both sides of the helicopter H, at a position along the body 31 of the helicopter H (see FIG. 5) and at the side of the body 31. It is designed so that it can have a protruding position. The water discharge boom 33 mainly includes a fixed boom (cylinder boom) 34 and a telescopic boom (piston boom) 35 that expands and contracts by moving in and out of the fixed boom 34. The fixed and telescopic booms 34, 35 are entirely pipe-shaped. The water discharge boom 33 is attached to a universal joint 32 of a water discharge pipe 41 provided in a lower portion of a body 31 of a helicopter (aircraft) H. A water tank 29 and a water discharge pump 30 are mounted in the machine body 31.

A water discharge nozzle 37 and a collar-like lock fitting 38 are attached to the tip of the pipe boom 11 of the telescopic boom 35 (see FIG. 2), and a piston 39 is attached to the other end. O-ring packings 40, 40 are fitted on the outer circumference of the piston 39. Telescopic boom 35
It penetrates a ring body 47 described later. Further, a key 12 is provided on the outer circumference of the pipe boom 11 in the longitudinal direction.

The fixed boom 34 (see FIG. 1) is attached to the stay 2
5 and the pin 27 of the metal body fitting 26, which is horizontally rotatably provided on the machine body 31.
It has 8. At the tip (right side in FIG. 2) of the pipe-shaped boom body 20 of the fixed boom 34 (see FIG. 2), the bearing 1
8 is fixed by a plurality of bolts 19, 19.
The bearing 18 includes a tubular portion 46 and a ring body 47.

The bearing 18 (see FIG. 2) has the key 12 described above.
A key groove 13, a compressed air supply hole 14, a compressed air exhaust hole 15, a motor-operated exhaust valve 16, and a lock piece 17 which is operated by a solenoid 42 are formed and provided. The spring 21 is incorporated between the ring body 47 and the piston 39. The lock fitting 38 and the lock piece 17 form a lock mechanism 44. A support metal fitting 22 for supporting the needle shaft 23 is provided on the inner circumference of the other end (left side in FIG. 1) of the boom body 20. Support bracket 22 (see FIG. 4)
Is composed of four plate-shaped tongues 43 so that the fire extinguishing water W can pass through the fixed boom 34.

The needle shaft 23 (see FIG. 1) is a shaft-shaped member which is thinner than the inner diameter of the pipe boom 11 and shorter than the moving distance of the telescopic boom 35, and a thin guide 24 is formed at the tip thereof. Has been done.

Next, the operation will be described. While the helicopter H is flying, the water discharge boom 33 (see FIG. 5) is
It is placed in a position along the airframe 31 facing the flight direction of. The telescopic boom 35 is housed in the fixed boom 34. When water for fire extinguishing is discharged, an operator inside the machine horizontally tilts the fixed boom 34 by a drive device (not shown) so that the fixed boom 34 projects to the side of the machine body 31.
The operator further releases the electric exhaust valve 16 to the atmosphere, releases the lock mechanism 44, and operates the water discharge pump 30. Then, fire extinguishing water flows from the water tank 29 into the water discharge boom 33.

The water pressure of the fire extinguishing water is applied to the side surface of the piston 39 of the telescopic boom 35, and the telescopic boom 35 is pressed and protrudes from the fixed boom 34. The fire extinguishing water at this time does not enter the cylinder 45 formed by the bearing 18 of the fixed boom 34 and the piston 39 of the telescopic boom 35 by the packing 40, 40. The air in the cylinder 45 is discharged to the atmosphere through the compressed air exhaust hole 15 and the electric exhaust valve 16. Therefore, the protruding speed of the telescopic boom 35 is determined by the exhaust speed from the electric exhaust valve 16.

During this operation, the needle shaft 23 is in the hole 111 in the pipe boom 11 of the telescopic boom 35 and is in a state of closing the hole 111. For this reason, the fire extinguishing water can hardly flow into the telescopic boom 35 and is not discharged from the water discharge nozzle 37. When the telescopic boom 35 approaches the bearing 18 of the fixed boom 34, the spring 21 is compressed and stopped. During this time, the telescopic boom 35 is prevented from rotating by the key groove 13 of the key 12 and the bearing 18.

When the telescopic boom 35 is almost projected, the piston 39 of the telescopic boom 35 is moved to the needle shaft 23.
Has moved to the guide portion 24 (see FIG. 2). For this reason, the pipe boom 11 is in a state of being pulled out from the needle shaft 23, the fire extinguishing water flows into the hole 111 of the opened pipe boom 11, and is discharged from the water discharge nozzle 37. At this time, since the water discharge nozzle 37 (see FIG. 5 and FIG. 6) projects outside the rotation region S of the rotor R of the helicopter H, the spray is hardly disturbed by the wind blown down by the rotor.

When the fire extinguishing work is completed, the water discharge pump 30
(See FIG. 1) is stopped, the electric exhaust valve 16 (see FIG. 2) is closed, and the bleed air of the helicopter engine is injected from the compressed air supply hole 14. Then, engine bleed air is injected into the cylinder 45 formed by the piston 39 and the bearing 18, and the telescopic boom 35 is drawn into the fixed boom 34 and stored. When the telescopic boom 35 is housed in the fixed boom 34, the lock fitting 38 provided at the tip of the telescopic boom 35 engages with the lock piece 17 and holds the retractable state of the telescopic boom 35.

In the above description, the water discharge boom 33 is used.
The case where the fire extinguishing work is performed by projecting (see FIG. 5) to the side of the machine body 31 has been described.
It is also possible to extend it forward in the flight direction while keeping it along 1 to perform fire extinguishing work. Even in this case, since the water discharge nozzle 37 can be projected outside the rotation region S of the rotor R of the helicopter H, the spray is hardly disturbed by the wind blown down by the rotor.

Even if the needle shaft 23 is not provided as shown in FIG. 8, the retractable boom 35 is fixed to the fixed boom 3.
4 can be projected. However, the needle shaft 2
3, the fire-extinguishing water can be almost stopped until the retractable boom 35 has finished protruding from the fixed boom 34.
It has the role of saving water for fire extinguishing. In addition, the water discharge nozzle 37 is directed slightly upward in order to improve the water discharge efficiency,
When fire extinguishing water is discharged while the telescopic boom 35 extends, a reaction force in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 8 is applied to the telescopic boom 35, and the durability of the packing 40 (see FIG. 2) of the piston 39 is reduced. At the same time, the telescopic boom 35 may become difficult to slide. However, when the needle shaft 23 is provided, the water for extinguishing the fire can be stopped by the needle shaft 23, so that a reaction force in the direction of arrow A is not generated and the telescopic boom 35 moves smoothly. .

Although the water discharge boom of the above-described embodiment is mounted on a helicopter, it can be mounted on a light aircraft. Further, it goes without saying that the water discharge boom can spray chemicals such as powdered insecticides and herbicides in addition to discharging water for fire extinguishing.

[0020]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION The water spray / medicine spray boom for an air vehicle according to claim 1 can be made compact by making it telescopic, and it can be damaged due to interference with the ground at the time of takeoff and landing and air resistance during flight. Can be prevented. Further, by making the device compact, it is possible to reduce air resistance and eliminate adverse effects on the flight characteristics of the flying body. Furthermore, since the piston boom is projected only when water is sprayed or sprayed, when the flying object is a helicopter, it is projected outside the rotation area of the rotor to reduce the influence of the wind blown down by the rotor. Then, the spray can be prevented from being disturbed. And
In the water spray / spraying boom for aircraft according to the second aspect, when the piston boom moves in and out of the cylinder boom, spraying or spraying is restricted by the needle shaft, so that water for extinguishing or chemicals can be saved. Further, if water discharge or spraying can be restricted, reaction force due to water discharge or spraying is not applied to the piston boom, and the piston boom can be smoothly moved in and out.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a water jet / spray spray boom for an aircraft of the present invention taken along the longitudinal direction of the boom.

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of a connecting portion between the fixed boom and the telescopic boom, and is a cross-sectional view taken along the longitudinal direction of the boom.

FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the vicinity of a support fitting that supports the needle shaft when the telescopic boom is housed in the fixed boom, and is a cross-sectional view taken along the longitudinal direction of the boom.

4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a helicopter equipped with the water spray / chemical spraying boom for an air vehicle of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a left side view of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a front view of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along the longitudinal direction of the boom when the water discharge / spraying boom is not provided with a needle shaft.

[Explanation of symbols]

 H Helicopter (aircraft) 14 Compressed air supply hole 15 Compressed air exhaust hole 23 Needle shaft 33 Water discharge boom (water discharge / chemical spraying boom) 34 Fixed boom (cylinder boom) 35 Telescopic boom (piston boom) 37 Water discharge nozzle 39 Piston 47 Ring body

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A pipe-shaped cylinder boom, which is provided on a flying body and provided with a ring body at its tip, and a ring-shaped piston and a water discharge nozzle, which slide in the cylinder boom, are provided at both ends of the ring body. A pipe-shaped piston boom penetrating into and out of the cylinder boom, and compressed air supply and exhaust holes formed in the cylinder boom between the ring body and the piston, characterized by comprising: A water spray and chemical spray boom for air vehicles. 2. The water spray / chemical spraying boom for an aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the cylinder boom has a needle shaft that is received in the piston boom when the piston boom enters the cylinder boom. A water spray / chemical spray boom for aircraft.