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Aside: Many years ago I had an idea for something, which may or may not be plausible, and even bought a couple of books on invention and patenting, so I could p

Aside: Many years ago I had an idea for something, which may or may not be plausible, and even bought a couple of books on invention and patenting, so I could perhaps develop it. I never did. Not my realm. BUT. My thought was: Could you have inflateable control surfaces on lowish-speed wings and aerodynamic surfaces, such that instead of bending and extending using hard surfaces, areas could instead be inflated or deflated to change the dynamic of the overall lifting surface? frontal edges, top and bottom, some trailing surfaces. Wings could become thicker or thinner, at different points. Only seems to make sense on slower, prop-driven haulages, such as here.

funkaster 4y ago
inflatable surfaces already exist today, although not for control surfaces. De-icing boots are common in GA and some larger aircraft. Were you thinking to change the shape of an airfoil to affect the aerodynamics? that seems really risky and potentially unnecessary. For control surfaces, hard to picture something else than moving parts over a hinge, except maybe flaps that already change the shape of the wing.
- aerostable_slug 4y ago
  Aeroelastic surfaces have been studied for some time, though I don't know of any production applications (yet). Here's a NASA F-18 fitted with them: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-061-DFRC.html https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-06...
irishjohnnie 4y ago
Are you referring to the ballpark "specifications" in the article? If so, I don't know of any material that can withstand the stresses of the weights and speeds mentioned in it ... unless you are going for really low wing loading (think dirigible).
trillic 4y ago
This you? http://inflatedwingsails.com/en/concept/ http://inflatedwingsails.com/en/concept/
- detritus 4y ago
  I wish! "IWS behaves like a muscle" is sort of what I was thinking though. Small deep cells, intermediate wide cells, large, flat sub-dermal cells, outer skin. All the cells being somewhat indivdually addressable in terms of pressure.

funkaster 4y ago

inflatable surfaces already exist today, although not for control surfaces. De-icing boots are common in GA and some larger aircraft. Were you thinking to change the shape of an airfoil to affect the aerodynamics? that seems really risky and potentially unnecessary. For control surfaces, hard to picture something else than moving parts over a hinge, except maybe flaps that already change the shape of the wing.

aerostable_slug 4y ago
Aeroelastic surfaces have been studied for some time, though I don't know of any production applications (yet). Here's a NASA F-18 fitted with them: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-061-DFRC.html https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-06...

irishjohnnie 4y ago

Are you referring to the ballpark "specifications" in the article? If so, I don't know of any material that can withstand the stresses of the weights and speeds mentioned in it ... unless you are going for really low wing loading (think dirigible).

trillic 4y ago

This you? http://inflatedwingsails.com/en/concept/ http://inflatedwingsails.com/en/concept/

detritus 4y ago
I wish! "IWS behaves like a muscle" is sort of what I was thinking though. Small deep cells, intermediate wide cells, large, flat sub-dermal cells, outer skin. All the cells being somewhat indivdually addressable in terms of pressure.