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Composite wing slat for aircraft

a composite material and wing slat technology, applied in the direction of sandwich construction, transportation and packaging, fuselage, etc., can solve the problems of increasing the weight of the aircraft, relatively high manufacturing cost of the slat, etc., and achieve the effect of reducing the number of components and light weigh

Active Publication Date: 2010-08-05
THE BOEING CO
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is about a new type of wing slat for aircraft that is made of composite materials. The slat has a central core and upper and lower skins that are reinforced with stiffeners. A spar is also included to connect the skins and the core. The slat is designed to be lightweight and strong, and can be made using existing production methods. The technical effects of the invention are that it reduces the weight of the slat and avoids the use of metal to metal bonds, which makes it stronger and more durable.

Problems solved by technology

Metallic slats suffer from a number of shortcomings, including metal bonding problems which contribute to in-service maintenance, impact damage and corrosion.
In addition, metallic slats are fabricated from numerous metal components which must be individually manufactured and assembled, making the slats relatively expensive to manufacture, and adding unnecessary weight to the aircraft.

Method used

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  • Composite wing slat for aircraft
  • Composite wing slat for aircraft
  • Composite wing slat for aircraft

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Embodiment Construction

[0028]Referring to the Figures, the present invention broadly relates to an aircraft wing slat 20 formed of composite materials with a minimal number of components. Composite structures and materials are widely used in high performance applications because of their light weight, high strength, high stiffness and superior fatigue resistance. As used herein, “composite materials” refers to materials and structures comprising a combination of dissimilar constituent materials bonded together by a binder, most commonly formed by a thermosetting resin matrix in combination with a fibrous reinforcement such as carbon fiber, typically in the form of a tape, sheet or mat. Multiple plies of the matting are impregnated with a binder such as epoxy plastic resin or polyester resin, and formed into a “lay-up”. The plies are arranged so that their respective directions of orientation alternate at differing angles in order to improve the stiffness of the cured laminate. Pressure and heat are applie...

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Abstract

An aircraft wing slat is formed from composite materials using lay-up and vacuum bagging techniques. The slat lay-up comprises a central honeycomb core sandwiched between upper and lower composite skins, a pre-cured spar and pre-cured stiffeners. After the lay-up is cured and removed from a lay-up mold, leading edge strengthening ribs and a preformed composite nose skin are installed to complete the slat.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention generally relates to structural components for aircraft, and deals more particularly with a wing slat formed of composite materials.[0003]2. Description of the Related Art[0004]In order to improve the lift characteristics of large commercial and military aircraft, particularly during low speed operation, wings are equipped with high lift, auxiliary devices known as slats. The slats are mounted on the leading edge of the wings so as to pivot or slide outwardly from the leading edge, from a stowed to a deployed position. Typically, leading edge slats are moved downward and forward from the leading edge of the wing using either linear or rotary actuators which move a track or an arm attached to the slat.[0005]In the past, slats have been fabricated using metal and metal alloys using metal-to-metal bonds. Metallic slats suffer from a number of shortcomings, including metal bonding problems which contri...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): B64C3/20
CPCB64C9/24Y02T50/433Y02T50/44Y02T50/40
Inventor BARR, MARK A.BAUCUM, JEFFREY P.
Owner THE BOEING CO