Wing hinge assembly including hinged torque boxes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9914523-B2
Application number	US-201213664371-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 30, 2012
Priority date	Oct 30, 2012
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 2018

Abstract

A wing assembly comprises a fixed section, a foldable section, and a hinge assembly for hinging the foldable section to the fixed section. The hinge assembly includes a plurality of interleaved torque boxes that are hinged together.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A wing assembly comprising:
a fixed section,
a foldable section, and
a hinge assembly for hinging the foldable section to the fixed section, the hinge assembly including:
first and second hollow torque boxes extending away from the fixed section, each of the first and second torque boxes having sides enclosing an interior void, and
a third hollow torque box extending away from the foldable section and having sides enclosing an interior void, the third hollow torque box interleaved between and hinged to the first and second hollow torque boxes, the third torque box configured to be latched when the foldable section is moved to a deployed position.

2. The wing assembly of claim 1 , wherein the sides of each hollow torque box comprise first and second ribs and upper and lower skin panels.

3. The wing assembly of claim 2 , wherein the third hollow torque box is attached to a closeout rib of the foldable section and is elongated in a direction normal to the closeout rib of the foldable section, and the first and second hollow torque boxes are attached to a closeout rib of the fixed section and are elongated in a direction normal to the closeout rib of the fixed section.

4. The wing assembly of claim 3 , wherein the hinge assembly further includes a fourth hollow torque box extending away from the closeout rib of the fixed section, and a fifth hollow torque box extending away from the closeout rib of the foldable section and hinged between the second and fourth hollow torque boxes, the fourth hollow torque box also configured to be latched when the foldable section is moved to a deployed position.

5. The wing assembly of claim 3 , wherein each hollow torque box includes a stiffening substructure connected to the top and bottom skin panels and to the closeout rib from which the hollow torque box extends.

6. The wing assembly of claim 5 , wherein the stiffening substructure of each hollow torque box further includes a shear web disposed within and only partially occupying the interior void, the shear web extending between the skin panels for transferring bending loads between the skin panels.

7. The wing assembly of claim 1 , wherein the hollow torque boxes are hinged about a hinge axis that extends through sides of the hollow torque boxes.

8. The wing assembly of claim 7 , wherein the hollow torque boxes are coupled by hollow hinge pins extending through ribs of the hollow torque boxes.

9. The wing assembly of claim 8 , further comprising electrical wires extending through the pins.

10. The wing assembly of claim 7 , further comprising rotary actuators for rotating the foldable section about the hinge axis.

11. A method of enhancing aerodynamic performance of the wing assembly of claim 7 , comprising turning the third hollow torque box to rotate the foldable section about the hinge axis, the foldable section rotated between a stowed position and a deployed position.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising moving latch pins through a closeout rib of the fixed section to engage the third hollow torque box.

13. The wing assembly of claim 1 , wherein the fixed section is swept.

14. The wing assembly of claim 1 , wherein the foldable section is a wing tip, and the fixed section includes a main wing.

15. The wing assembly of claim 14 , wherein the wing tip and the main wing are configured for a commercial aircraft.

16. An aircraft comprising a wing assembly including:
a fixed section,
a foldable section, and
a hinge for hinging the foldable section to the fixed section, the hinge including hollow torque boxes that are pinned together along a hinge axis, each hollow torque box including first and second ribs that form sides of the torque box and upper and lower skin panels on the ribs to define an interior void.

17. The aircraft of claim 16 , wherein the torque boxes are configured to carry both bending and torsional loads.

18. The aircraft of claim 16 , wherein the hollow torque boxes include at least two elongated, hollow torque boxes extending inbound from a closeout rib of the foldable section, and at least two elongated, hollow torque boxes extending outbound from a closeout rib of the fixed section.

19. The aircraft of claim 18 , wherein the hollow torque boxes include first, second and third hollow torque boxes extending from a closeout rib of the fixed section, a fourth hollow torque box extending from the foldable section and hinged between the first and second torque boxes, and a fifth hollow torque box extending from the foldable section and hinged between the second and third torque boxes.

20. The aircraft of claim 18 , wherein the upper and lower skin panels of each hollow torque box are connected to the first and second ribs and to the closeout rib from which the hollow torque box extends.

21. The aircraft of claim 20 , wherein each torque box further includes a shear web disposed within and only partially occupying the interior void, the shear web extending between the skin panels for transferring bending loads between the skin panels.

22. The aircraft of claim 16 , wherein the hinge axis is centrally located within the wing assembly.

23. The aircraft of claim 16 , wherein the hollow torque boxes are coupled by hollow hinge pins extending through ribs of the torque boxes.

24. The aircraft of claim 23 , further comprising electrical cables extending through the pins.

25. The aircraft of claim 16 , further comprising a rotary actuator for rotating the foldable section about the hinge axis.

26. The aircraft of claim 16 , wherein the fixed section is swept.

27. The aircraft of claim 16 , wherein the foldable section is a wing tip, and the fixed section includes a main wing.

28. An aircraft comprising a wing assembly including:
a wing tip;
a first hollow torque box elongated in a spanwise direction away from the wing tip when the wing tip is in a deployed position, the first hollow torque box having sides enclosing an interior void;
an inboard section; and
a second hollow torque box elongated in a spanwise direction away from the inboard section, the first and second hollow torque boxes hinged together so the wing tip is moveable between a stowed position and the deployed position.

29. The aircraft of claim 28 , wherein the first and second hollow torque boxes are configured to carry both bending and torsional loads.

30. The aircraft of claim 28 , wherein the first hollow torque box is attached to a closeout rib of the wing tip, and the second hollow torque box is attached to a closeout rib of the inboard section; and wherein the first and second hollow torque boxes are hinged together about a hinge axis located between the closeout ribs.

31. The aircraft of claim 30 , wherein each hollow torque box includes a stiffening substructure and top and bottom skin panels connected to the stiffening structure and to the closeout rib from which the hollow torque box extends.

32. The aircraft of claim 31 , wherein the stiffening substructure of each hollow torque box further includes a shear web disposed within and only partially occupying the interior void, the shear web extending between the skin panels for transferring bending loads between the skin panels.

33. The aircraft of claim 31 , further comprising latch pins for eng

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Good Mark S
• Walker Steven Paul

Classifications

• B64C3/56 Primary

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

• Y02T50/145

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02T50/10

  Drag reduction · CPC title