Patent ID: 9573678
Date: 2017-02-21
CPC Classifications: B64C,Y02T

Claim:
1. An aircraft with airfoils that respectively comprises a main wing and at least one control flap that is adjustable relative to the main wing, as well as a high-lift system with at least one regulating flap that is arranged on the main wing and adjustable relative thereto by an actuating unit, wherein a lift of the airfoils and a state of lift of the aircraft are adjustable by adjusting the regulating flap by the actuating unit, featuring: at least one arrangement of flow control devices that is situated in a surface segment of the main wing or the at least one regulating flap of each airfoil, wherein the surface segment extends in the spanwise direction, and is configured to influence the fluid flow flowing over the surface segment, the actuating unit configured to actuate the at least one regulating flap, an activating unit that is functionally connected to and configured to control the actuating unit and the flow control devices in order to adjust the regulating flap and the degree, to which the flow is influenced by the flow control devices, a specification device that is connected to the activating unit and configured to generate nominal commands for adjusting the state of lift of the aircraft, wherein the activating unit is configured to generate commands for the actuating unit and the flow control devices based on nominal commands of the specification device, wherein the generated commands are configured to adjust the regulating flap and the degree, to which the flow is influenced by the flow control devices, and thusly adjust the state of lift of the aircraft, wherein the at least one arrangement of flow control devices situated in a surface segment of the main wing that extends in the spanwise direction and at least one regulating flap of each airfoil additionally features flow condition sensor units for measuring the flow condition on the respective segment, wherein the activating unit has a control function, which generates commands for the actuating unit and the flow control devices based on nominal commands of the specification device and the flow conditions measured by the flow condition sensor units in order to adjust the degree, to which the flow is influenced by the flow control devices, wherein the activating unit has a safety function with a monitoring function that compares the values of the sensor signals with nominal values and detects any deviation that exceeds a specified maximum deviation value, and a reconfiguration function that, in case of the detection of such a deviation that exceeds the maximum deviation value, switches over from the operating mode, in which current control signal vectors or control commands for controlling the actuators of the regulating flaps and the flow control devices are generated, to a safety mode, in which only the regulating flaps are actuated in accordance with the respective nominal command in order to adjust a predetermined state of lift of the aircraft.