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US 2010/0237192 A1Published application
Reinforced inflatable wings for fitment-constrained air vehicles
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorsTerry M. Sanderson, Rudy A. Eisentraut, David B. Hatfield
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A reinforced inflatable wing improves the tolerance of the OML and reinforces the wing in at least the high load areas. This approach provides fitment constrained air vehicles with wings having increased surface area to improve flight endurance or aerodynamic control. A wing box forms a first portion of the wing. A skin having a plurality of rigid plates affixed thereto is inflated to form a second portion of the wing to either increase the chord length or lengthen the wing span. The skin is suitably inflated with foam to form a solid wing.
Claims24
A wing for deployment from an air frame, comprising:
- a wing box having a shape and outer mold line (OML) to form a first portion of the wing extending from a wing root attached to the air frame along at least a portion of the wing span and extending aft along at least portion of the wing chord length;
- a skin attached to the wing box, said skin having a shape and OML of a second portion of the wing;
- a plurality of plates when assembled having the shape and OML of at least a sub-portion of the second portion of the wing, said plates affixed to corresponding locations on said skin, said skin and plates folded and stored in a constrained volume with the wing box;
- and
- an inflation mechanism in the wing box configured to inflate the skin to form said second portion of the wing and thereby assemble the plates to reinforce said sub-portion of the wing.
2 more elements
A wing for deployment from an air frame, comprising:
- a wing box retracted within said airframe, said wing box having a shape and outer mold line (OML);
- a deployment mechanism on the air frame to deploy the rigid wing box to extend lengthwise from the air frame to form a first portion of the wing extending from a wing root attached to the air frame along a leading edge of the wing span and extending aft along at least portion of the wing chord length;
- a skin attached aft to the wing box, said skin having a shape and OML of a second portion to increase wing chord length and form the trailing edge of the wing;
- a plurality of plates when assembled having the shape and OML of at least a sub-portion of said second portion including at least the trailing edge of the wing, said plates affixed to corresponding locations on said skin, said skin and plates folded and stored in a constrained volume with the wing box;
- and
- an inflation mechanism in the wing box configured to inflate the skin with foam to form a solid second portion of the wing aft of the wing box to increase the wing chord length and thereby assemble the plates to reinforce said sub-portion including at least the trailing edge of the wing.
3 more elements
A wing for deployment from an air frame, comprising:
- a wing box retracted within said airframe, said wing box having a shape and outer mold line (OML);
- a first deployment mechanism on the air frame to deploy the rigid wing box to extend lengthwise from the air frame to form a first portion of the wing extending from a wing root attached to the air frame along a leading edge of at least a portion of the wing span and extending aft along the wing chord length;
- a skin attached fore and aft of the wing box, said skin having a shape and OML of a second portion to form a leading edge fore of the wing box and a trailing edge aft;
- a plurality of plates when assembled having the shape and OML of at least a sub-portion of said second portion including at least the trailing edge of the wing, said plates affixed to corresponding locations on said skin, said skin and plates folded and stored in a constrained volume with the wing box;
- and
- an inflation mechanism in the wing box configured to inflate the skin with foam to form a solid second portion of the wing fore and aft of the telescoped structure to extend the wing span and thereby assemble the plates to reinforce said sub-portion including at least the trailing edge of the wing.
3 more elements
A wing for deployment from an air frame, comprising:
- a wing box having a telescoping structure retracted within said airframe, said wing box having a shape and outer mold line (OML);
- a first deployment mechanism on the air frame to deploy the rigid wing box to extend lengthwise from the air frame to form a first portion of the wing extending from a wing root attached to the air frame along a leading edge of at least a portion of the wing span and extending aft along the wing chord length;
- a second deployment mechanism for extending the telescoping structure of the wing box along the wing span, said telescoping structure forming an extended center region of the wing;
- a skin attached to the wing box and telescoping structure, said skin having a shape and OML of a second portion to form a leading edge fore of the center region and a trailing edge aft;
- a plurality of plates when assembled having the shape and OML of at least a sub-portion of said second portion including at least the trailing edge of the wing, said plates affixed to corresponding locations on said skin, said skin and plates folded and stored in a constrained volume with the wing box;
- and
- an inflation mechanism in the wing box configured to inflate the skin with foam to form a solid second portion of the wing fore and aft of the telescoped structure to extend the wing span and thereby assemble the plates to reinforce said sub-portion including at least the trailing edge of the wing.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.