Trailing edge splitter
AssigneeMcDonnell Douglas Corporation
InventorJohn B. Allen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A plate projecting in an aft direction from the blunt trailing edge of a wing. The plate extends across the span of the trailing edge, and may be either planar or curved in the spanwise direction. The plate is canted to form an acute depression angle with respect to a collinear extension of the chord line of each chordwise cross section of the wing. The depression angle may vary across the span of the trailing edge. The height location of the plate relative to the trailing edge thickness may also vary in a spanwise direction. The length of the plate may be anywhere from 0.5 to 2.0 times the thickness of the trailing edge.
Claims9
A splitter plate for reducing the base drag of a wing comprising:
- a wing having a blunt trailing edge;
- a plate attached to the trailing edge and canted at an acute depression angle with respect to a linear extension of each chord line;
- the trailing edge having a span;
- and
- the depression angle varying across the span of the trailing edge.
A splitter plate for reducing the base drag of a wing comprising:
- a wing having a blunt trailing edge;
- a plate attached to the trailing edge and canted at an acute depression angle with respect to a linear extension of each chord line;
- the trailing edge having a span and a thickness;
- the plate being attached at a plate height relative to the trailing edge thickness;
- a quotient for each chordwise cross section being obtainable by dividing the plate height by the trailing edge thickness;
- and
- the quotient varying across the span of the trailing edge.
A splitter plate for reducing the base drag of a wing comprising:
- a wing having a blunt trailing edge;
- a plate attached to the trailing edge and canted at an acute depression angle with respect to a linear extension of each chord line;
- and
- the plate twisting about a spanwise axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.