Wing structure and wing structure manufacturing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12529352-B2
Application number	US-202218560043-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 18, 2022
Priority date	May 14, 2021
Publication date	Jan 20, 2026
Grant date	Jan 20, 2026

Abstract

Provided is a wing structure comprising a wing body formed from fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP), and an erosion suppression layer provided so as to cover at least a portion of a front edge of the wing structure. The erosion suppression layer contains a thermal spraying layer configured so as to maintain, by having a prescribed surface roughness, a liquid film formed on the erosion suppression layer.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A wing structure comprising:
a wing body formed of a fiber-reinforced plastic material (FRP); and an erosion suppression layer provided to cover at least a part of a leading edge of the wing body, wherein the erosion suppression layer includes a thermal spray layer configured to satisfy a condition of surface roughness with a root mean square height Rq=5 μm to 40 μm.

2 . The wing structure according to claim 1 , wherein when a first contact angle of the thermal spray layer with respect to a rough surface having a first surface roughness is defined as θw and a second contact angle of the thermal spray layer with respect to a flat surface formed of the same material as the thermal spray layer is defined as θ, a second surface roughness of the thermal spray layer satisfies r=1.1 to 1.7 in the following equation (1):

cos
⁢
θ
⁢
w

=

r
·
cos

⁢

θ
.

3 . The wing structure according to claim 1 , wherein the wing body includes a thermal spray target surface which is covered with the erosion suppression layer, and
a surface roughness of the thermal spray target surface satisfies a condition of an arithmetic average roughness Ra=3.2 to 6.3 μm.

4 . The wing structure according to claim 1 , wherein the thermal spray layer is composed of a cermet containing at least one of alumina, tungsten carbide, silicon nitride, silicon carbide, zirconia, or chrome carbide, or a Co alloy.

5 . The wing structure according to claim 1 , wherein the erosion suppression layer further includes an intermediate layer formed between the wing body and the thermal spray layer and having an electrical resistivity smaller than that of the thermal spray layer, and
the wing structure further comprises a conductive portion that electrically connects the intermediate layer to a ground.

6 . The wing structure according to claim 5 , wherein each of the thermal spray layer and the intermediate layer is provided in at least a part of a region from a wing tip of the wing body to ½ of a length of the wing body in a length direction of the wing body.

7 . The wing structure according to claim 5 , wherein a total thickness of the thermal spray layer and the intermediate layer satisfies a condition of 200 μm or more and 2000 μm or less.

8 . A wing structure manufacturing method, for manufacturing the wing structure of claim 1 , comprising:
a step of preparing the wing body formed of the fiber-reinforced plastic material (FRP); a thermal spray layer forming step of providing the thermal spray layer by thermal spraying so as to cover at least a part of the leading edge of the wing body; and a surface treatment step of performing a surface treatment of the thermal spray layer such that a surface of the thermal spray layer satisfies the condition of the root mean square height Rq=5 to 40 μm after the thermal spray layer forming step.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Heavy Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Takeuchi Hiroaki
• Okano Yasushi
• Shibata Masaaki

Classifications

• F05B2250/60

  Structure; Surface texture · CPC title

• F05B2230/31

  Layer deposition · CPC title

• B64C3/28

  Leading or trailing edges attached to primary structures, e.g. forming fixed slots · CPC title

• B29D99/0028

  hollow blades · CPC title

• F05B2240/32

  with roughened surface · CPC title