APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR REDUCING INDUCED DRAG ON AIRCRAFT AND OTHER VEHICLES
First Claim
1. A method for reducing induced drag on a wing of a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:
- a) determining an airspeed of said vehicle;
b) forming a twist on at least a portion of said wing based at least in part upon said airspeed of said vehicle; and
c) varying said twist based at least in part upon changes in said airspeed of said vehicle.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for varying the washout of a wing such that induced drag is minimized during a flight. The washout is varied pursuant to an optimized twist distribution that depends on the wing planform and an optimized twist amount which depends, at least in part, upon the operating conditions, including those parameters used to determine the lift coefficient. The optimum twist may be employed by geometric or aerodynamic twist, including full spanwise control surfaces used to simultaneously provide roll control, high-lift and minimum induced drag. The optimum twist may also be employed be twisting just a portion of the wing or the entire wing, either geometrically or aerodynamically.
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Citations
154 Claims
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1. A method for reducing induced drag on a wing of a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) determining an airspeed of said vehicle;
b) forming a twist on at least a portion of said wing based at least in part upon said airspeed of said vehicle; and
c) varying said twist based at least in part upon changes in said airspeed of said vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method for reducing induced drag on a wing of a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) determining a weight of said vehicle;
b) forming a twist on at least a portion of said wing based at least in part upon said weight of said vehicle; and
c) varying said twist based at least in part upon changes in said weight of said vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A method for reducing induced drag on a wing of a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) determining an air density;
b) forming a twist on at least a portion of said wing based at least in part upon said air density; and
c) varying said twist based at least in part upon changes in said air density. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A method for reducing induced drag on a wing of a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) determining a load factor of said vehicle;
b) forming a twist on at least a portion of said wing based at least in part upon said load factor of said vehicle; and
c) varying said twist based at least in part upon changes in said load factor of said vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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56. A method for reducing induced drag on a wing of a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) determining a wing area of said vehicle;
b) forming a twist on at least a portion of said wing based at least in part upon said wing area of said vehicle; and
c) varying said twist based at least in part upon changes in said wing area of said vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
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65. A method for reducing induced drag on a wing of a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) determining a twist required for reduced induced drag based on operating conditions of said vehicle;
b) forming said twist on at least a portion of said wing; and
c) varying said twist based on changes in said operating conditions. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74)
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75. A method for reducing induced drag on a wing of a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) providing said wing with a twistable portion, said twistable portion being twistable in a helical manner;
b) determining a configuration of said twistable portion during operation of said aircraft to provide reduced induced drag; and
c) twisting said twistable portion to said configuration. - View Dependent Claims (76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82)
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83. A vehicle comprising:
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a wing comprising a twistable portion; and
a control system for adjusting the twistable portion;
wherein the twistable portion is adjusted by the control system in response to operating conditions to thereby reduce induced drag. - View Dependent Claims (84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92)
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93. A system for reducing induced drag on a vehicle, said system comprising:
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at least one sensor for monitoring operating conditions;
a computer for receiving data from the at least one sensor and for calculating a twist amount based upon said data; and
a control system for applying the twist amount on at least a portion of a wing to thereby reduce induced drag. - View Dependent Claims (94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109)
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110. A system for reducing induced drag on a vehicle, said system comprising:
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means for determining an amount of twist to be applied to at least a portion of a wing for the purpose of reducing induced drag; and
means for applying a twist to said at least a portion of said wing. - View Dependent Claims (111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116)
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117. A method for reducing induced drag on a wing of a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) determining a twist distribution to be applied to said wing for the purpose of reducing induced drag;
b) varying a twist on at least a portion of said wing in accordance with said twist distribution while said vehicle is in operation. - View Dependent Claims (118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127)
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128. A method for reducing induced drag on a wing of a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) determining an airspeed of said vehicle;
b) changing a camber of a portion of said wing based at least in part upon said airspeed of said vehicle; and
c) varying said camber based at least in part upon changes in said airspeed of said vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154)
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Specification