US 6,015,115 AGranted

Inflatable structures to control aircraft

AssigneeLockheed Martin Corporation

InventorsKenneth Merle Dorsett, Christopher Sean Stewart

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Abstract

An inflatable structure to control aircraft and a method of modifying the shape of an aircraft airfoil before and during flight, which includes inflating or deflating at least one inflatable bladder positioned on an aircraft wing. The inflatable structures to control aircraft include an aircraft wing structure, at least one inflatable section positioned on an aircraft wing structure in at least one location selected from the group of an upper surface, a lower surface, a leading edge and a trailing edge of the aircraft wing structure. The inflatable section is provided for modifying the shape of the aircraft wing before or during flight for causing desired flight characteristics. An elastic wing skin is provided to cover the wing structure and the inflatable structures.

Claims16

Dependent claims

An airfoil for an aircraft, said airfoil having a leading edge and a trailing edge and comprising:

a rigid structural member adapted to be stationarily mounted to the aircraft, said structural member having a leading side and a trailing side;
at least one inflatable section located on one of said leading and trailing sides of said structural member and having a plurality of bladders mounted to said member;
an elastic skin covering said member and said plurality of bladders in the inflatable section to define one of said leading and trailing edges;
a control system for selectively inflating and deflating said bladders in said inflatable section independently from one another for modifying the shape of said elastic skin to cause desired flight characteristics;
and
wherein said plurality of bladders comprises at least one selectively inflatable upper bladder and at least one selectively inflatable lower bladder for controlling a deflection of said elastic skin, said inflatable section further comprising a movable structure member having a first end and a second end, said first end being attached to one of said leading and trailing edges of said airfoil, said second end being attached to said rigid structural member, said movable structure comprising a plurality of rigid sections connected together by joints to allow articulated movement of said movable structure member between said first and second ends to decrease the effective distance between said first and second end, thus changing an effective chord length of said airfoil.

3 more elements

An airfoil having a leading edge and a trailing edge and comprising:

a rigid structural member having a leading side rearward of the leading edge and a trailing side forward of the trailing edge;
at least one inflatable section mounted to one of said sides of said rigid structural member, wherein said inflatable section is comprised of a plurality of upper bladders that have side walls joined to each other, and a plurality of lower bladders having upper walls joined to lower walls of said upper bladders, said lower bladders further having side walls joined to each other;
an elastic wing skin covering said structural member and said inflatable section ta define said one of said leading and trailing edges;
and
a control system for selectively inflating said up and lower bladders to define an inflated initial configuration and at least partially deflating individual ones of said bladders while keeping others of said bladders inflated for causing an edge portion of said elastic skin to selectively bend downward from the initial configuration and thus change the shape of said airfoil to cause desired flight characteristics.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.