Aircraft Wing Slat With Movable Trailing Edge
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing high-lift components on aircraft wings, such as slats, face challenges in achieving a structurally simple design with a small number of parts while maintaining high aerodynamic effectiveness, particularly in managing the gap between the slat and the main wing to optimize lift during take-off and landing, as current solutions either increase weight or result in aerodynamically disadvantageous gap geometries.
Innovation Solution
A leading edge slat design featuring a main body and a trailing edge part that can move at an angle relative to the main body, utilizing a flexible or elastic element to generate a contact force that allows the slat to rest against the main wing in a partially extended position for take-off and create a gap for high-energy air flow during landing, with optional actuation for active control of the gap size.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If additional kinematic elements are added to control the gap between slat and main wing, then the gap can be precisely controlled for different flight phases, but the weight of the slat assembly increases
Solution Approach 1:
The slat is divided into two functional parts: a main body and a trailing edge part that can move independently relative to each other. This segmentation allows the trailing edge part to be actively positioned to control the gap, while the main body remains structurally simple, thus achieving gap control without proportionally increasing overall weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The trailing edge part is designed to be movable relative to the main body through a joint mechanism, enabling dynamic adjustment of the gap size between the slat and main wing. This dynamic capability allows optimization of aerodynamic performance for different flight phases (take-off vs landing) without requiring the entire slat assembly to be complex or heavy.
2Ease of manufacture
If the slat is designed with a rigid unchanging profile, then the structure is simple and strong, but the aerodynamic effectiveness is reduced due to inability to optimize gap geometry
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of making the entire slat profile flexible or complex, only the trailing edge part is given movement capability while the main body remains rigid and structurally simple. This localized flexibility allows aerodynamic optimization at the critical gap region while maintaining structural simplicity and strength in the majority of the slat structure.
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 design enhances lift coefficient by managing the gap effectively between take-off and landing configurations, reducing drag and weight, and allowing for active control of the gap size to improve flight safety and aerodynamic performance.
Implementation Method 1
a device generating a contact force in a retracted and a partially extended position of the slat is acted upon to abut the leading edge of the slat on the leading edge of the main wing
Implementation Method 2
there is between the trailing edge of the slat and the leading edge of the main wing is a gap through which high-energy, i.e. air flowing at high speed, is guided from the underside of the slat to the upper side of the main wing, resulting in a further increase in lift
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3a~3b
Figure 4~5
AI summary
A leading edge slat arranged on the aerofoil of an aircraft. The leading edge slat is provided on the front of the main wing. The leading edge slat has a partially extended setting, with its trailing edge flat against the wing, and a further extended setting, with its trailing edge spaced apart from the nose of the wing to open a gap feeding high-energy air from the lower surface of the slat to the upper surface of the wing. The leading edge slat includes a body and a trailing edge facing the main wing, which can be bent around the spanwise direction of the slat relative to the body, and on which the trailing edge of the slat is provided, and which by means of a device generating a contact force is loaded for making contact between the trailing edge of the slat and the profile nose of the wing.