В России создали новый тип самолётного крыла с подвижной обшивкой

Design engineers at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after N.E. Zhukovsky (TsAGI) have created a wing for aircraft with movable skin.

According to «Известия», the new mechanism allows the surface to move around the wing's power structures while remaining smooth to maintain high aerodynamic properties. Thus, the pilot or the "smart" device of the aircraft can control the flight modes by transforming the shape of its wing.

The solution is achieved by the fact that the wing contains mechanical chains, which consist of lever mechanisms connected to each other. They are connected to the skin with special spokes. When the geometry of any link changes, the others change in the same way. This gives the surface a bend to a given curvature. At the same time, the sum of the angles between the lever mechanisms remains the same, so the skin can bend but does not stretch or wrinkle.

Ivan Amelyushkin, one of the authors of the invention, Head of the Department of Aerophysics of Multiphase Flows, Rarefied Gases and Plasma at TsAGI

Tests have shown that when the curvature of the wing profile changes, the angle between the nose and tail segments of the mechanical chain can reach 80°.

The plane will be able to:

slow down and speed up during flight;
soar in atmospheric flows at the speed of a car;
maneuver at idle speed;
make smooth takeoffs and landings.

According to engineers' calculations, the speed of an aircraft equipped with the proposed mechanism in calm weather can be only about 20 m/s. The new type of wings can be useful for civil aviation and inexpensive individual mobility objects such as hang gliders. Also, such a wing can be used for aircraft associated with various aviation works: searching for missing people, spraying fertilizers, and so on.

Another unusual niche for the application of the TsAGI specialists' invention is underwater gliders. Wings with movable skin will allow making complex maneuvers underwater.