Patent ID: 7100875

Claim:
An airfoil vortex dissipating system comprising: a) an airfoil having a leading edge, a trailing edge, an outer end portion, an upper aerodynamic surface, a lower aerodynamic surface, a spanwise axis, a forward to rear chord axis, and an alignment reference plane coincident with the spanwise axis and the chord axis, said airfoil being characterized in that when the airfoil is functioning to create aerodynamic lift, a vortex is created at said outer end portion of the airfoil, with said vortex having vortex core axis, a main circumferential flow region and an outer perimeter flow region: b) a vortex dissipating apparatus comprising: i. a nozzle section which is at, or proximate to, said outer end portion of the airfoil, and has a nozzle discharge portion at an alignment location extending generally in a forward to rear direction at, or proximate to, the outer end portion of the airfoil, said nozzle section being arranged to discharge a jet air stream in a lateral discharge direction having a substantial discharge alignment component generally perpendicular to the chord axis and parallel to the alignment plane; and ii. a pressurized air inlet section to supply pressurized air to said nozzle section to be discharged from said nozzle section; iii. said nozzle discharge portion being arranged to be actuated to move the lateral discharge direction of the jet air stream upwardly and downwardly between upper and lower end locations in a cyclical manner.