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US 2019/0100323 A1Published application
Segmented Aircraft Wing Having Solar Arrays
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsRobert Erik Grip, Blaine Knight Rawdon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An aircraft wing has a plurality of wing segments mounted on a wing spar by joints that allow relative movement between the spar and the wing segments. Tuning of coefficients of thermal expansion is employed to reduce induced stresses from changes in temperature.
Claims25
1-24. (canceled)
An aircraft wing, comprising:
- a wing spar;
- at least one wing segment mounted on the spar and having an outer skin;
- a solar collection panel mounted on the skin for generating electricity using collected solar energy;
- and
- at least one electrically conductive, substantially rigid reinforcing member attached to the skin and extending in a span-wise direction of the wing for reinforcing the skin, the rigid reinforcing member being electrically coupled with the solar panel and conducting electricity generated by the solar panel.
2 more elements
33-34. (canceled)
(canceled)
An aircraft wing, comprising:
- a sandwich panel construction including an upper solar panel, at least one lower reinforcing layer and a core sandwiched between the solar panel and the lower reinforcing layer, wherein the coefficients of thermal expansion of the solar panel and the lower reinforcing layer are substantially matched with each other.
42-43. (canceled)
A method of fabricating an aircraft wing, comprising:
- selecting a desired airfoil shape for the wing;
- forming a wing panel sandwich by laminating a wing skin between upper and lower reinforcement layers;
- and
- substantially matching the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE's) of the upper and lower reinforcement layers based on the selected airfoil shape.
1 more element
(canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.