No flaps, no ailerons, no pilot: the future of aviation
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No flaps, no ailerons, no pilot: the future of aviation
The UAV, called DEMON, is designed to fly with no conventional elevators or ailerons, getting its pitch and roll control from technologies which rely on blown air and so requires much fewer moving parts, therefore making it a lot easier to maintain and repair. The aircraft made the historic flight from an airfield at Walney Island in Cumbria.
I think this IS something new
Wonder if we really will be flying planes like this (or maybe them flying us...)
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No flaps, no ailerons, no pilot: the future of aviation
The UAV, called DEMON, is designed to fly with no conventional elevators or ailerons, getting its pitch and roll control from technologies which rely on blown air and so requires much fewer moving parts, therefore making it a lot easier to maintain and repair. The aircraft made the historic flight from an airfield at Walney Island in Cumbria.
I wonder if we will be flying planes like this soon... or rather, them flying us
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... getting its pitch and roll control from technologies which rely on blown air and so requires much fewer moving parts
Fewer moving parts? How do you think they vector the fluid momentum this way and that?
Fewer moving parts? How do you think they vector the fluid momentum this way and that?
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Is it me or does the 2nd picture (with the yellow/black wings) look like a Me262 Body !!
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You need this:
Electroactive Polymers 1: Piezoelectric Materials
No control runs, just volts passed through the material. Some of the leading gas turbine manufacturers are researching this for use in the front stages of turbofan engines to optimise blade andgle vs rotational speed.
Electroactive Polymers 1: Piezoelectric Materials
No control runs, just volts passed through the material. Some of the leading gas turbine manufacturers are researching this for use in the front stages of turbofan engines to optimise blade andgle vs rotational speed.
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Fallmonk
Is it me or does the 2nd picture (with the yellow/black wings) look like a Me262 Body !!
I think its the curve of the nose and the relative position of the 'cockpit' - or sensor housing if that's what it is! 
Roger.
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Vinrouge
The Td5 engine in my L4nd Rover Discovery has piezoelectric injectors, which are very good. The only problem is; they are £450 a pop and there are five of 'em! 
Roger.
Roger.
I wonder if we will be flying planes like this soon... or rather, them flying us 
It kind of reminds me of Corax and Raven - both of those were about 6ft across as well.
All of them have very clever pictures taken so that the reader thinks they are far bigger than reality.
Still, I hope they keep at it to inform the Taranis program - you never know, we might have something innovative that we can sell globally; the last things I can think of is the Dyson vaccuum cleaner and the Harrier jump-jet (no connection intended!).
Finally, blown control surfaces are nothing new - ask any Buccaneer mate!
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I'm not sure that those piezoelectric valves can be enlarged so as to vector a large mass flow rate of air.
"In Bosch's conventional Common-Rail system the injector is controlled by a magnetic coil," Dohle explains. "In the new piezoelectric injectors, we exploit the expansion of piezo crystals in an electrical field to produce an injector actuation effect switching in less than ten thousandths of a second, less than half the time required by a magnetic switch. A package of several hundred very small, thin crystals is used."
To exploit piezo technology, Bosch has integrated the actuator into the injector body. The movement of the piezo package is transferred to the rapid-switch nozzle needle without friction. "There are no mechanical components," Dohle confirms. "The advantages over magnetic and existing conventional piezo injectors lie in a more precise dosing and an improved atomization of the injected fuel within the combustion chamber. The higher switching speed of the injector means that the intervals between the individual fuel injections can be reduced, giving a more flexible control of the injection process."
Injection hurtles forward: Bosch's gas/diesel injection projects | Automotive Industries | Find Articles at BNET
"In Bosch's conventional Common-Rail system the injector is controlled by a magnetic coil," Dohle explains. "In the new piezoelectric injectors, we exploit the expansion of piezo crystals in an electrical field to produce an injector actuation effect switching in less than ten thousandths of a second, less than half the time required by a magnetic switch. A package of several hundred very small, thin crystals is used."
To exploit piezo technology, Bosch has integrated the actuator into the injector body. The movement of the piezo package is transferred to the rapid-switch nozzle needle without friction. "There are no mechanical components," Dohle confirms. "The advantages over magnetic and existing conventional piezo injectors lie in a more precise dosing and an improved atomization of the injected fuel within the combustion chamber. The higher switching speed of the injector means that the intervals between the individual fuel injections can be reduced, giving a more flexible control of the injection process."
Injection hurtles forward: Bosch's gas/diesel injection projects | Automotive Industries | Find Articles at BNET
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Modern Elmo
I'm not sure that those piezoelectric valves can be enlarged so as to vector a large mass flow rate of air.
I remember reading an article, many years ago, in 'Scientific American' about fluid 'logic' and how relatively large flows of fluid could be controlled ('switched') by a tiny auxiliary flow of the same fluid - a bit like the way transistors work. Additionally, I have been fascinated by the 'Concorde thrust from intake' thread, in which we learned how truly colossal volumes of air are controlled by up to four shock waves.
How about piezoelectric devices controlling small volumes of air that, because of their position and vector, set up moveable shock waves that divert larger volumes of air to act as dragless (or low drag) flight control surfaces?
Form an orderly queue for the flame thrower.
Roger.
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" First aircraft in the world to fly without flaps " ?
Wing warping and vectored thrust - seem to have heard of those technologies before, though maybe not together !
Wing warping and vectored thrust - seem to have heard of those technologies before, though maybe not together !
The following the first of a 6-part presentation about the FLAVIIR research project of which DEMON is one output:
YouTube - UPC - ETSEIAT - "FLAVIIR: An Integrated Programme of Research for UAVs" (1/6)
I an not an expert and what I am writing here is probably garbled but after asking about it at Farnborough I understand that:
1) It uses "ball" valves.
2) Electric motors require high amounts of power to keep control surfaces steady as they are force a change in the direction of the airflow - whereas fluidic controls do not and this makes a difference to the electrical infrastructure one has to have on the aircraft.
3) Part of the experiment is about how to use the coanda effect to influence airflow at the trailing edge of the wing.
4) Part of the experiment is a thrust-vectoring experiment that uses blown air in the exhaust nozzle to influence the direction of the main jet of outgoing air.
5) this aircraft has conventional and fluidic controls - they can fly it to some point conventionally, test a bit of the fluidic envelope and then bring it back conventionally.
6) The obvious military application (which they talk about freely) is that when you move ailerons around it apparently affects your stealth. So fluidic controls won't do that.
Regards,
Tim
YouTube - UPC - ETSEIAT - "FLAVIIR: An Integrated Programme of Research for UAVs" (1/6)
I an not an expert and what I am writing here is probably garbled but after asking about it at Farnborough I understand that:
1) It uses "ball" valves.
2) Electric motors require high amounts of power to keep control surfaces steady as they are force a change in the direction of the airflow - whereas fluidic controls do not and this makes a difference to the electrical infrastructure one has to have on the aircraft.
3) Part of the experiment is about how to use the coanda effect to influence airflow at the trailing edge of the wing.
4) Part of the experiment is a thrust-vectoring experiment that uses blown air in the exhaust nozzle to influence the direction of the main jet of outgoing air.
5) this aircraft has conventional and fluidic controls - they can fly it to some point conventionally, test a bit of the fluidic envelope and then bring it back conventionally.
6) The obvious military application (which they talk about freely) is that when you move ailerons around it apparently affects your stealth. So fluidic controls won't do that.
Regards,
Tim
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Yes, the Coanda effect is the main point of blowing air over or from the trailing edge of the wings. .,.. Boundary layer control, also call the "blown flaps" or "jet flaps" effect.
...
The small wing of the Buccaneer was suited to high-speed flight at low level. Such a wing, however, did not generate the lift that was essential for carrier operations. Therefore the wing and horizontal stabiliser were "blown" by bleeding compressor gas from the engine through surface vents; this was known as "Boundary layer control" or BLC, and had the effect of energising and smoothing the boundary layer airflow, which significantly reduced airflow separation at the back of the wing (and therefore decreased stall speed) and increased effectiveness of trailing edge control surfaces including flaps and ailerons. Before landing, the pilot would open the BLC vents as well as lower the flaps to achieve slow, stable flight. A consequence of the blown wing was that the engines were required to run at high power for low-speed flight in order to generate sufficient compressor gas for blowing. Blackburn's solution to this situation was to provide a large air brake. ...
Blackburn Buccaneer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The pictures of those radio controlled models reminds me of the manned Bell Bartoe Jetwing. If you see the pix in the Wikipedia link, you'll notice the open cockpit. No ejection seat, either. Peepul could get away with that kind of safety measures back in the 1970's. Good old days, huh?
I know the last man to fly this thing. He judged the handling qualities of the Bell Bartoe to be unacceptable. The aircraft's elevator is undersized and unable to fully offset the nose down pitching moment caused by the jet flaps. OK, the elevator might be enlarged, and ordinary flaps also push the nose down when extended, so the pitching moment problem was predictable.
However, power-on stall onset was very abrupt and unpredictable. Poor stall characteristics may be inherent to jet flapping.
The Ball-Bartoe JW-1 Jetwing was a US research aircraft flown in the 1970s to investigate blown wing technology. It was a small, mid-wing design powered by a turbofan and fitted with tailwheel undercarriage. The upper surface of the swept wings incorporated a slot along around 70% of their span, through which air from the engine's fan stage could be discharged. Mounted above this slot was a small secondary airfoil called an "augmentor", intended to direct the airflow over the wing. With this arrangement, it was found that the aircraft remained controllable at airspeeds as low as 40 mph (64 km/h). ...
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Ball-Bartoe Jetwing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/COLOR][/I][/COLOR][/COLOR]
...
The small wing of the Buccaneer was suited to high-speed flight at low level. Such a wing, however, did not generate the lift that was essential for carrier operations. Therefore the wing and horizontal stabiliser were "blown" by bleeding compressor gas from the engine through surface vents; this was known as "Boundary layer control" or BLC, and had the effect of energising and smoothing the boundary layer airflow, which significantly reduced airflow separation at the back of the wing (and therefore decreased stall speed) and increased effectiveness of trailing edge control surfaces including flaps and ailerons. Before landing, the pilot would open the BLC vents as well as lower the flaps to achieve slow, stable flight. A consequence of the blown wing was that the engines were required to run at high power for low-speed flight in order to generate sufficient compressor gas for blowing. Blackburn's solution to this situation was to provide a large air brake. ...
Blackburn Buccaneer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The pictures of those radio controlled models reminds me of the manned Bell Bartoe Jetwing. If you see the pix in the Wikipedia link, you'll notice the open cockpit. No ejection seat, either. Peepul could get away with that kind of safety measures back in the 1970's. Good old days, huh?
I know the last man to fly this thing. He judged the handling qualities of the Bell Bartoe to be unacceptable. The aircraft's elevator is undersized and unable to fully offset the nose down pitching moment caused by the jet flaps. OK, the elevator might be enlarged, and ordinary flaps also push the nose down when extended, so the pitching moment problem was predictable.
However, power-on stall onset was very abrupt and unpredictable. Poor stall characteristics may be inherent to jet flapping.
The Ball-Bartoe JW-1 Jetwing was a US research aircraft flown in the 1970s to investigate blown wing technology. It was a small, mid-wing design powered by a turbofan and fitted with tailwheel undercarriage. The upper surface of the swept wings incorporated a slot along around 70% of their span, through which air from the engine's fan stage could be discharged. Mounted above this slot was a small secondary airfoil called an "augmentor", intended to direct the airflow over the wing. With this arrangement, it was found that the aircraft remained controllable at airspeeds as low as 40 mph (64 km/h). ...
[/COLOR]
Ball-Bartoe Jetwing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/COLOR][/I][/COLOR][/COLOR]
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If you think this is just the same sort of thing as blown bits on conventional aircraft, then you need to listen to the video a bit more carefully.
Blowing conventional control surfaces just increases the effect of those surfaces, but those surfaces still move to provide the change in lift required.
The purpose of this is to have no moving control surfaces whatsoever. An altogether different thing.
Blowing conventional control surfaces just increases the effect of those surfaces, but those surfaces still move to provide the change in lift required.
The purpose of this is to have no moving control surfaces whatsoever. An altogether different thing.
Tourist
I don't believe that control surfaces offer up much RCS reduction. Anyway, the current low-observable stealthy aircraft are well within EO/IR range before offering radar returns, so what would be the point?
Also, electrically operated flying surfaces are just fine at 270volt DC thanks very much. Apart from the US are the only manufacturers of such systems I believe (so are ITAR controlled).
But the "UK-US Defence Trade Co-operation Treaty" will probably reduce the impact of ITAR - I believe that significant movement has been made on this last week? Probably bad news for BAES in the UK but great news for BAES and COBHAM in the US (ie. the companies owned by UK companies in the US).
LJ
I don't believe that control surfaces offer up much RCS reduction. Anyway, the current low-observable stealthy aircraft are well within EO/IR range before offering radar returns, so what would be the point?
Also, electrically operated flying surfaces are just fine at 270volt DC thanks very much. Apart from the US are the only manufacturers of such systems I believe (so are ITAR controlled).
But the "UK-US Defence Trade Co-operation Treaty" will probably reduce the impact of ITAR - I believe that significant movement has been made on this last week? Probably bad news for BAES in the UK but great news for BAES and COBHAM in the US (ie. the companies owned by UK companies in the US).
LJ
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Leon,
Again I suggest you watch the video presentation.
The RCS business is just a possible fortunate side effect. The purpose is to do away with moving control surfaces altogether. Not wing warping or hinges or anything. A solid completely fixed wing wing with all the strength and weight advantages that incurs.
Again I suggest you watch the video presentation.
The RCS business is just a possible fortunate side effect. The purpose is to do away with moving control surfaces altogether. Not wing warping or hinges or anything. A solid completely fixed wing wing with all the strength and weight advantages that incurs.
