High-lift Flap with Active Flow Control for Boundary Layer Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing aircraft high-lift flap systems face challenges in stabilizing boundary layer flow and managing flow separations, leading to reduced efficiency and increased drag at low angles of attack.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a high-lift flap with strategically positioned air outlet and intake openings, integrated with a flow delivery driver device and control system, which adjusts airflow to maintain boundary layer stability and optimize lift generation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional high-lift flap systems are used without active flow control, then the structure is simpler and easier to manufacture, but boundary layer stability deteriorates and flow separations increase at low angles of attack
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs pneumatic flow control by introducing air through outlets on the flap surface and extracting air through suction openings. This pneumatic system actively manages boundary layer flow, preventing separations and maintaining stability at low angles of attack, thereby resolving the contradiction between reliability and device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes flow parameters by varying the pressure and velocity of air injected through outlets and extracted through suction openings. This parameter control allows adaptation to different flight conditions, maintaining optimal boundary layer characteristics without requiring complex mechanical reconfiguration of the flap structure.
2Productivity
If air outlets are positioned in the front region (0-15% flap chord) and air intakes in the rear region (30-90% or 90-100% flap chord), then boundary layer stability is optimized and lift generation is enhanced, but the device complexity increases due to integrated flow control systems
Solution Approach 1:
The flap surface is segmented into multiple functional zones with discrete air outlets and suction openings positioned at specific locations along the flap chord. This segmentation allows independent control of flow at different regions, optimizing lift generation while managing the complexity through modular placement of flow control elements.
Solution Approach 2:
Air acts as an intermediary substance that is introduced through outlets and extracted through suction openings to mediate the boundary layer flow. This intermediary fluid control mechanism achieves enhanced lift generation without requiring direct mechanical intervention in the boundary layer, thereby managing device complexity.
3Manufacturing precision
If flow delivery driver device is integrated into the air conduit, then flow control precision is improved for boundary layer stabilization, but the device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The flow delivery driver device is merged with the air conduit structure, integrating the flow control mechanism directly into the existing flap architecture. This merging approach achieves precise flow control for boundary layer stabilization while avoiding the need for separate, complex flow control assemblies, thereby maintaining manufacturing ease.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enhances boundary layer stability and improves lift generation efficiency, reducing drag and enhancing aircraft performance at low angles of attack.
Implementation Method 1
a flow delivery driver device for influencing the flow within the air conduit is integrated into the air conduit
Implementation Method 2
a fluid is ejected forward underneath the spoiler or from the front edge of the spoiler in the form of a flat jet such that it travels rearward over the upper surface of the spoiler due to the forward motion of the aircraft
Implementation Method 3
a fluid that originates from a pressure source such as, e.g., air is routed outward to the medium surrounding the lift body from a plurality of fluid outlet openings
Data Source
AI summary
An aerodynamic body of an aircraft with an air outlet opening and an air intake opening that communicates with the air outlet opening via an air conduit is described. A flow delivery driver device for influencing the flow within the air conduit is integrated into the air conduit. The surfaces of the aerodynamic body in the body chord direction include at least one air outlet opening in the front region of the aerodynamic body, and at least one air intake opening on the upper surface of the aerodynamic body and in the rear region of the aerodynamic body and/or on the upper surface of the aerodynamic body in the trailing edge region and/or on the lower surface of the aerodynamic body in the trailing edge region. Arrangements of a main wing and an adjustable flap, and an aircraft with such an aerodynamic body are also described.