Segmented aircraft wing having solar arrays

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10974807-B2
Application number	US-201815957909-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 20, 2018
Priority date	Oct 19, 2011
Publication date	Apr 13, 2021
Grant date	Apr 13, 2021

Abstract

An aircraft wing has a plurality of wing segments mounted on a wing spar by joints that allow relative movement between the spar and the wing segments. Tuning of coefficients of thermal expansion is employed to reduce induced stresses from changes in temperature.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An aircraft wing, comprising:
a wing spar;
a plurality of wing segments mounted on the spar and having an outer skin;
a solar collection panel mounted on the skin of a wing segment of the plurality of wing segments for generating electricity using collected solar energy; and
a plurality of integral stringers for each wing segment of the plurality of wing segments, the integral stringers comprising an electrically conductive, substantially rigid reinforcing rod configured to reinforce the skin, the rigid reinforcing rod electrically coupled with the solar panel and conducting configured to conduct electricity generated by the solar panel.

2. The aircraft wing of claim 1 , further comprising:
the plurality of stringers formed integral with the skin and extending in the span-wise direction of the wing segment, each of the stringers including a blade having opposite ends and caps respectively on the opposite ends; and
a plurality of the substantially rigid, electrically conductive reinforcing rods respectively located on at least one of the caps and extending in the span-wise direction.

3. The aircraft wing of claim 2 , wherein:
the rods include first and second sets thereof; and
the first and second sets of rods are respectively located at the caps of the blades.

4. The aircraft wing of claim 3 , wherein the rods include one of carbon fiber, glass fiber, aluminum and titanium.

5. The aircraft wing of claim 1 , further comprising:
a pair of spaced apart wing ribs extending in a chord-wise direction of the wing segment for mounting the wing segment on the spar, each of the ribs including an electrically conductive portion configured to electrically couple the reinforcing rod with the solar panel.

6. The aircraft wing of claim 1 , further comprising:
the plurality of wing segments spaced apart to form gaps between the wing segments; and
flexible electrical conductors extending across the gaps for coupling the electrically conductive, substantially rigid reinforcing rods of adjacent ones of the wing segments.

7. The aircraft wing of claim 1 , further comprising:
the plurality of the wing segments spaced from each other, each of the wing segments including a pair of spaced apart internal ribs having electrically conductive upper caps;
a plurality of the solar collection panels, wherein a solar collection panel of the plurality of solar collection panels is mounted on each wing segment of the plurality of wing segments and respectively electrically coupled with the electrically conductive upper caps of the ribs; and
electrical connections coupling the ribs together for manifolding the electricity generated by the plurality of solar collection panels.

8. The aircraft wing of claim 7 , wherein the electrical connections for manifolding the electricity include electrical conductors that vary in gauge size along their lengths to carry increasing amounts of electricity along the length of the aircraft wing.

9. The aircraft wing of claim 7 , wherein the electrically conductive upper caps of the ribs includes at least two materials having substantially different coefficients of thermal expansion, and in a proportion such that the combined coefficient of thermal expansion of the at least two materials matches that of a coefficient of thermal expansion of the solar collection panel.

10. The aircraft wing of claim 1 , wherein the solar collection panel includes a polymer substrate layer covered by a layer of copper.

11. The aircraft wing of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive, substantially rigid reinforcing rod is includes cables formed of at least two differing materials.

12. The aircraft wing of claim 11 , wherein the cables are encased in a third material.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Grip Robert Erik
• Rawdon Blaine Knight

Classifications

• B64C3/26 Primary

  Construction, shape, or attachment of separate skins, e.g. panels · CPC title

• B64D27/353

  using solar cells · CPC title

• B64C3/18 Primary

  Spars; Ribs; Stringers · CPC title

• Y02T50/40

  Weight reduction · CPC title

• Y02T50/50

  On board measures aiming to increase energy efficiency · CPC title