Systems and methods for attenuation of noise and wakes produced by aircraft

摘要

Systems and methods for reducing the trailing vortices and lowering the noise produced by the side edges of aircraft flight control surfaces, tips of wings and winglets, and tips of rotor blades. A noise-reducing, wake-alleviating device is disclosed which incorporates an actuator and one or more air-ejecting slot-shaped openings coupled to that actuator and located on the upper and/or lower surfaces and/or the side edges of an aircraft flight control surface or the tip of a wing, winglet or blade. The actuation mechanism produces sets of small and fast-moving air jets that traverse the openings in the general streamwise direction. The actuation destabilizes the flap vortex structure, resulting in reduced intensity of trailing vortices and lower airplane noise.

主权项

1. An aircraft comprising an aerodynamic element, a source of pressurized air, an air jet actuator and a controller, wherein:
said aerodynamic element comprises a side edge, upper and lower surfaces, a first slot and a second slot, said first slot being located on one of said upper surface, said lower surface or said side edge, and said second slot being located on one of said upper surface, said lower surface or said side edge on which said first slot is not located; said air jet actuator comprises a rotatable element, said rotatable element comprising an interior duct and a helical slot in fluid communication with said interior duct; and said controller is operable to cause said interior duct of said rotatable element to be placed in fluid communication with said pressurized air source and also cause said rotatable element to rotate, as a result of which said interior duct of said rotatable element is concurrently in fluid communication with said first and second slots of said aerodynamic element via said helical slot in said rotatable element, thereby enabling pressurized air from said source to exit said first and second slots of said aerodynamic element in the form of respective air jets, wherein said helical slot of said rotating rotatable element causes said respective air jets to traverse said first and second slots respectively.