Patent ID: 11884381
Assignee: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS REPRESENTED BY THE ADMINISTRATOR OF NASA
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  Y | IPC B

Claim 8:
9. A winged aircraft comprising:
a pneumatic power supply;
a fuselage;
a wing connected to the fuselage;
an engine installed under the wing; and
a simple-hinged flap assembly connected to the wing and having:
a simple-hinged flap having a leading airfoil section that is pivotably connected to a trailing airfoil section via an intervening hinge; and
at least one active flow control (AFC) actuator assembly connected to or integrally formed with the simple-hinged flap, wherein the AFC actuator assembly is in fluid communication with the pneumatic power supply and receives an inlet mass flowrate therefrom, and includes:
a preconditioning upstream array of fluidic oscillators arranged in a first row in a spanwise direction of the wing of the winged aircraft, and collectively configured to emit a first outlet mass flowrate in response to the inlet mass flowrate, wherein the first outlet mass flowrate preconditions a boundary layer of a natural flow around the simple-hinged flap assembly before flow separation when the winged aircraft is in flight;
a downstream array of steady-blowing jet nozzles spaced apart from the preconditioning upstream array of fluidic oscillators and arranged in a second row, wherein the downstream array of steady-blowing jet nozzles is arranged in a spanwise direction of the wing of the winged aircraft, and is collectively configured to emit a second outlet mass flowrate that substantially exceeds the first outlet mass flowrate, the second outlet mass flowrate controls separation of the natural flow over the wing of the winged aircraft when the winged aircraft is in flight.