US 12,735,171 B1Granted

Wing deployment device

AssigneeGeneral Atomics

InventorAaron Timothy Julian

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Abstract

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for wing deployment by aerial objects are described. According to one or more aspects of the present disclosure, wing deployment systems (e.g., wing deployment devices, wing deployment mechanisms, etc.) may provide a means to stow a pair of wings in or on (e.g., under) an aircraft body in a stacked, or overlapped, position. Further, wing deployment systems may be configured to deploy the stowed wings to a desired sweep angle (or angles). For instance, one or more wings may be stowed in a horizontal position and may be deployed to a dihedral or anhedral angle. Moreover, a wing's vertical position may be translated upon deployment such that the difference in vertical wing position required to stow in overlapped position is reduced to zero in the deployed position or positions, as described in more detail herein.

Claims23

Dependent claims

An apparatus comprising:

a first axle having a first rotational axis, wherein an angle of the first rotational axis forms a compound angle with respect to a buttock line and a waterline of an airframe in such manner that a first wing rotated about the first rotational axis sweeps from a position parallel to the waterline to a swept position forming a first dihedral or anhedral angle relative to the waterline;
a second axle having a second rotational axis, wherein an angle of the second rotational axis forms a compound angle with respect to the buttock line and the waterline of an airframe in such manner that a second wing rotated about the second rotational axis sweeps from a position parallel to the waterline to a position forming a second dihedral or anhedral angle relative to the waterline, and in such manner that the second wing is a mirror opposite the first wing about the buttock line;
a first wing coupled to the first axle allowing the first wing to rotate about the first rotational axis and allowing the first wing to translate along the first axle;
a second wing coupled to the second axle allowing the second wing to rotate about the second rotational axis and allowing the second wing to translate along the second axle;
a first cam/follower pair, wherein the first cam/follower pair moves the first wing toward a distal end of the first axle as the first wing is moved to a deployed position;
and
a second cam/follower pair, wherein the second cam/follower pair moves the second wing toward a proximal end of the second axle as the second wing is moved to a deployed position, wherein the first wing and the second wing overlap one another in a stowed position.

4 more elements

A wing deployment method comprising:

moving a first wing from a first stowed position to a first deployed position;
and
moving a second wing from a second stowed position to a second deployed position;
wherein said moving the first wing comprises moving the first wing on a first axle having a first rotational axis, wherein an angle of the first rotational axis forms a compound angle with respect to a buttock line and a waterline of an airframe in such manner that the first wing rotated about the first rotational axis sweeps from the first stowed position parallel to the waterline to the first deployed position forming a first dihedral or anhedral angle relative to the waterline, and said moving the first wing further comprises translating along the first axle of the first wing toward a distal end of the first axle as the first wing is rotated to the first deployed position;
and
wherein said moving the second wing comprises moving the second wing on a second axle having a second rotational axis, wherein an angle of the second rotational axis forms a compound angle with respect to the buttock line and the waterline of an airframe in such manner that a second wing rotated about the second rotational axis sweeps from the second stowed position parallel to the waterline to the second deployed position forming a second dihedral or anhedral angle relative to the waterline, and in such manner that the second wing is a mirror opposite the first wing about the buttock line and said moving the second wing further comprises translating along the second axle of the second wing toward a proximal end of the second axle as the second wing is rotated to the second deployed position.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.