NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) 20160001290: Variable Camber Continuous Aerodynamic Control Surfaces and Methods for Active Wing Shaping Control

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(12) United States Patent
(1o) Patent No.: (cid:9) US 9,227,721 B1
Nguyen (45) Date of Patent Jan. 5, 2016
: (cid:9)
(54) VARIABLE CAMBER CONTINUOUS B64C 9/16; B64C 9/12; B64C 9/10; B64C
AERODYNAMIC CONTROL SURFACES AND 9/04
METHODS FOR ACTIVE WING SHAPING See application file for complete search history.
CONTROL
(56) References Cited
(71) Applicant: The United States of America as
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
Represented by the Administrator of
the National Aeronautics & Space 4,796,192 A * 1/1989 (cid:9) Lewis (cid:9) ......................... 244/76 R
Administration (NASA), Washington, 5,082,207 A * 1/1992 (cid:9) Tulinius(cid:9) ........................ 244/195
DC (US) 5,797,105 A * 8/1998 (cid:9) Nakaya et al . (cid:9) ................ 244/177
6,161,801 A * 12/2000 (cid:9) Kelm et al . (cid:9) ................... 244/195
6,209,824 131 4/2001 (cid:9) Caton et al.
(72) Inventor: Nhan T. Nguyen, Santa Clara, CA (US)
7,004,428 132 * 2/2006 (cid:9) Tracy et al . (cid:9) ................. 244/35 R
7,455,264 132 * 11/2008 (cid:9) Wakayama (cid:9) ................... 244/215
(73) Assignee: The United States of America as 7,878,459 132 2/2011 (cid:9) Mabe et al.
Represented by the Administrator of 8,056,865 132 11/2011 (cid:9) Grip
the National Aeronautics & Space 8,118,264 132 2/2012 (cid:9) Mabe et al.
Administration (NASA), Washington, 2008/0149779 Al* 6/2008 (cid:9) Phillips(cid:9) ......................... 244/201
DC (US) * cited by examiner
(*) Notice: (cid:9) Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this Primary Examiner Tien Dinh
patent is extended or adjusted under 35 Assistant Examiner Richard R Green
U.S.C. 154(b) by 409 days.
(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm (cid:9) Christopher J. Menke;
Robert M. Padilla
(21) Appl. No.: 13/648,197
(57) (cid:9) ABSTRACT
(22) Filed: (cid:9) Oct. 9, 2012
An aerodynamic control apparatus for an airvehicle improves
various aerodynamic performance metrics by employing
multiple spanwise flap segments that jointly form a continu-
Related U.S. Application Data
ous or a piecewise continuous trailing edge to minimize drag
(60) Provisional application No. 61/628,299, filed on Oct. induced by lift or vortices. At least one of the multiple span-
7, 2011. wise flap segments includes a variable camber flap subsystem
having multiple chordwise flap segments that may be inde-
(51) Int. Cl. pendently actuated. Some embodiments also employ a con-
B64C 3150 (cid:9) (2006.01) tinuous leading edge slat system that includes multiple span-
B64C 3114 (cid:9) (2006.01) wise slat segments, each of which has one or more chordwise
B64C 9120 (cid:9) (2006.01) slat segment. A method and an apparatus for implementing
B64C 9114 (cid:9) (2006.01) active control of a wing shape are also described and include
(52) U.S. Cl. the determination of desired lift distribution to determine the
CPC ... B64C 9114 (2013.01); B64C 3114 (2013.01); improved aerodynamic deflection of the wings. Flap deflec-
B64C 3150 (2013.01); B64C 9120 (2013.01) tions are determined and control signals are generated to
(58) Field of Classification Search actively control the wing shape to approximate the desired
CPC .............. B64C 3/50; B64C 3/48; B64C 3/44; deflection.
B64C 3/38; B64C 3/14; 1364C3/10; B64C
2003/142; B64C 2003/147; B64C 9/20; 18 Claims, 39 Drawing Sheets
240? IDENTIIFFYY OP. DE:' E MINF..a UFT DiSrR1:3i.,'"11ON
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T Ai~1NG E: DG1 I JSIN(i i=i, f SLAT CONTROL
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