VTOL Aircraft Folding Wing Landing Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
VTOL aircraft require significant disc loading for take-off, which increases weight and necessitates undercarriage, wheels, brakes, and suspension, making them heavier and less efficient.
Innovation Solution
The aircraft features folding wings, canards, or stabilisers with fixed inboard and downwardly foldable outboard sections, eliminating the need for undercarriage by allowing the aircraft to land and support itself on these sections, reducing weight and eliminating the need for wheels and brakes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional undercarriage components (wheels, brakes, suspension) are included in VTOL aircraft, then the aircraft can taxi and land on surface, but the weight increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the undercarriage system (wheels, brakes, suspension) entirely from the VTOL aircraft design. Instead of extracting only necessary components, the invention completely eliminates the traditional undercarriage subsystem, relying on the wing structure itself to provide landing support, thereby significantly reducing weight while maintaining landing capability
Solution Approach 2:
The wing structure is given multiple functions: it provides lift during flight and simultaneously serves as the landing support structure. The outboard sections of the wings are designed to contact the ground during landing, making the wing a multi-functional component that eliminates the need for dedicated undercarriage components
2Ease of operation
If undercarriage components are added to VTOL aircraft, then landing support is provided, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the landing support function with the wing structure itself. The outboard sections of the wings are configured to contact the ground during landing, combining the lift-generating surface with the landing gear function, thereby eliminating the need for separate undercarriage systems and reducing overall device complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts and removes the entire undercarriage subsystem (wheels, brakes, suspension) from the aircraft design, relying solely on the modified wing structure to provide landing support, thus significantly simplifying the device
Data Source
AI summary
A vertical take-off and landing aircraft is shown. The VTOL aircraft has a main wing having a left wing and a right wing configured as folding wings, and one or more of a foreplane, having a left canard and a right canard configured as folding wings, and/or a tailplane, having a left stabiliser and a right stabiliser configured as folding wings. Each one of the folding wings has a fixed inboard section and a folding outboard section. The folding outboard section is downwardly foldable to a landing condition to support the aircraft on a surface.