Design And Analysis of Jam

Tolerant Mechanism
Semester Review (Review No. 2)
(11.12.2019)

1
Project Team
● Abhijeet Parkhi - 111610082
● Akash Parshuramkar - 111610083
● Rahul Patil - 111610086
● Rohit Patil - 111610087

Project Guide
● Dr. V. K. Haribhakta

2
Content

3
Content contd...

1. Introduction
2. Problem Statement
3. Literature review
4. Methodology
5. Work completed till date
6. Schedule
7. References

4
Introduction

5
Introduction contd...

● Weapons on Indian Military

Aircrafts - exposed to atmosphere
● Susceptible to be detected on
enemy radar
● Weapons bay is needed to avoid
the exposure to radar
● Weapons bay - A compartment to
Fig No.1 - Weapons Bay of F-22 Aircraft
store weapons

6
Introduction contd...

● Weapons Bay Actuation

○ Needs to be very quick
○ Approximately 5 seconds for actuation (opening)
○ Approximately 5 seconds for closing, after deploying weapon
○ Needs to be highly reliable
○ Has to work against high forces (torque requirement of
approximately 27000Nm)
● The actuation of weapons bay can be done by Geared Rotary
Actuators.

7
Introduction contd...

GRA - Geared Rotary Actuator [1]

● Accommodated in small space (150*150*150 cubic mm)

● Provides high torque (approximately 27000 Nm)
● High efficiency
● Sustains vibrations
● High reduction ratio

8
Introduction contd...

● The weapons bay of military aircrafts is operated by a number of

geared rotary actuators.
● If one of the GRAs gets jammed, the entire mechanism fails to serve
the purpose.
● A jam-tolerant aims to overcome this problem and make the system
operate even if one of the GRAs gets jammed i.e. the jamming of one
GRA does not preclude the operation of others.

9
Problem Statement

10
Problem Statement contd...

Design and Analysis of a Jam Tolerant Mechanism for the Power

Hinges of the Doors of Weapon Bay of Military Aircraft

11
 Jamming

Actuator jamming in flight control applications may be attributed to:

1) Large aerodynamic forces
2) Permanently stuck faulty control surface
3) Low Backlash
4) Misalignment between gears’ axis

12
 2 Ways to deal with misalignment

1. Accommodate the misalignment

2. By Bypassing the Jammed GRA

Fig No. 2 – Jammed GRA

13
Literature review

14
Literature review contd...

1. Jam Tolerant Geared Rotary Actuator with

Automatic Disconnect (US Patent No. 5,071,397)[2]
● The mechanism is passive utilizing balls,springs and movable ram to
automatically disconnect.
● Fig No.2 represents the mechanism in normal operating conditions, Fig
No.3 represents the mechanism in disconnected condition.
● Fig No. 4 shows the balls and 11,12,13 rams which could move in mail
input shaft spline.

15
Literature review contd...

Fig No. 3 - Shearing Element

Fig No. 2 - Modification for

ease of Maintenance Fig No. 4 16
Literature review contd...

17
Literature review contd...
2. Jam Tolerant Geared Rotary Actuator for multiple
actuator systems with single prime mover
(US Patent No. 5,120,285)[3]
● It has passive method of jam control
● 2 parallel torque paths are provided
● No shear element
● Low maintenance
● If both paths are jammed, then the mechanism fails
and has provision of recovery
18
Literature review contd...

● This mechanism can be combined with another jam-tolerant mechanism

which will account to high reliability.

19
Literature review contd...

3. Non-Jamming Rotary Mechanical Actuator

(US Patent 4,856,379) [4]
● The mechanism consists of 2 cams - inner 52
and outer 54
● Inner cam is fixed rigidly on input shaft 30
● External gear 64 is fixed rigidly on outer cam 54
● Power is transmitted from inner cam to outer
cam through key 60

20
Literature review contd...

● The input shaft 30 is rotating

about central axis A
● Central axis of inner cam 52 B is
offset by X, vertically
● Central axis of outer cam 54 C is
offset by Y, from B
● X=Y

Fig No. 5 - Normal Operation

Where 52 – Inner Cam 54 – Outer Cam 60 – Key
64 – External Gear 33 – Internal Gear 30 – Input Shaft
A – Axis of rotation of 30,33,52,54
A – Geometrical axis of 30, 33 B – Geometrical axis of 52
C – Geometrical axis of 54
21
Literature review contd...

● If jammed, the increase in torque

leads to failure of key 60
● Input shaft 30 & inner cam 52
continue to rotate
● After the shaft rotates 180 degrees,
the offsets X and Y of central axes
of 52 and 54 is nullified Fig No. 6 - After Jamming
● No contact between external gear
64 and ring gear 33
22
Literature review contd...

4. Fail Safe Jam Tolerant Mechanism

(US Patent No. 4,742,730)[5]
● The mechanism provides parallel load paths, to enable stiff link in the
event of failure of any components of the either paths.
● Fig No. X and Fig No. X depicts the Side view and Front view
respectively.
● Jam may cause failure but the control surface will maintain stiffness.

23
Literature review contd...

Fig No. 7 Fig No. 8 24

Literature review contd...

Fig No. 9 Fig No. 10

Fig No. 11

25
Literature review contd...

5. Jam Tolerant Rotary Actuation System

(US Patent 4,688,744) [6]
● The first and second power drive units are
drivingly coupled to either ends of actuation
assembly.
● Release of the actuation mechanism brought on by
the shearing of shear element associated with the
jammed element from the main drive line shaft. Fig No. 12
● This arrangement allows the remaining unjammed
surfaces to be driven by either one or both the
power drive unit.
26
6. Jam Tolerant Rotary Actuator with Shear Pins and
Disengagement Coupling (US Patent 5,779,787) [7]
● Power is transmitted from main shaft to a hollow shaft through a shear lug

● During jamming, the lug shears and there is relative motion between main
shaft and the hollow shaft

27
Literature review contd...

28
Mechanisms Explored
(Work Done Till Date)

29
Mechanisms Explored contd...

1) Ball and Screw based Passive Jam Tolerant

Mechanism
● The mechanism consist of ball and
spring, thus it is pure mechanically
operated mechanism.
● One of the shaft (shaft 1) has recess
and the other shaft (shaft 2) has
ball and spring system attached to
the recess as shown
Fig No. 13
● Depending on the load 3-4 ball
spring system can be used
30
Mechanisms Explored contd...

In case of excessive torque, the spring will compress causing the ball to slip
over the other shaft (shaft 1)
31
Mechanisms Explored contd...

32
Mechanisms Explored contd...

2) Magnetic Torque Limiter

Fig No. 14
1. Electromechanical System
2. Pair of Electromagnets required for each Sun Gear
3. Torque sensors are also required
Bypassing... 33
Mechanisms Explored contd...

34
Mechanisms Explored contd...

35
Mechanisms Explored contd...

3) Friction Based Torque Limiter

Fig No. 15
1. Outer shaft with Slant Cut and Spring Loading.
2. Slipping action after predetermined torque is reached.

Bypassing... 36
Mechanisms Explored contd...

37
Mechanisms Explored contd...

38
Comparison

39
 Response
Sr. No. Patent No Space required Principle Time No. of components Reliability Maintainance
Axial Radial

Main shaft,sleeve,shear
lug,planetary gears,fixed and
1 US4688744 1 1 Shear_mechanical fast 5 moving rings. Gear failure change the shear lug

parallel torque Main shaft, three rings, two

2 US5120285 2.5 1.2 path_mechanical fast 11 planet set, two transfer gears gear failure complete repair of the jammed path
shear lug stuck in some thing,
Main shaft, hollow shaft, sun small thickness of sun gear
gear, planet1, planet2, shear shears, the fine adjustment
lug, coupling nut, o/p ring, required in thread length shear lug to be replaced,
3 US5779587 1.5 1.3 shear_mechanical slow 11 two fixed ring, moving cage disturbed in vibration disassembly is requried

Main shaft,hollow shaft,sun, 4

parallel torque set of planet, 4 set of transfer if shear lug is not used, returns to
4 US6554734 2.5 1 path_mechanical fast 16 gears, 5 sleevs and rings gear failure the original path by its own

Main shaft,,sun, 4 set of

parallel torque planet, 4 set of transfer gears, if shear lug is not used, returns to
5 US6875145B2 2.5 1 path_mechanical fast 16 5 sleevs and rings gear failure the original path by its own
Ball and Spring
Type of passive ball and ball, spring,flangs, gears, automatically adjuss to the original
6 Jam tolerant 1.2 1.3 spring_mechanical fast 8 planets gear failure configuration

Friction Based
7 Torque Limiter 1.5 1 Shear_mechanical slow 8 spring,hollow shaft,slant shaft sprring, key, gear failure disassembly required

Electromagnetic electromagnets, sheeve, main automatically with the help of

8 Torque Limiter 1.5 1 electromagnetic fast 8 shaft, gear, torque transducer gear failure electromagnets 40
Conclusion

41
Conclusion contd...

The potential mechanisms for further development are:

● Parallel Paths with Shear Lug

● Jam Tolerant Rotary Actuator with Shear Pins and Disengagement
Coupling
● Ball and Screw based Passive Jam Tolerant Mechanism
● Magnetic Torque Limiter
● Friction Based Torque Limiter

42
 Methodology

1 2 3 4 5 6

Literature Exploring the Calculations Designing &

Analysis Manufacturing
Review Mechanisms Modeling
(Checking the
Kinematics using (Using Excel and (Using (Using ANSYS (Mostly RPT)
SolidWorks and MATLAB) SolidWorks) and MATLAB)
ADAMS.)

43
Schedule

44
45
References

46
1. Pratik Tatipamula, Renuka Misal, Soji Jacob,Vernon D’Souza, BTech
Project report 2018-19, Department of Mechanical Engineering, CoEP.
Design and Analysis of Actuation Mechanism for an Aircraft’s weapon
Bay
2. Duane H. Grimm, Jam Tolerant Geared Rotary Actuator with Automatic
Disconnect (US Patent No.5,071,397) (1990)
3. Duane H. Grimm, Jam Tolerant Geared Rotary Actuator for multiple
actuator systems with single prime mover ( US Patent No. 5,120,285)
(1992)
4. Nozar Jafarey, Non-Jamming Rotary Mechanical Actuators (US Patent
No. 4,856,379) (1987)
5. Ruper I. Don; Johan D. Mayer, False Safe Rotary
Actuator, (US Patent No. 4,742,730) (1982)
47
6. Duane H. Grimm, Jam Tolerant Geared Rotary Actuator with Automatic
Disconnect (US Patent No.5,071,397) (1990)
7. William Reilly, Jam Tolerant Rotary Actuator with Shear Pins and
Disengagement Coupling (US Patent 5,779,787) (1998)

48