EP3931522B1

EP3931522B1 - Wing deployment and locking system

Info

Publication number: EP3931522B1
Application number: EP20712689.7A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Özer TAGA; Muhammed Emin CERIT; Kemal YAMAN
Original assignee: Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey TUBITAK
Current assignee: Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey TUBITAK
Priority date: 2019-02-28
Filing date: 2020-02-28
Publication date: 2025-08-20
Anticipated expiration: 2040-02-28
Also published as: WO2020174448A1; EP3931522A1; TR201903055A2

Description

Technical Field of the Invention

The invention relates to wing deployment and locking system in the fields of defence, aviation and aerospace, providing that wings and winglets, that are used for making an object able to fly and remain securely in the air during flight through generating aerodynamic forces, are in a folded position prior to launch, allowing ease of movement and increasing storage efficiency; and are transformed from the folded position into a fully-deployed and locked position when launched, providing an aerodynamic advantage obtained with an extended surface area.

Prior Art

In cases where munitions are stored inside a special canister in an aerial platform or inside a tube in a launching platform prior to using them, the development of methods aiming at reducing the volume of munition are worked on so as to simultaneously store more munitions and increase fire power. When the wings are in a fully-deployed position, which causes quite a high increase in the volume covered by the wings overextending the diameter of munition, it may be impossible to place the munition into the target aerial platform. The fully-deployed position of the wings furthermore leads to a decrease in the number of munitions that can be carried, and which thus cause the fire power and target destruction capability to remain insufficient. The wing deployment mechanisms are used to enable the munition wings/fins to be folded for satisfying the need for the storage of munition in a smaller volume and, when it is launched, to be deployed for getting into flying position. The automatic wing deployment mechanisms in the prior art includes torsion springs and hydraulic actuator mechanisms that are located adjacent to the wings and that allows the wings to be deployed along with firing the munition by making controlled rotational movement until the wings reach a certain wingspan. In the majority of wing deployment systems, wing is opened through its rotation movement around the vertical z-axis extending from the upper part to the lower part of munition. Methods employed in the prior art for locking in the deployed position in order to ensure that the structural integrity is retained and the wings are kept securely in the deployed position against the presence of aerodynamic and aerothermal loads generated during flight in conjunction with the deployment of wings are generally such that the matching holes in the wing root and in the surface on which the wing is fastened are engaged with each other by spring-loaded ring pin or that a tab attached to the wing root in such a way that it protrudes from the wing root is fitted into a recess formed in the flying object's (such as a missile, rocket etc.) body itself.
The prior art document with the patent number US618644B1 discloses a wing deployment and locking system wherein a tapered connection is used. The system includes a wing (400) that is located on a flying object, a base (300) in the shape of an elongated rod on which there are holes allowing the wing to be mounted onto exterior surface of the flying object by screws, arms (303 and 305) protruding from the base, tapered teeth (307 and 309) extending from the side of the arms and being in the form of a tab with a cylindrical hole along an axis parallel to the base, wing bosses (401 and 403) extending from the bottom side of the wing through which the wing and the base are assembled and having a cylindrical cavity along an axis which is identical with the axis of the tapered teeth in the base, tapered slots (405 and 407) that are on the wing bosses and shaped to match with the tapered teeth in the base, a pin (201) that is used for joining the wing and the base by being inserted through the cylindrical holes passing through the same axis of the wing bosses and the tapered teeth, torsion spring (103) which is wound around the pin and located between the wing and the base, and compression spring (101) which is wound around the pin under the torsion spring. When the flying object onto which the system is mounted is launched by being released from the canister inside which the flying object is stored, the wing begins to open by rotating around the pin through the torque applied by the torsion spring. In the last five degrees remaining before the wing is fully open, tapered slots (405, 407) in the wing bosses and tapered teeth (307,309) in the base begin to mesh with each other. Over the last five degrees, compression spring which is wound around the pin under the torsion spring, having sufficient tension, enables the tapered slots and the tapered teeth to be completely mated with each other by translating the wing bosses linearly along the axis through which the pin passes by a predetermined distance. Thus, the wing is locked in the fully open position and this position is retained against aerodynamic loading during flight.
The prior art document with the patent number US4691880A discloses a wing deployment system powered by a torsion spring. In this system; a foldable wing section (16) hinged to a stationary or fixed wing section (14) mounted on the body of a missile is deployed until it is extended to the same span direction with the fixed wing section by being rotated about hinge (18) in a clockwise direction. The foldable wing section is fully deployed in conjunction with the configuration of torsion springs that rotates a splined shaft (24) to which it is connected by means of a gear train (64) along with the release of the configuration of torsion springs loaded in closing position of the foldable wing section when the wing is deployed. The system is designed to be able to operate to a considerable extent independently of temperature variations and reduce the effects of environmental conditions on the performance by using the configuration of torsion springs in lieu of a pyrotechnic wing actuation system for deploying wings. Furthermore, in the system, there is a lock linkage which enables the foldable wing section to remain folded until its deployment, and which is connected with both the foldable wing section and the fixed wing section by means of lock pins.
The prior art document with the patent number US4884766A relates to a fin deployment system, ensuring that high performance in flight is delivered through reducing aerodynamic drag which hinders the movement of aircraft, and that fin cross section is minimized through mounting of the fin deployment system completely within the flying object for obviating the possibility of being detected by radar by virtue of reducing the radar cross section. A pyrotechnic gas generator that is used in the system as an actuation mechanism for enabling the deployment of the fin in the folded position is connected to a piston (42) and a fin lock mechanism (44) in the folded position. The gas heated by the pyrotechnic gas generator which is ignited electrically or chemically is spread through orifices (50, 52), which not only pushes the piston towards a fin hinge (20) by applying pressure against the base of the piston but also allows the release of the fin by pushing a piston (54) loaded by spring comprised in the lock mechanism in the folded position towards base (60). Grooves (38a) being made on the inner surface of a housing (38) encircling the piston (42) interlock with external splines (66a) on the outer surface of the piston (42), which causes that the piston (42) rotates simultaneously while making a linear movement. Inner splines (66b) on the internal side of the piston (42) slides along straight grooves on a torque shaft enclosed by the piston, which enables the torque shaft and a clutch (18) which is connected to the torque shaft to make only rotational movement. The rotary movement of the piston is transmitted to the fin hinge through the clutch, which pivots the fin spar (16) upward and fully extends the fin. When the fin is fully extended, along with the release of a spring comprised in the lock mechanism (110) in the deployed position as connected with the fin spar, the locking of the fin in the fully deployed position is carried out by enabling a plunger (112) to be inserted into a recess on an actuator control shaft (24) while at time same time allowing controlled rotation of the fin along the fin's vertical axis. In the system, furthermore, there is a spring-powered retraction mechanism allowing only the controlled rotation of the fin when the fin comes into the fully-deployed position by disconnecting the clutch from the fin hinge.
The prior art document with the patent number DE 2649643 A1 , relates to a rocket-powered missile with stabilizing surfaces that can be gradually deployed to the extent of a predetermined stability behavior during the launch phase. The invention is based on the object of designing the stabilizing surfaces, which can be deployed according to a predetermined program, in a missile of the type mentioned at the outset in such a way that they can be attached to a missile better than before and without parts of the stabilizing surfaces or their devices for deployment protruding beyond the outer diameter of the missile or increasing the outer diameter of the missile as a whole. Rocket-propelled missile mentioned in the documents is characterized in that each tail surface (1 to 3) is divided into two, preferably three steered, interconnected partial surfaces (1, 2, 3), the pivot axes (8, ii) of which are each parallel to the longitudinal axis of the missile (F), that each pivot axis is assigned a force accumulator (17) which folds out the partial surfaces and which can be put into operation by time-dependently triggered locking devices (70, 32, 73) assigned to the partial surfaces.
In the wing deployment and locking system which is the subject matter of the invention, wings are folded onto the body of a munition for increasing storage efficiency in cases where a munition is stored inside a special canister in an aerial platform or a tube in a launching platform. Thus, thanks to the wing deployment system that is mounted to the bodies of munitions without the necessity of increasing the inside body volume of the munitions in the design of which volume constraints are encountered, the wings, which occupy much less volume through being folded before launch and enable obtaining of the same or more aerodynamic surface area through being fully deployed at the time of launching in comparison with the conventional fixed-wing systems wherein the wings are kept fixed rather than being folded, are utilized. As a result of the munition having less need for space associated with folding the wings of the munition which is enabled to gain the capabilities for achieving a long-range and carrying a heavy warhead along with increasing its wing surface area as much as in the fixed-wing systems, the carriage of more munitions simultaneously inside the canister in the aerial platform or the tube in the launching platform is made possible, which ensure that more fire power and destruction capability is reached. Unlike the systems in the prior art, in this system, special designed machined spring having higher strength and high torque generation capability is used, in lieu of torsion spring, for enabling the wings to be deployed by radial rotation of the wings about the x-axis. When the wing is fully deployed, with the aim of preventing uncontrolled rotational movement of the wing, the retraction mechanism powered by spring in the prior art systems is provided, in the present invention, with recesses (first spring housing recess, Second spring housing recess) and the protrusions (casing protrusion, Second spring retainer protrusion, Second bearing housing protrusion) that are formed in the parts of the subsystem to which the wing is connected, and matched with each other when the wing comes to the fully deployed position to prevent the rotational movement of the wing. The locking in the fully deployed state is carried out by spring-powered pins being inserted into a housing or a formed surface on the parts providing rotational movement.

Purpose of the Invention

An object of the invention is to develop a wing deployment and locking system that increases storage efficiency in cases where a munition is stored inside a special canister in an aerial platform or a tube in a launching platform prior to its launching by reducing the volume occupied by the munition through folding wings onto the body of the munition, and enables to obtain aerodynamic advantage and achieve longer range through the formation of the same or more wing surface area in comparison with the fixed-wing systems by enabling wings to be deployed when launching the munition. Yet another object of the invention is to develop a wing deployment and locking system that do not require an electrical interface, and that minimizes losses stemming from the spacing between the moving parts. For these reasons, the present invention provides a wing deployment and locking system as defined in independent claim1. Furthermore, the present invention provides respective methods for opening a first wing and a second wing of said system as defined in independent claims 6 and 7, and for deployed state locking of said first and second wings as defined in independent claims 8 and 9.

Descriptions of the Figures

Figure 1: Isometric perspective drawing of the wing deployment and locking system for undeployed state (both first wing and second wing are undeployed in folded state).
Figure 2: First wing and integrated first wing subsystem.
Figure 3: Second wing and integrated second wing subsystem.
Figure 4: Detailed section drawing of first wing subsystem mechanism.
Figure 5: Detailed section drawing of second wing subsystem mechanism.
Figure 6: Isometric perspective drawing of wing deployment and locking system for only second wing is fully deployed.
Figure 7: Isometric perspective drawing of the wing deployment and locking system in deployed state (Both first wing and second wing are fully deployed)
Figure 8: Perspective drawings of first spring housing (3) and casing (6) parts in the first wing subsystem.
Figure 9: Exploded perspective drawing of second wing subsystem.

Descriptions of the References in the Figures

The references in the figures are listed below with relevant parts/properties:

1: First wing
2: First cover
3: First spring housing
4: First spring retainer
5: First spring pin
6: Casing
7: First bearing housing
8: Second cover
9: Second wing
10: Third cover
11: Second bearing housing
12: Second spring housing
13: Second spring retainer
14: Fourth cover
15: First one-way clutches
16: First machined spring
17: First lock springs
18: Pyrotechnic bolt
19: First lock pins
20: Second one-way clutches
21: Second machined spring
22: Second spring pin
23: Second lock pin
24: Second lock spring
25: First spring housing recess
26: Casing protrusions
27: Second spring housing recess
28: Second spring retainer protrusion
29: Second bearing housing protrusion
30: Lock pin housings

Disclosure of the Invention

Figure 1 shows the undeployed position of the wing deployment and locking system. By means of this position, where the wings are positioned to be folded over the munition body, the volume that the wings overflow from the munition body is reduced and storage efficiency is provided when the munition is stored on the air platform or in the tube of the launch platform.
Figure 2 shows the first wing (1) and the subsystem integrated into first wing (1) and Figure 3 shows the second wing (9) and the subsystem integrated into second wing (9). First wing and second wing subsystems perform deployed state locking to allow the munition to deploy its wings under aerodynamic loads at the moment of firing and to remain in its deployed position for the duration of the flight.
Figure 4 shows a detailed section drawing of the first wing subsystem mechanism. Specially designed pre-stressed first machined spring (16) that provides the drive on the system to deploy the first wing (1), which is fixed to the first spring housing (3) with the first spring pin (5) on one side and fixed to the first spring retainer (4) on the other side. First spring housing (3) is mounted radially in the spring holder (4) and first bearing housing (7), which allows it to make only radial movement on the first wing (3) by means of first one-way clutches (15) at both ends. By means of the bearings, first spring housing (3), which provides first wing (3) to deploy completely by rotating radially, is also limited to the casing (6) part with radial direction to the first spring retainer (4) and the first bearing housing (7). The pyrotechnic bolt (18), which connects the casing (6) and the first spring housing (3), keeps first machined spring (16) in the torsion-state and first spring housing (3) in a locked state while the system is initially in undeployed state. When the first wing (1) is in fully deployed position in casing (6), there are first lock springs (17) and first lock pins (19) that perform the locking process to keep it in fully deployed position during the flight duration. In order to ensure the integrity of the first wing subsystem, first cover (2) and second cover (8) are placed at the ends of the first spring housing (3) as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 5 shows a detailed section drawing of the second wing subsystem mechanism. Specially designed pre-tensioned second machined spring (21) that provides the drive on the system to deploy the second wing (9), on one side fixed to the second spring housing (12) with the second spring pin (22), on the other side fixed to the second spring retainer (13). The second spring housing (12) is bearing radially to the second spring retainer (13) and second bearing housing (11), which allows it to make only radial movement on two sides of the second wing (9) via the second one-way clutches (20). As the second spring housing (12) rotates radially by the bearings, as a result of the fully deploying of the second wing (9), the second lock spring (24) and second lock pin (23) performs deployed state locking inside the second bearing housing (11) to protect this deployed position during flight. Third cover (10) shown in Figure 1 is used to hold the second lock spring (24) stuck in the second bearing housing (11) and also fourth cover (14) in the end part of the second spring retainer (13) is used to provide the system with all its need.
Figure 6 shows a perspective drawing for deployed position of only second wingsecond wing (9) in the deploying and locking system. Undeployed state of wing 2 (9) shown in Figure 1 becomes deployed as shown in Figure 6 with the fire of munition as a result of releasing of the second machined spring (21), which is initially in the torsion-state, in the second wing subsystem mechanism shown in Figure 5. In the spring-driven system, by means of the bearings the second spring pin (22) and the second spring housing (12) which is connected to each other rotates radially with the rotation movement of the second machined spring (21) so that it is provided to deploy the second wing (9). When second wing (9) is in its fully deployed position, second spring housing recesses (27) on the second spring housing (12) impact to the second spring retainer protrusion (28) and second bearing housing protrusion (29) on the second spring retainer (13) and second bearing housing (11) respectively, as shown in Figure 9. For this, the rotation movement of the second spring housing (12) is prevented and the second wing (9) does not advance further than the fully deployed position. At the same time, second lock spring (24), which is located inside the second bearing housing (11) and is compressed by third cover (10), becomes released and pushes the second lock pin (23) in the undeployed state of the second wing (9). Deployed position locking process is realized with locating housing on the second lock pin (23) to the formed surface on the second machined spring (21).
With the fire of the pyrotechnic bolt (18) which is located in the first wing (1) subsystem mechanism and is used as the undeployed state locking system of frist wing (1), first spring housing (3) and first machined spring (16) which are locked state at the beginning are released when second wing (9) takes fully deployed position shown in Figure 6. First wing (1) is fully deployed with the fire of the pirotechnic bolt (18) and then with the rotational movement of first machined spring (16), which drives the system, first spring pin (5) and first spring housing (3) by the means of the bearing shown in Figure 7. When the first wing (1) comes to the fully deployed position, the first spring housing recess (25) with the formed surface on the first spring housing (3) hits the casing protrusions (26) on the casing (6) shown in Figure 8. Thus, the rotation movement of the first spring housing (3) is prevented and the first wing (1) does not advance further than the fully deployed position. In addition, when the first wing (1) comes to the fully deployed position, two first lock pins (19) in the casing (6) connected to the first spring housing (3) by means of the pyrotechnic bolt (18) are pushed by two first lock springs (17) and two first lock pins (19) slides into slots on the first spring housing (3) and locking operation is carried out to ensure that the first wing (1) remains in its fully deployed position during the flight.
The first one-way clutches (15) and second one-way clutches (20) in the first wingsubsystem mechanism and second wing subsystem mechanism shown respectively in Figure 4 and Figure 5, have the ability to meet the aerodynamic loads that may come in the opposite direction to the system and to prevent the return movement of the system.
In addition, as shown in Figure 8 and Figure 9 in the system, connection interfaces with holes for bolt coupling are available on the second spring housing (12), second spring retainer (13) and second bearing housing (11) to connect between the wings and their subsystems by mounting first spring housing (3) to first wing (1), by mounting second spring housing (12) to second wingsecond wing(9), by mounting second spring retainer (13) and second bearing housing (11) to first spring housing (3).

Industrial Application of the Invention

The wing deployment and locking system, which is the subject matter of the invention, can be used in all flying objects where the wing and winglet systems are used to enable the object to fly and remain on air while being subjected to the aerodynamic forces by generating a lifting force, and guide the object by providing it with maneuverability. However, especially in the defense industry where volume limitation is required, it is preferred to be used in cases where the volume requirement is to be reduced by folding the wings onto the munition body before firing, when the munition used is stored inside a canister in an aerial platform or a tube of the launching platform, thus increasing the firepower by carrying more munitions simultaneously and achieving a longer range along with providing aerodynamic advantages through creating more surface area in a lower volume compared to a fixed wing.

Claims

A wing deployment and locking system comprising,
- a first wing (1) and a second wing (9), forming an aerodynamic surface.

- a first spring housing (3) having first one-way clutches (15) at each end through which the first spring housing can make only rotational motion about a first spring retainer (4) and a first bearing housing (7) axis to rotate the first wing (1),

- a pre-stressed first machined spring (16) that is fixed to the first spring housing (3) by means of a first spring pin (5) on one side and the first spring retainer (4) on the other,

- at least two first lock springs (17) and at least two first lock pins (19), that are positioned inside a casing (6),

- at least two lock pin housings (30) positioned on the first spring housing (3) such that at least two first lock pins (19) located inside the casing (6) can slide separately into the lock pin housings (30) by means of the first lock springs (17) located behind the said lock pins when the first wing (1) is in a fully deployed position,

- an actuator mechanism that enables the first machined spring (16), which is torsionally loaded when the first wing (1) is in an undeployed state, to be released, which allows the first spring housing (3) to be rotated,

- at least two casing protrusions (26) located on the casing (6),

- at least two first spring housing recesses (25) having a formed surface, which are positioned on the first spring housing (3) so as to match separately with the at least two casing protrusions (26) located on the casing when the first wing (1) is in the fully deployed position,

- a second spring housing (12) having second one-way clutches (20) at each end through which the second spring housing can make only rotational motion about a second spring retainer (13) and a second bearing housing (11) axis to rotate the second wing (9),

- a pre-stressed second machined spring (21) that is fixed to the second spring housing (12) by means of a second spring pin (22) on one side and second spring retainer (13) on the other,

- at least one second lock spring (24) and at least one second lock pin (23), that are located inside the second bearing housing (11),

- a third cover (10) that holds the second lock spring (24) in the compressed position,

- a second bearing housing protrusion (29) located on the second bearing housing (11) and a second spring retainer protrusion (28) located on the second spring retainer (13),

- two second spring housing recesses (27) having a formed surface, which are positioned at both ends of the second spring housing (12) so as to match separately with the second spring retainer protrusion (28) and the second bearing housing protrusion (29) when the second wing (9) is in the fully deployed position.
The wing deployment and locking system according to claim 1 preferably comprising a pyrotechnic bolt (18) as an actuator mechanism enabling the first machined spring (16) to switch from the torsion-state to the released state.
The wing deployment and locking system according to claim 2 wherein the pyrotechnic bolt (18) is positioned to link together the first spring housing (3) and the casing (6).
The wing deployment and locking system according to claim 1 further comprising connecting interfaces for mounting the second spring retainer (13) and second bearing housing (11) to the first wing (1), and the first wing (1) to the first spring housing (3) by means of bolts.
The wing deployment and locking system according to claim 1 further comprising a first cover (2) and a second cover (8) that are positioned to cover both ends of the first spring housing (3), and a fourth cover (14) positioned at one end of the second spring retainer (13).
A method for opening the first wing (1) of the wing deployment and locking system according to claim 1 comprising the steps:
- firing the pyrotechnic bolt (18) which keeps the first spring housing (3) in a locked position so as to prevent its rotation, and the first machined spring (16) in the torsion-state,

- releasing the first machined spring (16) and the first spring housing (3) by firing the pyrotechnic bolt (18),

- enabling the deployment of the first wing (1) by rotating the first spring housing (3), to which the released first machined spring (16) is fixed by means of the first spring pin (5), to allow for making only rotational motion over the first wing (1) by means of bearings

- knocking of the at least two casing protrusions (26) on the casing (6) separately into the at least two first spring housing recesses (25) having a formed surface on the first spring housing (3) which is rotated when the first wing comes to the fully deployed position, which results in the first spring housing (3) being prevented from making rotational motion, and thus the first wing (1) being prevented from being rotated further from its fully deployed position.
A method for opening the second wing (9) of the wing deployment and locking system according to claim 1 comprising the steps:
- releasing the second machined spring (21) which is in the torsion-state when the second wing (9) is in the undeployed state,

- enabling the deployment of the second wing (9) by rotating the second spring housing (12), to which the released second machined spring (21) is connected by means of the second spring pin (22), to allow for making only rotational motion over the second wing (9) by means of bearings

- knocking of the second spring retainer protrusion (28) and the second bearing housing protrusion (29) into the second spring housing recesses (27) having a formed surface at both ends of the second spring housing (12) which is rotated when the second wing (9) comes to the fully deployed position, which results in the second spring housing (12) being prevented from making rotational motion, and thus the second wing (9) being prevented from being rotated further from its fully deployed position.
A method for deployed state locking of the first wing (1) of the wing deployment and locking system according to claim 1 wherein the at least two first lock pins (19) being pushed by the at least two first lock springs (17), that are located inside the casing (6), are inserted into the at least two lock pin housings (30) located on the first spring housing (3) to ensure the locking when the first wing (1) comes to the fully deployed position.
A method for deployed state locking of the second wing (9) of the wing deployment and locking system according to claim 1 wherein a slot on the at least one second lock pin (23) being pushed by the at least one second lock spring (24), that are located inside the second bearing housing (11), is matched up with a formed surface on the second machined spring (21) to ensure the locking when the second wing (9) comes to the fully deployed position.