Smart material trailing edge variable chord morphing wing
AssigneeToyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
InventorsRobert W. Roe, Umesh N. Gandhi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and methods for changing the shape of a wing using a trailing edge morphing beam. One example method includes coupling a trailing edge portion comprising a morphing beam to an elastic central portion of the wing. The morphing beam comprises a first portion formed of smart material and a second portion formed of elastic material. The method further includes actuating the smart material in the first portion of the morphing beam to change the shape of the elastic central portion of the wing and the elastic material of the morphing beam. The morphing beam can be configured to hold a first position corresponding to a minimum chord-length of the wing and a second position corresponding to a maximum chord length of the wing.
Claims18
A wing, comprising:
- a leading edge portion;
- a trailing edge portion comprising a morphing beam extending in a span-wise direction of the wing from a wing root to a wing tip, and the morphing beam subject to having a span-wise curvature changed via bending, in a chord-wise direction of the wing, from a first stable position to a second stable position by actuation of a smart material included in the morphing beam, with the remainder of the trailing edge portion configured to conform to the morphing beam's span-wise curvature;
- and
- a central portion attached between the morphing beam and the leading edge portion, the central portion configured to change its shape in the chord-wise direction of the wing to accommodate changes in the morphing beam's span-wise curvature to thereby change a bottom surface area and a top surface area of the wing.
A method for changing a span-wise curvature of a trailing edge portion of a wing, comprising:
- in a wing having a trailing edge portion including a morphing beam extending in a span-wise direction of the wing from a wing root to a wing tip, and the morphing beam subject to having a span-wise curvature changed via bending, in a chord-wise direction of the wing, from a first stable position to a second stable position by the actuation of a smart material included in the morphing beam, with the remainder of the trailing edge portion configured to conform to the morphing beam's span-wise curvature, and an elastic central portion affixed to the morphing beam and configured to change shape in the chord-wise direction of the wing to accommodate changes in the morphing beam's span-wise curvature:
- with the morphing beam in the first stable position, a step of actuating the smart material in the morphing beam to bend the morphing beam in the chord-wise direction of the wing from the first stable position to the second stable position, to thereby change the morphing beam's span-wise curvature, with the remainder of the trailing edge portion conforming to the morphing beam's span-wise curvature, change the shape of the elastic central portion of the wing to accommodate the change in the morphing beam's span-wise curvature, and change a bottom surface area and a top surface area of the wing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.