Wing deployer and locker

[0002] The invention described herein may be manufactured, used and licensed by or for the Govennment for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalties thereon.

[0003] The state-of-the-art in compact wing opening and locking technology is a ring pin mechanism in which a spring-loaded ring pin engages matching holes in the wing root and fixed base. This design suffices for applications where stresses are not great and positive (tremor-less) locking is not required. Some of the other designs use a tab protruding from the wing root which fits into a recess in the flying object's (such as a missile) body itself. Such a design provides positive locking action but at the expense of compactness. Further, the amount of stress that can be tolerated is limited by the width of the tab.

[0004] When the flying object is released from its storage canister, a torsion spring connecting the wing with the base deploys the wing and after the wing has reached a certain degree of deployment, a tapered tooth that protrudes from the base engages a matching slot in the wing boss to lock in the wing at the moment the wing obtains the fully-deployed position. The taper angle of the tooth and the slot compensates for manufacturing tolerances and provides a positive, solid locking action.

[0005] FIG. 1 is a frontal view of the preferred embodiment of the wing deployer and locker.

[0006] FIG. 2 is a side view of the wing deployer and locker.

[0007] FIG. 3 illustrates the base with the plural teeth.

[0008] FIG. 4 shows a frontal view and a side view of the wing with the arms and the bosses.

[0009] FIG. 5 illustrates the taper angle of the teeth and the slots.

[0010] Referring now to the drawing wherein like numbers represent like parts in each of the several figures, FIG. 1 is a frontal view of the wing deployer and locker showing the assembly of wing 400 with base 300. A side view of the assembly is presented in FIG. 2. For explanation of the structure and operation of the wing deployer and locker, reference is made to FIGS. 3 and 4 which illustrate the base and the wing, respectively.

[0011] Base 300 is elongated and made up of rod 301, multiple arms, such as first arm 303 and second arm 305 protruding from the rod and multiple identical teeth such as first tooth 307 extending from the first arm and second tooth 309 extending from the second arm. The rod, arms and the teeth may be of one smooth continuous construction to render them strength and stability. Each of the several teeth has a cylindrical hole along its axis (indicated by the dotted line) and is shaped at a tapering angle as is further explained in FIG. 5. Base 300 is fixedly attached to the body of the flying object by use of suitable screws and the several holes 311.

[0012] Wing 400, depicted in FIG. 4, can be the wing of any flying object. It has multiple wing bosses such as first boss 401 and second boss 403. These first and second bosses extend from the bottom side of the wing and have first slot 405 and second slot 407, respectively, therein. The slots are shaped and tapered to match teeth 307 and 309 of the base. A cylindrical cavity also runs through the bosses along their axis (indicated by the dotted line) which is identical with the axis of the teeth.

[0013] The wing and the base are assembled, as shown in FIG. 1, and held together by pin 201 that is inserted through the cylindrical hole passing through the wing bosses and the teeth. Until launch, the flying object is stored inside a canister with the wing in the folded and stowed position. However, upon release of the object from the canister, the wing begins to open by rotating around pin 201. The torque to open the wing is provided by torsion spring 103 which is wound around the pin and located between first tooth 307 and second boss 403 and which is further coupled between the wing and the base and compels the wing to move away from its stowed position. Then, five degrees before the wing is fully open, slots 405 and 407 begin to mesh with teeth 307 and 309 in the base. Over the last five degrees of wing opening, compression spring 101, also wound around pin 201 but under the torsion spring, acts linearly between the wing and the base (i.e. translates the wing aft by a pre-determined distance) to engage the teeth into the slots. When the slots are fully aligned with the teeth and completely mated, rotation of the wing stops. The wing is locked fully open at this point and is capable of withstanding aerodynamic loading without unlocking. The engagement and locking is facilitated by the 5 degree taper on both the teeth and slots. This particular taper angle is chosen so that, under torque loading, the friction between the tooth and the slot is greater than the reaction component attempting to cam the tooth out of the slot. This is illustrated in FIG. 5 where F_ais the aerodynamic force tending to separate the tooth from the slot, F_sis the force exerted by compression spring 101, F_fis the function force, N is the normal force between the tooth and slot and Θ is the taper angle. In order to determine the maximum taper angle of the tooth to prevent camming out, the horizontal direction forces are examined.

[0014] F_s+μNcos(Θ)−Nsin(Θ)=0

[0015] Where μ denotes the coefficient function between the tooth and the slot. If F_sis set to zero, motion is impending for μcos(Θ)−sin(Θ)=0. If μ is set to 0.1, then the latter equation can be solved for the maximum taper angle which is 5.7 degrees. Therefore, if the taper angle is less than 5.7 degrees, then the tooth will have no tendency to cam out of its slot under load.

[0016] Two of the wing deployer and locker assembly as described above are to be used on each wing of a flying object for stability and assurance of positive locking of the open wing for the duration of the flight.

[0017] Although a particular embodiment and form of this invention has been illustrated, it is apparent that various modifications and embodiments of the invention may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the foregoing disclosure. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the claims appended hereto.