Winglets for aircraft wing tips
OwnerMartine Daudeinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wing assembly in an aircraft includes a pair of wings and a winglet situated at each of the wing tips, the winglets or portions thereof being movably mounted. In order to avoid the need for providing structural reinforcement for the wings to accommodate the additional bending moments acting on the wings due to the presence of the winglets, a system is provided for automatically moving the winglets between a first position wherein each winglet has a first aerodynamically optimal angle of attack and a second position wherein each winglet has a second minimal angle of attack wherein the winglets add substantially no bending moment to the wings, the winglets being so automatically moved in response to the stress acting on the wing.
Claims7
In an aircraft including a pair of structurally conventional elongate wings, each having a leading edge, a trailing edge and a wing tip, the improvement comprising a retrofit assembly for said structurally conventional wings, said retrofit assembly including
- a winglet situated at each of said wing tips so as to extend substantially upwardly therefrom, at least a portion of the winglets being movably mounted;
- and
- means for automatically moving said winglets or said portions thereof symmetrically with respect to the aircraft plane of symmetry between a first position wherein each winglet has a first aerodynamically optimal working angle of attack and a second position wherein the winglet has a second minimal angle of attack wherein said winglets add substantially no bending moment to the wings, said automatic means including means provided on said wings for sensing the stress on said wings such that when said sensed stress reaches a certain predetermined value, said moving means are actuated to move said winglets or movable portions thereof from said first position to said second position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.