LEADING-EDGE ARRANGEMENT FOR AN AIRCRAFT

Abstract

A leading-edge arrangement for an aircraft is proposed, comprising a plurality of movable flow bodies, a supply duct, an air transfer duct, and at least one perforated tube. The movable flow bodies are arranged in a consecutive arrangement to form a row with a first end and a second end. The supply duct reaches into an interior of one of the flow bodies at the first end. The air transfer duct connects to the supply duct and extends at least through the interior of the respective flow body in the direction towards the second end. The at least one perforated tube is arranged inside at least one of the flow bodies that directly follows on. The at least one perforated tube is in fluid communication with the transfer duct. The transfer duct is configured to transfer air from the supply duct into the at least one perforated tube.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A leading-edge arrangement for an aircraft, comprising: a plurality of movable flow bodies, a supply duct, an air transfer duct, and at least one perforated tube, wherein the movable flow bodies are arranged in a consecutive arrangement to form a row with a first end and a second end, wherein the supply duct reaches into an interior of one of the flow bodies at the first end, wherein the air transfer duct connects to the supply duct and extends at least through the interior of the respective flow body in a direction towards the second end, wherein the at least one perforated tube is arranged inside at least one of the flow bodies that directly follows on, wherein the at least one perforated tube is in fluid communication with the air transfer duct, and wherein the air transfer duct is configured to transfer air from the supply duct into the at least one perforated tube.

17. The leading-edge arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the at least one perforated tube is a piccolo tube configured to eject air to form a thermal anti- or de-icing device.

18. The leading-edge arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the supply duct is configured to route bleed air from an aircraft engine to the air transfer duct and the at least one piccolo tube.

19. The leading-edge arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the flow bodies each comprise a forward end and a rear end, and wherein the supply duct extends through the rear end of the flow body at the first end.

20. The leading-edge arrangement according to claim 19, wherein the supply duct comprises a telescopic duct section extending through the rear end of the flow body that is arranged at the first end, and wherein the telescopic duct section is in fluid communication with an angular connector, which connects to the air transfer duct.

21. The leading-edge arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the air transfer duct extends into at least two flow bodies.

22. The leading-edge arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the air transfer duct is coupled with the at least one piccolo tube in the interior of one of the flow bodies.

23. The leading-edge arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the air transfer duct is coupled with the at least one piccolo tube between two adjacent flow bodies.

24. The leading-edge arrangement according to claim 16, wherein a section of 10 to 75 percent of a length of the air transfer duct comprises perforations to eject air that is transferred by the air transfer duct.

25. The leading-edge arrangement according to claim 24, wherein the section comprising perforations comprises 25 to 50 percent of the length of the air transfer duct.

26. The leading-edge arrangement according to claim 24, wherein the perforations of the air transfer duct are arranged at a side of the respective flow body that faces away from the first end.

27. The leading-edge arrangement according to claim 16, wherein a transition section in the interior of one of the flow bodies connects one of the at least one perforated tube and the air transfer duct.

28. The leading-edge arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the flow bodies are leading-edge high lift devices.

29. A wing having a fixed wing component and a leading-edge arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the flow bodies of the leading-edge arrangement are movably supported on the fixed wing component, and wherein the supply duct extends through a section of the fixed wing component.

30. The wing according to claim 29, wherein the flow bodies comprise at least one of a leading-edge slat and of a droop nose device.

31. An aircraft having two wings according to claim 29, and engines attached to the wings, wherein the supply duct of each wing extends from an engine to the leading-edge arrangement.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] Other characteristics, advantages and potential applications of the present invention result from the following description of the exemplary embodiments illustrated in the figures. In this respect, all described and/or graphically illustrated characteristics also form the object of the invention individually and in arbitrary combination regardless of their composition in the individual claims or their references to other claims. Furthermore, identical or similar objects are identified by the same reference symbols in the figures.

[0030] FIG. 1 shows a first exemplary embodiment of a leading-edge arrangement in a schematic view.

[0031] FIG. 2 shows a second exemplary embodiment of a leading-edge arrangement in a schematic view.

[0032] FIG. 3 shows the leading-edge arrangement with extended flow bodies.

[0033] FIG. 4 shows an aircraft.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0034] FIG. 1 shows a leading-edge arrangement 2, which is attached to a fixed wing component 4 of a wing 32 of an aircraft. It is noted that the shown setup of the arrangement 2 is not to scale and merely acts as an exemplary illustration. Also, the arrangement 2 shows a certain type of components, which may also be replaced by components of a completely different type.

[0035] The arrangement 2 comprises a first end 6 and a second end 8, wherein flow bodies 10, 12 and 14 form a consecutive arrangement in the form of a row. Still further, there is a further inboard flow body 16, which is not of particular relevance in the following description. The flow body 10, which is directly arranged at the first end 6 is referred to as a first flow body 10, while the consecutive flow body 12 is named second flow body 12 and the further consecutive flow body 14 is named third flow body 14. The second and third flow bodies 12 and 14 provide a de-iced group 18, which are actively provided with hot air for anti- or de-icing, while the first flow body 10 remains without any icing protection. In the example, all flow bodies 10, 12, 14 (and 16) are realized as leading-edge slats. They are coupled with drive devices (not shown), such that they can be brought into extended positions and into a retracted position shown in FIG. 1.

[0036] An engine 20 is arranged underneath the fixed wing component 4. It may be realized in the form of a turbofan engine, which comprises at least one bleed air port 22. Here, air is tapped from at least one compressor stage and delivered into a supply duct 24. The supply duct 24 extends from the engine 20 into the direction of the first end 6.

[0037] The first flow body 10, the second flow body 12 and the third flow body 14 each comprise a rear end 26 and a forward end 28. The forward end 28 of the flow bodies 10, 12 and 14 follow a direction of a leading edge 30 of the wing 32, to which the arrangement 2, as well as the fixed wing component 4, are associated. The supply duct 24 is routed into the first flow body 10 through the rear end 26 as close to the first end 6 as possible. Consequently, the length of the supply duct 24 is as short as possible. Inside the first flow body 10, an air transfer duct 34 is arranged. It is in fluid communication with the supply duct 24 and exemplarily comprises an angular connector 36, such that the direction of flow coming from the supply duct 24 and running into the air transfer duct 34 is bent about roughly 90°.

[0038] Air supplied by the supply duct 24 is thus transferred completely through the first flow body 10, without any interaction with the first flow body 10. Then, at a transition 38 between the first flow body 10 and the second flow body 12, a piccolo tube 39 is attached to the air transfer duct 34. The piccolo tube 39, which is a perforated tube, allows air to be ejected through perforations 40 into an interior 42 of the respective flow bodies 12 and 14. Thus, a skin 44 of the flow bodies 12 and 14 is heated up, which effects an anti- or deicing function.

[0039] By reducing the length of the supply duct 24 as much as possible, the installation and required shielding effort for the air supply duct 24 is minimized. Fewer geometrical regions of the fixed wing component 4 and therefore fewer electrical lines and conduits inside the fixed wing component 4 need to be protected from heat emanating from the supply duct 24. The first flow body 10 hardly encloses other installation features, such that the air transfer duct 34 may not require an as sophisticated thermal shielding as the supply duct 24. Hence, routing the supply duct 24 around the first flow body 10 to reach into the second flow body 12, as commonly found in commercial aircraft, is not required. Also, a forward spar 46 of the fixed wing component 4 is less exposed to heat during an anti- or de-icing time interval.

[0040] As demonstrated in FIG. 2, the air transfer duct 34 may also extend further into the second flow body 12 in order to reduce the length of the anti- or deiced group 18. The air transfer duct 34 may exemplarily reach to a transition section 48 inside the second flow body 12. However, it may also be possible to let the air transfer duct 34 reach completely through the first and second flow bodies 10 and 12 and perforate a part of the air transfer duct 34 that corresponds to the distance between the transition region 48 and the outboard delimitation of the second flow body 12 as shown in FIG. 2. Thus, there is an unperforated inboard region 50 inside the second flow body 12.

[0041] FIG. 3 demonstrates the first, second and third flow bodies 10, 12 and 14 in extended positions. Here, for transferring the air from the supply duct 24 into the air transfer duct 34, a telescopic duct section 52 is provided, which follows the motion of the first flow body 10.

[0042] Finally, FIG. 4 shows an aircraft 54 having a fuselage 56, wings 32 and at least one leading-edge arrangement 2 provided on the wings 32. Exemplarily, the aircraft 54 comprises two engines 20, which are realized as turbofan engines. These often comprise two or more bleed air ports, which are connectable to the supply duct 24.

[0043] In addition, it should be pointed out that “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and “a” or “an” does not exclude a plural number. Furthermore, it should be pointed out that characteristics or steps which have been described with reference to one of the above exemplary embodiments may also be used in combination with other characteristics or steps of other exemplary embodiments described above.

[0044] While at least one exemplary embodiment of the present invention(s) is disclosed herein, it should be understood that modifications, substitutions and alternatives may be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art and can be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. This disclosure is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the exemplary embodiment(s). In addition, in this disclosure, the term “or” means either or both. This disclosure hereby incorporates by reference the complete disclosure of any patent or application from which it claims benefit or priority.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0045] 2 leading-edge arrangement [0046] 4 fixed wing component [0047] 6 first end [0048] 8 second end [0049] 10 first flow body [0050] 12 second flow body [0051] 14 third flow body [0052] 16 inboard flow body [0053] 18 de-iced group [0054] 20 engine [0055] 22 bleed air port [0056] 24 supply duct [0057] 26 rear end [0058] 28 forward end [0059] 30 leading-edge [0060] 32 wing [0061] 34 air transfer duct [0062] 36 angular connector [0063] 38 transition [0064] 39 perforated tube/piccolo tube [0065] 40 perforation [0066] 42 interior [0067] 44 skin [0068] 46 front spar [0069] 48 transition section [0070] 50 unperforated inboard region [0071] 52 telescopic duct section [0072] 54 aircraft [0073] 56 fuselage