Morphing aircraft are designed to adaptively adjust their shape for changing flight missions,which enables them to improve their flight performance significantly for future applications.The folding wingtips represent ...Morphing aircraft are designed to adaptively adjust their shape for changing flight missions,which enables them to improve their flight performance significantly for future applications.The folding wingtips represent a key research aspect for morphing aircraft,since they can lead to potential improvements in flight range,maneuverability,load alleviation and airport compatibility.This paper proposes a hinge mechanism design for folding wingtips based on the shape memory alloy torsion tube,aiming to achieve successful folding using the actuation effect of the shape memory alloy.The proposed design employs a shape memory alloy torsion tube as the actuator for the active folding of the wingtip,which is motivated by the characteristics of the tube,enabling a simplified structure for the integration with high energy density.Through numerical simulation and testing of the folding wingtip structure,the concept is verified,which shows its potential as an actuator for folding wingtips.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.52305262)the Aeronautical Science Foundation of China(No.20230015052002)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.NT2024001)。
文摘Morphing aircraft are designed to adaptively adjust their shape for changing flight missions,which enables them to improve their flight performance significantly for future applications.The folding wingtips represent a key research aspect for morphing aircraft,since they can lead to potential improvements in flight range,maneuverability,load alleviation and airport compatibility.This paper proposes a hinge mechanism design for folding wingtips based on the shape memory alloy torsion tube,aiming to achieve successful folding using the actuation effect of the shape memory alloy.The proposed design employs a shape memory alloy torsion tube as the actuator for the active folding of the wingtip,which is motivated by the characteristics of the tube,enabling a simplified structure for the integration with high energy density.Through numerical simulation and testing of the folding wingtip structure,the concept is verified,which shows its potential as an actuator for folding wingtips.