Airplane with configuration changing in flight

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11052995-B2
Application number	US-201816215833-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 11, 2018
Priority date	Dec 19, 2017
Publication date	Jul 6, 2021
Grant date	Jul 6, 2021

Abstract

An airplane comprises a fuselage, two wings, engines, a rear tail unit comprising a horizontal tail provided with two tail ends, a first and a second set of fuel tanks, and a fuel transfer system configured to be able to transfer, at least in flight, fuel from one to the other of the first and second sets of fuel tanks, the tail ends being, in addition, mounted so as to be able to be pivoted, at least in flight, relative to the horizontal tail, the airplane thus having a configuration changeable in flight.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An airplane comprising:
a fuselage with a longitudinal axis,
at least two wings,
engines,
a rear tail unit comprising a horizontal tail provided with two tail ends, and
at least one first set of fuel tanks,
at least one second set of fuel tanks, offset relative to said at least one first set of fuel tanks at least along the longitudinal axis, and
at least one fuel transfer system configured to transfer, at least in flight, fuel from one to the other of said at least one first set of fuel tanks and said at least one second sets of fuel tanks, and
wherein said tail ends are pivotably mounted so as to be able to be pivoted, at least in flight, relative to said horizontal tail.

2. An airplane according to claim 1 , said airplane having a center of gravity and a center of lift,
wherein the at least one fuel transfer system is controllable and is configured to be able to bring, at least in flight, fuel from one to the other of said at least one first set of fuel tanks and at least one second set of fuel tanks in order to obtain, alternately, one or another of two filling states:
a first filling state, in which the center of gravity of the airplane is situated towards the front of the airplane relative to the center of lift; and
a second filling state, in which the center of gravity of the airplane is situated towards the rear of the airplane relative to the center of lift.

3. The airplane according to claim 1 , further comprising at least one controllable pivoting mechanism configured to be able to bring each of the two tail ends, at least in flight, alternately into one or other of two stable positions:
a first folded position in which the two tail ends are arranged substantially orthogonally to a general plane of said horizontal tail so as to form a vertical tail; and
a second deployed position in which the two tail ends are arranged substantially in a general plane of said horizontal tail so as to form, with the horizontal tail an augmented horizontal tail surface.

4. The airplane according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one fuel transfer system comprises at least one pumping device.

5. The airplane according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one first set of fuel tanks comprises:
at least one fuel tank arranged in one of said wings of the airplane; and
at least one fuel tank arranged in the other of said wings of the airplane.

6. The airplane according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one first set of fuel tanks comprises at least one fuel tank arranged in the fuselage of the airplane, longitudinally at a root of the wings on the fuselage.

7. The airplane according to claim 1 , wherein said horizontal tail comprises two tail parts arranged on either side of a vertical axis of symmetry of the airplane, and wherein said second set of fuel tanks comprises:
at least one fuel tank arranged in one of said tail parts of the horizontal tail; and
at least one fuel tank arranged in another of said tail parts of the horizontal tail.

8. The airplane according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one second set of fuel tanks comprises at least one tank arranged in the fuselage of the airplane, longitudinally at a front end of the rear tail unit of the airplane.

9. A method for modifying in flight a configuration of an airplane, said airplane comprising at least a fuselage, two wings, at least two engines, a rear tail unit comprising a horizontal tail provided with two tail ends, and at least first and second sets of fuel tanks, and at least one fuel transfer system configured to be able to transfer fuel from one to the other of said at least one first and second sets of fuel tanks, said tail ends being mounted so as to be able to be pivoted relative to said horizontal tail, comprising:
at least a first step comprising transferring fuel to bring said at least one first and second sets of fuel tanks into a first filling state in which a center of gravity of the airplane is situated towards a front of the airplane relative to a center of lift, and bringing said tail ends into a folded position in which said tail ends are arranged substantially orthogonally to a general plane of said horizontal tail; and
at least a second step comprising transferring fuel to bring said at least one first and second sets of fuel tanks into a second filling state, in which the center of gravity of the airplane is situated towards the rear of the airplane relative to the center of lift, and bringing said tail ends into a deployed position in which said tail ends are arranged substantially in the general plane of said horizontal tail,
said first and second steps being implemented alternately at least during a flight of the airplane.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein said first step is implemented at least one of during a take-off phase of the airplane or during a landing phase of the airplane, and wherein said second step is implemented during a cruising flight phase of the airplane.

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Sas

Inventors

• Farouz-Fouquet Mathias

Classifications

• B64C5/02 Primary

  Tailplanes · CPC title

• B64C5/18

  in area · CPC title

• B64C5/10

  adjustable · CPC title

• B64C17/10 Primary

  Transferring fuel to adjust trim · CPC title

• B64D37/04

  Arrangement thereof in or on aircraft · CPC title