Streamwise Flap Actuation Layout for Smaller Wing Fairings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional flap actuation systems for aircraft are complex, large, and oriented perpendicular to the wing, leading to wider fairings that increase weight and reduce high-speed performance due to their angled orientation within swept-wing aircraft.
Innovation Solution
The proposed flap actuation system is oriented streamwise, utilizing a fixed beam, rocking lever plate, crank arm, crank rod, and flap link to move flaps in a conical motion, reducing the size and complexity of the system, allowing for smaller, lighter fairings with less wetted area.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional flap actuation systems are oriented perpendicular to the wing, then the flap can be moved between stowed and deployed positions, but the fairings become wider and heavier, increasing weight and reducing high-speed performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional orientation of the flap actuation system from perpendicular to the wing to parallel with the wing (streamwise orientation). This inversion allows the mechanism to achieve the same flap movement function while significantly reducing the spanwise width of the fairing, thereby reducing weight and improving high-speed performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the spatial dimension in which the actuation system operates. Instead of moving the flap primarily in the spanwise direction (perpendicular to wing leading edge), the system moves the flap in the chordwise direction (parallel to wing leading edge), effectively utilizing a different dimensional approach to achieve the same functional outcome with reduced fairing width.
2Ease of operation
If conventional flap actuation systems are oriented perpendicular to the wing, then the flap can be actuated, but the fairings have larger wetted area, increasing profile drag and reducing high-speed performance
Solution Approach 1:
By inverting the orientation from spanwise to chordwise, the patent reduces the projected area and wetted surface of the fairing that interacts with the airflow. This orientation change directly reduces profile drag while maintaining the flap actuation function.
3Ease of operation
If conventional flap actuation systems are used, then the flap can be moved, but the system becomes more complex and larger in size
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple functional elements into a more integrated streamwise-oriented mechanism. The actuation system is combined with the wing structure in a way that reduces the number of separate components and simplifies the overall system architecture while maintaining the flap movement function.
Data Source
AI summary
Flap actuation systems for aircraft are described herein. An example flap actuation system includes a fixed beam coupled to and extending downward from a fixed wing portion of an aircraft wing and a rocking lever plate pivotably coupled to the fixed beam. The rocking lever plate is coupled to a forward end of a flap bracket disposed on a bottom side of a flap of the wing. The flap actuation system also includes a crank arm, a crank rod coupled between the crank arm and the rocking lever plate, and a flap link coupled between the rocking lever plate and an aft end of the flap bracket, such that actuation of the crank arm pivots the rocking lever plate to move the flap between a stowed position and a deployed position relative to the fixed wing portion.