Construction of a Retractable Single-Strut Undercarriage in Fiber Composite Design for the Motorized Sailplane Valentin Taifun 17e

Diploma Thesis from the year 2016 in the subject Engineering - Mechanical Engineering, grade: 1,3, Würzburg-Schweinfurt University of Applied Sciences, language: English, abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to calculate, interpret and construe a retractable one-wheel landing gear for the motorized sailplane "Valentin Taifun 17E". Therefore the available space in the sail plane was measured and the data was transferred into the CAD-system "Autodesk Inventor". The calculative position of the extended landing gear, in dependence of the variable center of mass and in due consideration of the requirements of the JAR 22, was determined. Due to the information about the position of center of mass and of further considerations, the position of the landing gear mounting could be determined so the retraction kinematic of the carriage was automatically stated.

The extension should be realized with lever mechanism and the carriage needs to be locked in extended position. With the aid of a market research and creativity techniques, different construction possibilities were created. These constructions were assessed, so that a winner version could be chosen for further contemplation.

In order to construe the single components of the carriage it was necessary to identify the occurring forces and to design and construe the components in dependence of the characteristic cases of damage. To determine the acting forces it was necessary to take into account the spring constant and the optimal tire pressure of the used tire, which was therefore determined in the course of this diploma thesis.

The construction process was done according to the flow of forces during the landing impact. During the construction many different components were developed. They were compared with each other, so that the best part accomplishes the most with the requirements: lightness, stability and simplicity.

The developed construction needs to be considered as a first prototype and as the basic for further improvements of the carriage, before it is getting finally implemented into the "Valentin Taifun 17E".