Aircraft Pop-Up Spoiler Mounting for Wing-Bending Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mounting pop-up spoilers on aircraft wings poses challenges due to bending load deflections, which can impair the operation of the spoiler actuation mechanism and lead to deployment or retraction issues.
Innovation Solution
The pop-up spoiler unit is mounted to the wing structure at locations lying in the neutral plane, using pin joints that allow for pure rotation, thereby isolating it from wing bending deflections, and is deployed through an aperture in the wing cover.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the pop-up spoiler unit is mounted directly to the wing structure, then the spoiler can be deployed through the wing cover, but the wing bending deflections transfer loads to the spoiler unit causing actuation mechanism jamming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mounting system consisting of pins and pin joints that connect the spoiler unit to the wing structure. These pin joints act as mediators that allow relative movement between the wing structure and spoiler unit, absorbing the bending deflections while maintaining the connection. The pins are positioned at specific locations on the wing structure that minimize load transfer during wing bending.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the mounting parameters by positioning the pin joints at specific locations on the wing structure and orienting the pin axes at specific angles. The pin axes are positioned to be substantially perpendicular to the spanwise axis of the wing and located at positions that reduce the moment arm during wing bending. This parameter optimization minimizes the transfer of bending loads to the spoiler actuation mechanism.
2Reliability
If the spoiler unit is isolated from wing bending deflections, then actuation mechanism operation is maintained, but mounting complexity increases due to pin joints and specific positioning requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The mounting system is segmented into discrete pin joints positioned at specific locations on the wing structure. Rather than a continuous rigid mounting, the connection is divided into separate pin joint elements that can independently accommodate movements. This segmentation allows the system to isolate the spoiler unit from bending loads while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure.
3Reliability
If pin joints are used to allow pure rotation, then the spoiler unit is isolated from bending loads, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase for pin axis alignment
Solution Approach 1:
The pin joints are designed to be dynamic connections that allow relative rotation and movement between the spoiler unit and wing structure. Rather than requiring extremely precise fixed alignment, the pin joints accommodate small misalignments through their rotational capability. The pin axes are positioned and oriented to allow the spoiler unit to rotate freely while maintaining isolation from bending loads, reducing the stringency of manufacturing precision requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
An aircraft wing including a wing structure supporting a wing cover having an outer aerodynamic surface, and a pop-up spoiler unit including an actuation mechanism and a spoiler coupled to the actuation mechanism. The spoiler is moveable by the actuation mechanism to deploy through an aperture in the wing cover. The pop-up spoiler unit is mounted to the wing structure to be substantially isolated from wing bending deflections. The wing structure has a neutral plane which is substantially neither stretched nor compressed during bending of the wing structure. The pop-up spoiler unit is mounted to the wing structure at only two pin joints each having a respective pin axis about which the pop-up spoiler unit is substantially free to rotate, and each pin axis substantially lies in the neutral plane.