Arrangement for avoiding clashing between an actuation assembly and an upper cover of a folding wing tip

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11845542-B2
Application number	US-202017296644-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 21, 2020
Priority date	May 24, 2019
Publication date	Dec 19, 2023
Grant date	Dec 19, 2023

Abstract

An aircraft wing having a fixed wing and a wing tip device rotatable about a hinge at the tip of the fixed wing is disclosed. The wing further includes an actuation assembly for rotating the wing tip device about the hinge. The upper cover of the wing tip device includes an offset region extending inboard of the hinge axis, such that when the wing tip device is rotated to the ground configuration, the offset region extends into a space previously-occupied by the actuation assembly, but is outside the space occupied by the actuation assembly in the ground configuration.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An aircraft wing, the aircraft wing comprising a fixed wing and a wing tip device rotatable about a fixed hinge axis of a hinge at the tip of the fixed wing between:
(i) a flight configuration for use during flight and (ii) a ground configuration for use during ground-based operations, in which ground configuration the wing tip device is moved away from the flight configuration such that the span of the aircraft wing is reduced,
wherein the wing further comprises an actuation assembly for rotating the wing tip device about the hinge, and wherein in the flight configuration the actuation assembly is in a first configuration occupying a first space, and in the ground configuration the actuation assembly is in a second configuration occupying a second space;
wherein the upper cover of the wing tip device comprises an end part which extends inboard of the fixed hinge axis,
wherein the end part and the actuation assembly being arranged such that when the wing tip device is rotated to the ground configuration, the end part extends into the first space, but is outside the second space.

2. A wing according to claim 1 , wherein the actuation assembly comprises a rotary drive, the rotary drive being arranged to drive a moveable element in a curved path to move the wing tip device between the flight configuration and the ground configuration.

3. A wing according to claim 2 , wherein the rotary drive comprises a pinion, and the moveable element comprises a curved rack for being driven along the curved path by rotation of the pinion.

4. A wing according to claim 2 , wherein in the first configuration of the actuation assembly, the moveable element is within part of the first space, but in the second configuration of the actuation assembly the moveable element has been driven along the curved path to move it outside that part of the first space.

5. A wing according to claim 2 , wherein the end part of the upper cover is fixed relative to the moveable element of the actuation assembly.

6. A wing according to claim 1 , wherein the hinge comprises two sets of interleaving lugs, each set of interleaving lugs comprising a plurality of lugs of the wing tip device interleaving a plurality of lugs on the fixed wing, the plurality of lugs on the wing tip device being rotatable about the fixed hinge axis relative to the plurality of lugs on the fixed wing.

7. A wing according to claim 6 , wherein the two sets of interleaving lugs are spaced apart along the fixed hinge axis, and the end part of the upper cover extends into the spacing between the two sets of lugs.

8. A wing according to claim 7 , wherein the actuation assembly is located between the two sets of interleaving lugs.

9. A wing according to claim 8 , wherein the end part extends above the actuation assembly.

10. A folding wing tip arrangement for an aircraft wing, the arrangement comprising a fixed wing and a hinged wing tip device at the tip thereof, the wing tip device being configurable by a wing tip actuator between:
(i) a flight configuration for use during flight and (ii) a ground configuration for use during ground-based operations, in which ground configuration the wing tip device is moved away from the flight configuration such that the span of the aircraft wing is reduced,
wherein the upper cover of the wing tip device comprises an end part which extends inboard of a fixed hinge axis such that upon rotation from the flight configuration to the ground configuration, the end part of the upper cover moves downwardly into a free-space within the volume of the wing,
and wherein the wing tip actuator is configured such that movement of the actuator during actuation of the wing tip device from the flight configuration to the ground configuration exposes the free-space within the volume of the wing into which the upper cover extends.

11. An aircraft wing, the aircraft wing comprising a fixed wing and a wing tip device rotatable about a hinge axis of a hinge comprising two sets of interleaving lugs, each set of interleaving lugs comprising a plurality of lugs of the wing tip device interleaving a plurality of lugs on the fixed wing, wherein the hinge is at the tip of the fixed wing between:
(i) a flight configuration for use during flight and (ii) a ground configuration for use during ground-based operations, in which ground configuration the wing tip device is moved away from the flight configuration such that the span of the aircraft wing is reduced,
wherein the wing further comprises an actuation assembly for rotating the wing tip device about the hinge, and wherein in the flight configuration the actuation assembly is in a first configuration occupying a first space, and in the ground configuration the actuation assembly is in a second configuration occupying a second space;
wherein the upper cover of the wing tip device comprises an offset region extending inboard of the hinge axis,
the offset region and the actuation assembly being arranged such that when the wing tip device is rotated to the ground configuration, the offset region extends into the first space, but is outside the second space.

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Ltd

Inventors

• Horwood Jack
• Morrell Paul
• Harding Matt

Classifications

• B64C3/56 Primary

  Folding or collapsing to reduce overall dimensions of aircraft · CPC title

• B64C23/072

  the wing tip airfoil devices being moveable in their entirety · CPC title

• Y02T50/10

  Drag reduction · CPC title