Скачать или смотреть The FlexSys Flexible Wing Technology for Aircrafts

Why can’t airplanes fly more like birds? Conventional flaps provide excellent lift, but their aerodynamic drag creates fuel inefficiency and noise. Aircraft engineers have pursued the Holy Grail of a seamless, flexible wing for decades, but the mechanisms they came up with were too heavy and complicated to be practical. In 1994, Sridhar Kota, then an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, had a wild idea. Instead of hundreds of parts, how about one? Instead of hardened strength, why not flexible brawn? Kota’s profoundly radical approach was based on the concept of “distributed compliance,” which is rare in human-built systems but abundant in natural structures like bird wings, crab legs, and elephant trunks.

Working closely with the Air Force Research Lab under an Air Force SBIR, Kota’s company, FlexSys, developed the Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge — finally succeeding in the quest for a seamless wing control surface.

The FlexSys adaptation is an example of the impact of the U.S. Air Force Small Business Innovation Research / Small Business Technology Transfer Program, which funds R&D by small businesses / cooperative R&D projects with small businesses and non-profit U.S. research institutions. The Air Force SBIR / STTR program focuses on projects and services with the potential to develop into a product for military or commercial sectors.

From 2000-2013, the Air Force invested nearly $4 billion in these R&D projects. FlexSys received funding during this period to develop the adaptive compliant trailing edge. This is the FlexSys story.

88ABW-2015-5920 CLEARED on 14 Dec 2015