Patent ID: 6394397
Filing Date: 2002-05-28
Classification: B64C,Y02T

Abstract:
An aerodynamic lifting device comprising:a main lifting member having a span extending along a longitudinal axis from an inboard end to an outboard end thereof and having an airfoil-shaped cross-section normal to the longitudinal axis, the main lifting member at least at the outboard end having an internal cavity defined therein between pressure-side and suction-side surfaces of the main lifting member; a tip member movably connected at the outboard end of the main lifting member, the tip member being movable relative to the main lifting member between a neutral position in which the tip member presents substantially no obstacle to a spanwise component of flow over either suction-side or pressure-side surfaces at the outboard end of the main lifting member, and a position in which a portion of the tip member extends beyond one of the pressure-side and suction-side surfaces of the main lifting member so as to present an obstacle to the spanwise component of flow over said one surface at the outboard end of the main lifting member and thereby locally affect the flow at the outboard end, wherein the tip member is configured as a spanwise section of the main lifting member such that when the tip member is in the neutral position there is a substantially continuous and stepless transition between a pressure-side surface of the tip member and the pressure-side surface of the main lifting member and between a suction-side surface of the tip member and the suction-side surface of the main lifting member, the tip member when moved out of the neutral position creating an inboard-facing step on said one surface and an outboard-facing step on the other surface of the main lifting device; and an actuation system disposed in the cavity of the main lifting member and coupled with the tip member, the actuation system being operable to move the tip member so as to vary a distance by which the tip member extends beyond said one surface of the main lifting member.