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US 8,128,031 B2Granted
Spar for sailwings
AssigneeAurora Flight Sciences Corporation
InventorNeil Thomas Boertlein
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A sail wing for a lightweight aircraft comprising a membrane; a front spar; and a tensioned rear wire attached to a trailing edge of the membrane, such that when the front spar is bent to match a curve of the tensioned trailing edge of the sail wing membrane, the sail wing membrane has substantially little or no twist, and results in substantially little or no induced drag.
Claims26
A sail wing for an aircraft comprising:
- a front spar;
- a sail wing membrane attached to the front spar;
- and
- a tensioned rear wire attached to a trailing edge of the sail wing membrane, such that when the front spar includes a curve that matches a curve of the tensioned trailing edge of the sail wing membrane, the sail wing membrane has substantially little or no twist along a span of the sail wing membrane, the front spar curve being substantially concave when viewed from below the front of the aircraft, and wherein
- the front spar is pre-curved to substantially match the shape of the trailing edge curve so that plural curved sail wing cross sections are at a substantially uniform angle of attack.
2 more elements
A lightweight aircraft, comprising:
- a fuselage;
- vertical control surfaces appended to the fuselage;
- horizontal control surfaces appended to the fuselage;
- and
- a wing structure appended to the fuselage, wherein the wing structure includes a pre-curved front spar;
- a wing structure membrane attached to the front spar;
- and a tensioned rear wire attached to a trailing edge of the wing structure membrane, such that when the front spar is pre-curved to match a curve of the tensioned trailing edge of the wing structure membrane, the wing structure membrane has substantially little or no twist, the front spar curve being substantially concave when viewed from below the front of the aircraft, and wherein
- the front spar is pre-curved to substantially match the shape of the trailing edge curve so that plural curved sail wing cross sections are at a substantially uniform angle of attack.
5 more elements
A sail wing for an aircraft comprising:
- a front spar;
- and
- a tensioned sail wing membrane attached to the front spar, such that when the front spar includes a curve that matches a curve of the tensioned trailing edge of the tensioned sail wing membrane, the tensioned sail wing membrane has substantially little or no twist along a span of the tensioned sail wing membrane, the front spar curve being substantially concave when viewed from below the front of the aircraft, and wherein
- the front spar is pre-curved to substantially match the shape of the trailing edge curve so that plural curved sail wing cross sections are at a substantially uniform angle of attack.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.