DEPLOYABLE BEACON AEROFOIL UNIT
FIELD OF INVENTION
Present invention refers to Deployable Beacon Aerofoil Unit (DBAU) which is Radio
Transparent, Aerodynamically shaped Airfoil enclosure (made of Kevlar Composite),
houses various electronic modules including antenna. DBAU can float on water & self
sustain when it hits the ground.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In most aircraft accidents cases the process of locating and recovering a Fixed Recorder
system is quite difficult, time consuming and expensive, particularly if lost in deep ocean.
It has been observed quite often that in accidents, black box damaged so badly by postimpact
fire in land crash that stored information are irretrievable and cause of crash can
not be established.
There has been need to evolve a system which has much reliable survivibilty.This would
have been possible if the recording system of vehicle was exposed to much less crash
related severities. We are motivated to develop a recoverable recorder system, which
can float on water and sustain itself when it hits the ground.
The DBAU is designed in such a way that, it floats on Water for indefinite time period.
SUMMARY OF PRESENT INVENTION
In accordance with one aspect of present invention Deployable Beacon Aerofoil Unit
(DBAU) is an aerodynamically shaped container that houses different Electronic
Modules including Antenna & highly Crash Protected Memory Module to store data.
In accordance with second aspect of present invention, DBAU design ensures it will slow
down to a known terminal velocity.
In accordance with third aspect of present invention, DBAU design ensures it survives
ground impact.
In accordance with another aspect of present invention, Deployable Beacon Aerofoil Unit
is capable of floating in water continuously.
In accordance with yet another aspect of present invention, Deployable Beacon Aerofoil
is Radio transparent.
In accordance with one more aspect of present invention, Material used for
manufacturing faces is Epoxy/Kevlar prepeg composite.
In accordance with another aspect of present invention, non-metallic Honeycomb is used
for the core of sandwich shell where side walls of the DBAU are made of honey comb
which is sandwiched between two Kevlar sheets on either side.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent and
descriptive in the description when considered together with figures/flow charts
presented:
Fig. 1 is a Layout of Deployable Beacon Aerofoil Unit, showing cross section & material
details.
Fig. 2 is showing the detail assembly Deployable Beacon Aerofoil Unit as a system.
Fig. 3 is showing installation of different electronic module inside Deployable Beacon
Aerofoil Unit.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Present invention provides functionality of highly Crash Protected Memory Module &
different electronic module in one combined system i.e. Deployable Beacon Aerofoil Unit
(DBAU) (101). Present invention is radio transparent and aerodynamically shaped
container that houses the houses different Electronic Modules (Emergency Locator
Transmitter (102)) including Antenna (103), Processor Board (104) & highly Crash
Protected Memory Module (105) to store vehicle data.
The different electronic modules are clamped inside DBAU. The modules are clamped
on Aluminum Plate which also serves as Cover Plate for Deployable Beacon Aerofoil
Unit. Crash Protected Memory Module is installed approximately at a distance of 75mm
to 80mm from the edge of DBAU. Emergency Locator Transmitter is placed on cover
plate of DBAU. Antenna is placed near the edge of L-clamp made on the cover plate.
The housing is made up of sandwich shell, where Epoxy/Kevlar prepreg composite is
used as the faces and paper honeycomb is used as the core material. The material
constants of the Epoxy/Kevlar prepreg composite are taken from the standard reference
and the honeycomb core is modeled as equivalent homogeneous material.
The material used for manufacturing faces is Epoxy/Kevlar prepreg composite. Epoxy
resin acts as the matrix and the Kevlar prepreg plays the role of reinforcement in the
composite system. Density of the composite can be found from empirical relationship.
For the core of the sandwich shell non-metallic Flex-Core Honeycomb is used. This
honeycomb is made of Aramid Paper. For the Finite Element Analysis of the
aerodynamic housing, equivalent homogeneous and orthotropic model is used instead of
using actual honeycomb. The honeycomb is simulated as equivalent homogeneous
material.
The surface of DBAU is made smooth to ensure aerodynamic & hydrostatic
compatibility.
The design of DBAU gives us the displacement volume of 10Kg of water. The maximum
weight of deployable package is 10Kg. From Archimedes’s Principle, a body will float in
water if the weight of water displaced by a body is greater or equals to the weight of the
body. Since, the displacement volume is greater than the weight of DBAU, this ensures
that DBAU will float in water.

CLIAMS:Accordingly, the description of the present invention is to be considered as illustrative only and is for the purpose of teaching those skilled in the art of the best mode of carrying out the invention. The details may be varied substantially without departing from the spirit of the invention, and exclusive use of all modifications which are within the scope of the appended claims is reserved. We Claim that
1. Deployable Beacon Aerofoil Unit, comprising:
- Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) capable of generating and supplying radio based signals on distress frequency,
- Antenna for wireless transmission of radio based signal,
- Battery package for powering ELT after a predefined event,
- A sophisticated memory module capable of storing digital data and surviving crash and qualified to TSO-C-124a,
- A computing device for controlling the process for data collection and writing in sophisticated memory module.
2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising an arrangement:
- To mount the modules housed in DBAU using various clamps & fasteners.
- The arrangement is a cover plate of DBAU.
3. The system according to claim 1 & 2, is an aerodynamically shaped container.
4. The system according to claim 1, 2 & 3, survives ground impact as achieved with a terminal velocity defined by ED-112.
5. The system according to claim 1, 2 & 3, is capable of floating in water continuously
6. The system according to claim 1 & 2, is Radio transparent for transmission of atleast distress frequencies.
7. The system according to claim 1 & 2, uses Epoxy/Kevlar prepeg composite for housing.
8. The system according to claim 1, 2 & 7, non-metallic Honeycomb is used for the core of sandwich shell where side walls of the DBAU are made of honey comb which is sandwiched between two Kevlar sheets on either side.
9. The system according to claim 1 & 2, finds its application in atleast airborne, sea and land applications. ,TagSPECI:As per Annexure-II