Wing for an aircraft, and an aircraft comprising such a wing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9988142-B2
Application number	US-201715460107-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2017
Priority date	Sep 16, 2014
Publication date	Jun 5, 2018
Grant date	Jun 5, 2018

Abstract

A wing for an aircraft, including a main wing and a wing tip device, a front blade and a rear blade of the wing tip device extending from an attachment end, a front blade leading edge extending in front of a rear blade leading edge and a front blade trailing edge extending in front of a rear blade trailing edge, in a chord direction, and at a front blade tip the front blade extending under a different dihedral angle than the rear blade at a rear blade tip. The front blade leading and trailing edges, as well as the rear blade leading and trailing edges have a tangent-continuous developing. The front blade leading edge extends tangent-continuously with the wing leading edge. The rear blade trailing edge extends tangent-continuously with the wing trailing edge. The front blade trailing edge extends behind the rear blade leading edge, in the chord direction.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A wing for an aircraft, comprising
a main wing having a wing leading edge, a wing trailing edge opposite to the wing leading edge, a wing root end, and a wing tip end opposite to the wing root end; and
a wing tip device having an attachment end which is attached to the wing tip end of the main wing, a front blade having a front blade leading edge and a front blade trailing edge, and a rear blade having a rear blade leading edge and a rear blade trailing edge;
wherein the front blade and the rear blade extend away from the attachment end in a diverging manner, wherein the front blade leading edge extends in front of the rear blade leading edge and the front blade trailing edge extends in front of the rear blade trailing edge, when viewed in a chord direction,
wherein at the end of the wing tip device opposite to the attachment end the front blade has a front blade tip and the rear blade has a rear blade tip, wherein at the front blade tip the front blade extends under a different dihedral angle than the rear blade at the rear blade tip, so that the front blade tip extends on a different level than the rear blade tip, when viewed in a wing thickness direction,
wherein the front blade leading edge and the front blade trailing edge both have a tangent-continuous developing, and
wherein the rear blade leading edge and the rear blade trailing edge both have a tangent-continuous developing,
wherein the front blade leading edge extends tangent-continuously with the wing leading edge, and the rear blade trailing edge extends tangent-continuously with the wing trailing edge, and
wherein the front blade trailing edge at least partially extends behind the rear blade leading edge, when viewed in the chord direction, so that the front blade and the rear blade overlap one another in an overlapping area, when viewed in the wing thickness direction.

2. A wing according to claim 1 , wherein the front blade trailing edge intersects the rear blade leading edge, when viewed in the wing thickness direction, so that near the attachment end the front blade trailing edge extends behind the rear blade leading edge, and remote from the attachment end the front blade trailing edge extends in front of the rear blade leading edge, when viewed in the chord direction.

3. A wing according to claim 1 , wherein the front blade trailing edge does not intersect the rear blade leading edge, when viewed in the wing thickness direction, so that along an entire front blade trailing edge and/or along an entire rear blade leading edge the front blade trailing edge extends behind the rear blade leading edge, when viewed in the chord direction.

4. A wing according to claim 1 , wherein the main wing defines a wing plane, wherein the front blade extends downwards out of the wing plane and wherein the rear blade extends upwards out of the wing plane, with reference to the wing thickness direction.

5. A wing according to claim 1 ,
wherein the front blade trailing edge does not intersect the rear blade leading edge, when viewed in the wing thickness direction, so that along an entire front blade trailing edge and/or along an entire rear blade leading edge the front blade trailing edge extends behind the rear blade leading edge, when viewed in the chord direction,
wherein the main wing defines a wing plane, wherein the front blade extends downwards out of the wing plane and wherein the rear blade extends upwards out of the wing plane, with reference to the wing thickness direction, and
wherein the wing tip device is formed such that:
an extent of the overlapping area, when measured along a junction line, is between 5% and 30%, or between 15% and 25%, of an extent of the wing tip device in the chord direction, when measured at the attachment end,
dihedral angle of the front blade leading edge, when measured at the attachment end, corresponds to dihedral angle of the wing leading edge, when measured at the wing tip end,
dihedral angle of the rear blade trailing edge, when measured at the attachment end, corresponds to dihedral angle of the wing trailing edge, when measured at the wing tip end,
dihedral angle of the front blade, when measured at the front blade tip, is between −10° and −60°, or between −20° and −45°,
dihedral angle of the rear blade, when measured at the rear blade tip, is between 30° and 90°, or between 45° and 70°,
a junction angle between the front blade and the rear blade along the junction line, when measured at the rear blade leading edge, is between 0° and 45°, or between 10° and 30°, and
the junction angle between the front blade and the rear blade along the junction line, when measured at the front blade trailing edge, is between 45° and 100°, or between 50° and 80°.

6. A wing according to claim 1 , wherein the main wing defines a wing plane, wherein the front blade extends upwards out of the wing plane and wherein the rear blade extends downwards out of the wing plane, with reference to the wing thickness direction.

7. A wing according to claim 1 ,
wherein the front blade trailing edge does not intersect the rear blade leading edge, when viewed in the wing thickness direction, so that along an entire front blade trailing edge and/or along an entire rear blade leading edge the front blade trailing edge extends behind the rear blade leading edge, when viewed in the chord direction,
wherein the main wing defines a wing plane, wherein the front blade extends upwards out of the wing plane and wherein the rear blade extends downwards out of the wing plane, with reference to the wing thickness direction, and
wherein the wing tip device is formed such that:
an extent of the overlapping area, when measured along a junction line, is between 5% and 25%, or between 10% and 15%, of an extent of the wing tip device in the chord direction, when measured at the attachment end,
dihedral angle of the front blade leading edge, when measured at the attachment end, corresponds to dihedral angle of the wing leading edge, when measured at the wing tip end,
dihedral angle of the rear blade trailing edge, when measured at the attachment end, corresponds to dihedral angle of the wing trailing edge, when measured at the wing tip end,
dihedral angle of the front blade, when measured at the front blade tip, is between 30° and 90°, or between 45° and 70°,
dihedral angle of the rear blade, when measured at the rear blade tip, is between −20° and −60°, or between −30° and −45°,
a junction angle between the front blade and the rear blade along the junction line, when measured at the rear blade leading edge, is between 0° and 45°, or between 10° and 30°, and
the junction angle between the front blade and the rear blade along the junction line, when measured at the front blade trailing edge, is between 45° and 100°, or between 50° and 80°.

8. A wing according to claim 1 , wherein the main wing defines a wing plane, wherein the front blade extends in the wing plane and wherein the rear blade extends upwards out of the wing plane, with reference to the wing thickness direction.

9. A wing according to claim 1 ,
wherein the front blade trailing edge does not intersect the rear blade leading edge, when viewed in the wing thickness direction, so that along an entire front blade trailing edge and/or along an entire rear blade leading edge the front blade trailing edge extends behind the rear blade leading edge, when viewed in the chord direction,
wherein the main wing defines a wing plane, wherein the front blade extends in the wing plane and wherein the rear blade extends upwards out of the wing plane, with reference to the wing thickness direction, and
wherein the wing tip device is formed such that:
an extent of the overlapping area, when m

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Gmbh

Inventors

• Heller Gerd

Classifications

• B64C23/069 Primary

  using one or more wing tip airfoil devices, e.g. winglets, splines, wing tip fences or raked wingtips · CPC title

• B64C23/065 Primary

  at the wing tips · CPC title

• Y02T50/10

  Drag reduction · CPC title