초록 ▼

A tilt wing VTOL aircraft has an upper wing with a leading edge, a trailing edge, an inboard area adjacent the fuselage, spaced opposite end tip areas and an upper surface. The wing is pivotally mounted on the fuselage for rotation from a cruise position in which the upper surface of the wing is flu

A tilt wing VTOL aircraft has an upper wing with a leading edge, a trailing edge, an inboard area adjacent the fuselage, spaced opposite end tip areas and an upper surface. The wing is pivotally mounted on the fuselage for rotation from a cruise position in which the upper surface of the wing is flush with the upper surface of the fuselage to a hover position in which the wing is perpendicular to the upper surface of the fuselage. The wing has a forward portion in the leading edge of the inboard area affixed to the fuselage and cut out of the wing and an aft portion in the trailing edge of the inboard area affixed to the fuselage and cut out of the wing. Thus, when the wing is in its cruise position it is whole, including the forward and aft portions, whereas when the wing is in its hover position it has a forward cutout at its leading edge in the inboard area corresponding to the forward portion and an aft cutout at its trailing edge in the inboard area corresponding to the aft portion so that the spanwise wing lift distribution is diminished when the wing is in a position other than its cruise position. The forward and aft cutouts produce a vortex along the sides of the fuselage which results in the spanwise wing lift distribution being diminished when the wing is in a position other than its cruise position. This vortex increases the wing tolerance to angle of attack and thus reduces the requirement for propeller bending of the air flow during mid-transition speeds. It also reduces the intensity of center section buffet.

대표청구항 ▼

A tilt wing VTOL aircraft having a fuselage having sides and an upper surface, said aircraft comprising an upper wing having a leading edge, a trailing edge, an inboard area adjacent said fuselage, spaced opposite end tip areas and an upper surface, said wing being pivotally mounted on said fuselage

A tilt wing VTOL aircraft having a fuselage having sides and an upper surface, said aircraft comprising an upper wing having a leading edge, a trailing edge, an inboard area adjacent said fuselage, spaced opposite end tip areas and an upper surface, said wing being pivotally mounted on said fuselage for rotation from a cruise flight position in which the upper surface of said wing is substantially flush with the upper surface of said fuselage to a hover position in which said wing is substantially perpendicular to said upper surface of said fuselage, said wing having a forward portion in the leading edge of said inboard area affixed to said fuselage and cut out of said wing and an aft portion in the trailing edge of said inboard area affixed to said fuselage and cut out of said wing, so that when said wing is in its cruise flight position it is whole, including said forward and aft portions, whereas when said wing is rotated from the cruise flight position it has a forward cutout at its leading edge in said inboard area corresponding to said forward portion and an aft cutout at its trailing edge in said inboard area corresponding to said aft portion, said forward and aft cutouts having areas sufficiently great to enable the spanwise wing lift distribution to be substantially diminished when said wing is in a position other than its cruise flight position, said wing being ideally sized for high speed cruise while providing ample area for transition and allowing extremely high local wing angles of attack during the transition, insuring stall-free performance even while decelerating at rates of 0.25 g through the transition and said cutouts reducing the area of the portion of said wing that is not immersed in the slipstream thereby reducing any buffeting and thus fuselage and tail vibration and reducing the effective aspect ratio of said wing at the critical tilt angles to that of two smaller low aspect ratio wings, resulting in increased induced drag and raised angle of attack tolerance during the transition; and aircraft engines with propellers mounted on said wing and extending forward of said leading edge of said wing.