A pivotable canopy roof of an air passenger stair or an air passenger bridge of the type mentioned in the introduction is known from DE 10 2004 016 272 B4. The design of this canopy roof has proven of great value and is often used. However, it has turned out that with strongly contoured aircraft fuselages, and here more specifically in the area of the bow side boarding access, the flexible frame with which the canopy roof rests on the outside skin of the aircraft fuselage not always rests flush with the aircraft hull on the bow side, i.e. toward the front end of the aircraft. On the one hand, this can be due to the fact that, as has already been explained, the aircraft fuselage is strongly contoured in that access area, or that more specifically with large canopy roofs, the inherent elasticity of the canopy roof and here more specifically of the articulated arms is minimal due to the stiff design of the articulated arms. This means that the deformation is not sufficient to ensure a full contact of the flexible frame with the bumper.
In order to always ensure a circumferential contact of the flexible frame on the outer skin of the aircraft fuselage, it is proposed according to the invention that the end member of the at least one first articulated arm is pivotable laterally via a swivel joint. Here, laterally pivotable means that the end member is pivotable in the direction of the width of the flexible frame, more specifically in the direction of the interior of the canopy roof. This means that when the flexible frame of the pivotable canopy roof comes to rest on the outer skin of the aircraft, at the moment in which the flexible frame comes in contact with the outer skin in the area of the end member, the end member of the at least one first articulated arm is pivoted slightly inward, and thus ensures full contact of the flexible frame on the outer skin of the aircraft. By pivoting the end member inward, it is ensured that the canopy roof rests on the aircraft fuselage substantially without tension.
Advantageous features and embodiments of the invention can be gathered from the dependent claims. In the following, the structure of the first articulated arm is described in more detail.
Thus, it is more specifically provided that in the one first articulated arm, the upper arm is connected to the lower arm by way of a hinge joint with a hinge axis that is horizontal in the mounted state, the joint axis of the pivot joint for the laterally pivotable or extendable end member running perpendicular to the hinge axis between the upper arm and the lower arm.
According to another feature of the invention, the end member is connected to the lower arm by way of an intermediate member. This means that the first articulated arm consists of a total of four elements, namely an upper arm, a lower arm connected to it in an articulated manner, to which an intermediate member is connected in turn, which is preferably angled in the direction of the pivot plane of the articulated arm relative to the lower arm, and the end member that is receivable by the intermediate member so as to be laterally pivotable around a pivot joint.
According to a particularly advantageous feature, the end member is pivotable out of the plane of the lower arm against the force of a spring. Thus it is ensured that when retracting the canopy roof, the end member and the first articulated arm always lie in one plane.
Furthermore, ensuring that the end member is laterally pivotable in only one direction, namely laterally in the direction of the interior of the canopy roof is advantageous.
The connection between the intermediate member and the end member is configured as a laterally movable connection, the intermediate member comprising a projection that is received with a lateral clearance by the end member. This means that the projection of the intermediate member is mounted in the hollow profile of the end member with a lateral clearance, in order to permit the lateral extendibility of the end member relative to the intermediate member. An elastomer block relative to which the end member is resiliently pivotable is located between the projection and the end member configured as a hollow profile. This means that the distance between the projection of the intermediate member and the interior wall of the end member determines amongst others the degree of deflection of the end member.
According to another feature of the invention, the air passenger stair or the air passenger bridge comprises an actuation device for pivoting the canopy roof, the actuation device including a pulling means at least for the one first articulated arm. A roll for the pulling means is disposed in the area of the portal frame, the pulling means being laterally articulated with the end member of the articulated arm, i.e. on the side toward which the end member does not pivot. This means that the articulation of the pulling means is eccentric. The consequence of this is that the arrangement of the pulling means on the outer side of the end member assists in the straightening of the end member.
The second articulated arm is also advantageously connected to the portal frame by way of a traction mechanism, e.g. a rope or a strap.
In particular, a roll on the portal frame for rolling up and unrolling the pulling means, i.e. for example a strap or a rope, is attributed to each pulling means, the two rolls being connected by way of a shaft to a drive, for example a tubular motor.
In order to initiate the extension movement of the articulated arms, the actuation device includes at least one driving member for the at least one first articulated arm, which is more specifically configured as a gas pressure spring.
In the following, the invention is exemplarily described in more detail based on the drawings.