LEADING-EDGE COMPONENT FOR AN AIRCRAFT

Abstract

A leading-edge component for an aircraft includes at least a part of a flow body having a front skin and a rib. The front skin comprises a top section, a bottom section and a leading edge arranged therebetween. The rib extends from the bottom section to the top section. The rib comprises a flange that at least partially surrounds the rib. The flange is attached to an inner side of the front skin. The at least one peripheral surface extends from the contact surface inwardly into the flow body and away from the inner side of the front skin or encloses a weakened connection region with the contact surface for bending inwardly into the flow body upon an impact onto the front skin on or adjacent to the at least one peripheral surface.

Claims

1-14. (canceled)

15. A leading-edge component for an aircraft, comprising at least a part of a flow body having a front skin and a rib, wherein the front skin comprises a top section, a bottom section and a leading edge arranged therebetween, wherein the rib extends from the bottom section to the top section, wherein the rib comprises a flange that at least partially surrounds the rib, wherein the flange is attached to an inner side of the front skin, wherein the flange comprises a contact surface coupled with the front skin and at least one directly adjacent peripheral surface, and wherein the at least one peripheral surface extends from the contact surface inwardly into the flow body and away from the inner side of the front skin or encloses a weakened connection region with the contact surface for bending inwardly into the flow body upon an impact onto the front skin on or adjacent to the at least one peripheral surface.

16. The leading-edge component according to claim 15, wherein a transition between the at least one peripheral surface and the contact surface is rounded.

17. The leading-edge component according to claim 15, wherein the at least one peripheral surface is angled or curved away from the inner side of the front skin.

18. The leading-edge component according to claim 17, wherein the at least one peripheral surface and the contact surface enclose local angles of at least 10°, at least in a region.

19. The leading-edge component according to claim 17, wherein the at least one peripheral surface and the contact surface enclose local angles of at least 20°, at least in a region.

20. The leading-edge component according to claim 15, wherein the flange comprises two peripheral surfaces, which are substantially mirror-inverted relative to each other.

21. The leading-edge component according to claim 15, wherein the flange comprises a substantially constant thickness and is bent or curved to form the contact surface and the at least one peripheral surface.

22. The leading-edge component according to claim 15, wherein the at least one peripheral surface is created by removal of material from the flange through a material removal process.

23. The leading-edge component according to claim 22, wherein an underside of the flange opposite to the contact surface and the at least one peripheral surface is flat.

24. The leading-edge component according to claim 15, wherein the at least one peripheral surface is configured to reduce a shear stress of the front skin upon impact of a moving object onto the front skin.

25. The leading-edge component according to claim 15, wherein the leading-edge component is designed to be a fixed component rigidly attachable to a structure.

26. The leading-edge component according to claim 15, wherein the leading-edge component is configured to be a movable component having a substantially closed surface.

27. A wing for an aircraft, having a leading-edge component according to claim 15.

28. The wing according to claim 27, further comprising a fixed leading edge, wherein the leading-edge component is movable between a retracted position directly forward the fixed leading-edge and at least one extended position at a further distance to the fixed leading edge.

29. An aircraft having at least one wing of claim 27.

30. An aircraft having at least one leading-edge component according to claim 15.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] 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.

[0027] FIG. 1 shows a first exemplary embodiment of a leading-edge component for an aircraft in a first sectional view.

[0028] FIG. 1A shows the embodiment of FIG. 1 in a second sectional view.

[0029] FIG. 2 shows a second exemplary embodiment of a leading-edge component for an aircraft in a section view.

[0030] FIGS. 3 and 4 show a third exemplary embodiment of a leading-edge component with a foldable connection region.

[0031] FIG. 5 shows an aircraft having at least one such leading-edge component.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0032] FIGS. 1 and 1A show a section of a leading-edge component 2 for an aircraft. Here, the leading-edge component 2 comprises at least a part of a flow body 4 having a front skin 6 and a rib 8. The front skin 6 comprises a top section 10, a bottom section 12 and a leading edge 14 arranged therebetween. As apparent, the front skin 6 has a significant curvature and is stiffened by the rib 8, which extends from the bottom section 12 to the top section 10 and towards the leading edge 14.

[0033] The rib 8 comprises a flange 16 that at least partially surrounds the rib 8. It is attached to an inner side 18 of the front skin 6 and comprises a contact surface 20, which is directly coupled with the front skin 6. The flange 16 may be connected to the front skin 6 by connection means 22, such as rivets or bolts. In this example, two peripheral surfaces 24 are directly adjacent to both lateral sides of the contact surface 20 or the rib 8, respectively. They extend away from the contact surface 20 in a lateral direction and also extend away from the inner side 18 of the front skin 6.

[0034] This design leads to a guided deformation of the front skin 6 upon an impact of a foreign object. In FIG. 1, a deformation 26 is shown, which occurs due to the impact. The front skin 6 is deformed to lay onto the peripheral surface 24 in the drawing plane on the right. Hence, there is no sharp edge between the front skin 6 and the flange 16 that causes high shearing stress which may lead to a rupture of the front skin 6. Instead, the deformation 26 has a more harmonic shape and experiences a reduced shearing stress.

[0035] A region from a transition 28 between the contact surface 20 and the peripheral surfaces 24, as well as the peripheral surfaces 24, lead to a relaxation of the front skin 6 and a guided deformation 26 into the interior side 30 of the flow body 4. Consequently, the absorption of impact energy is improved and ruptures may largely be avoided or at least delayed.

[0036] In this example, the flange 16 comprises a substantially constant thickness d and the peripheral surfaces 24 therefore appear as kinked or bent ends of the flange 16.

[0037] In FIG. 2, a leading-edge component 31 having a flange 32 is shown, which also has a contact surface 20, two peripheral surfaces 24, two connection means 22, and a flat underside 34 opposite to the contact surface and the peripheral surfaces 24. The flange 32 may be manufactured through a material removing process, such as milling or cutting. Based on a slightly bulkier cross-sectional profile, the peripheral surfaces 24 are created through cutting away corners 36. However, the deformation behavior of the front skin 6 is substantially the same as with the flange 16 in FIG. 1.

[0038] FIGS. 3 and 4 show a further exemplary embodiment in the form of a leading-edge component 37. Here, a flange 38 is provided, which comprises a contact surface 20, two connection means 22 and a peripheral surface 40, which encloses a weakened connection region 42 with the contact surface 20. Hence, upon impact of a foreign object onto the front skin 6, the peripheral surface 40 may deform, i.e., fold, relative to the contact surface 20. From a flush alignment of the paraffin, so face 40, and the contact, so face 20, a similar arrangement of the peripheral surface 40 and the contact surface 20 as shown in FIG. 1 can be achieved. The folding process already absorbs a part of the impact energy and also distinctly guides the deformation 26 into the interior side 30 of the flow body 4.

[0039] FIG. 5 shows an aircraft 44 having wings 46, a horizontal tail plane 48, a vertical tail plane 50 and engines 52. Each of these elements may comprise a leading-edge component 2, 31 or 37 according to the previous illustrations.

[0040] 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.

[0041] 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

[0042] 2 leading-edge component [0043] 4 flow body [0044] 6 front skin [0045] 8 rib [0046] 10 top section [0047] 12 bottom section [0048] 14 leading edge [0049] 16 flange [0050] 18 inner side [0051] 20 contact surface [0052] 22 connection means [0053] 24 peripheral surface [0054] 26 deformation [0055] 28 transition [0056] 30 interior side [0057] 31 leading-edge component [0058] 32 flange [0059] 34 underside [0060] 36 corner [0061] 37 leading-edge component [0062] 38 flange [0063] 40 peripheral surface [0064] 42 connection region [0065] 44 aircraft [0066] 46 wing [0067] 48 horizontal tail plane [0068] 50 vertical tail plane [0069] 52 engine [0070] d thickness of flange