Flap arrangement and aircraft with at least one flap arrangement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9315256-B2
Application number	US-201313849738-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 25, 2013
Priority date	Mar 27, 2012
Publication date	Apr 19, 2016
Grant date	Apr 19, 2016

Abstract

A flap arrangement includes a basic body, a hinge arrangement, and a flap that by the hinge arrangement is movably held on the basic body. The hinge arrangement includes at least three bearing points spaced apart from each other and arranged on a shared hinge line, wherein two bearing points are rigidly connected to the basic body and to the flap, and wherein the remaining bearing points in each case allow local movement between the basic body and the flap in at least one first spatial direction perpendicularly to the hinge line. Thus, load-induced constraint forces between the basic body and the control surface can be prevented.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A flap arrangement, comprising:
a basic body,
a hinge arrangement, and
a flap movably held on the basic body by the hinge arrangement,
wherein the hinge arrangement comprises at least first, second, and third points of articulation spaced apart from each other at a predetermined distance from one another and arranged on a shared hinge line such that, in an absence of a load acting on the flap arrangement, the hinge line is a straight line,
wherein, at the first and second points of articulation, the flap is rigidly connected to the basic body such that a deformation of the flap at the first and second points of articulation is congruent to a deformation of the basic body, and
wherein, at remaining one or more non-rigid points of articulation, in each case allow a local relative movement between the basic body and the flap in at least one first spatial direction perpendicularly to the hinge line is allowed such that the deformation of the flap at the remaining one or more non-rigid points of articulation is not congruent to the deformation of the basic body.

2. The flap arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first spatial direction extends parallel to a first main direction of extension of the flap.

3. The flap arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first spatial direction extends parallel to a first main direction of extension of the basic body.

4. The flap arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the first and second rigid points of articulation are outer points of articulation in the hinge arrangement.

5. The flap arrangement of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second rigid points of articulation is not an outer point of articulation.

6. The flap arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the hinge arrangement comprises outer points of articulation which in each case are spaced apart by at least 15% of the overall width of the basic body from the nearest outer end of the basic body.

7. The flap arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the first and second rigid points of articulation are adjacent to each other.

8. The flap arrangement of claim 1 , wherein, at the remaining one or more non-rigid points of articulation, the flap is connected to the basic body by a linear guide.

9. The flap arrangement of claim 8 , wherein the linear guide is a slide guide with a slide bushing and with a slide body.

10. The flap arrangement of claim 8 , wherein the linear guide is configured as a linear antifriction bearing.

11. The flap arrangement of claim 8 , wherein the linear guide is configured as a parallelogram guide.

12. The flap arrangement of claim 1 , wherein, at the remaining one or more non-rigid points of articulation, the basic body is connected to the flap by a linear guide.

13. The flap arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the points of articulation are in each case connected to a spar arranged in the flap.

14. The flap arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the flap comprises sheeting defining the fundamental shape of the flap, wherein the sheeting comprises at least one discontinuation.

15. The flap arrangement of claim 14 , wherein the at least one discontinuation is selected from a group of discontinuations, with the group consisting of:
elastically resilient formations as a convex shape, a concave shape, a bead, or a kink, in each case a plurality thereof,
gaps in the flap surface, which gaps in each case are sealed by means of slide seals, and
materials discontinuities.

16. The flap arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the basic body is configured as a tail unit body of an aircraft, and the flap is configured as a control surface.

17. The flap arrangement of claim 16 , wherein at least one sealing element is arranged between the control surface and the tail unit body, which sealing element is displaceable relative to the control surface or to the tail unit body.

18. An aircraft, comprising at least one flap arrangement, the flap arrangement comprising:
a basic body,
a hinge arrangement, and
a flap movably held on the basic body by the hinge arrangement,
wherein the hinge arrangement comprises at least first, second, and third points of articulation spaced apart from each other and arranged on a shared hinge line such that in an absence of a load acting on the flap arrangement the hinge line is a straight line,
wherein, at the first and second points of articulation, the flap is rigidly connected to the basic body such that a deformation of the flap at the first and second points of articulation is congruent to a deformation of the basic body, and
wherein, at remaining one or more non-rigid points of articulation, in each case a local relative movement between the basic body and the flap in at least one first spatial direction perpendicularly to the hinge line is allowed such that the deformation of the flap at the remaining one or more non-rigid points of articulation is not congruent to the deformation of the basic body.

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Gmbh

Inventors

• Maenz Christian

Classifications

• B64C9/02 Primary

  Mounting or supporting thereof · CPC title

• Y02T50/44

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02T50/32

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02T50/30

  Wing lift efficiency · CPC title

• Y02T50/40

  Weight reduction · CPC title