Fore flap disposed on the wing of an aircraft

Abstract

A leading edge slat arranged on the aerofoil of an aircraft. The leading edge slat is provided on the front of the main wing. The leading edge slat has a partially extended setting, with its trailing edge flat against the wing, and a further extended setting, with its trailing edge spaced apart from the nose of the wing to open a gap feeding high- energy air from the lower surface of the slat to the upper surface of the wing. The leading edge slat includes a body and a trailing edge facing the main wing, which can be bent around the spanwise direction of the slat relative to the body, and on which the trailing edge of the slat is provided, and which by means of a device generating a contact force is loaded for making contact between the trailing edge of the slat and the profile nose of the wing.

1 . A leading edge slat arranged on an aerofoil of an aircraft, wherein
 the aerofoil comprises a main wing with an upper surface skin, a lower surface skin and a profile nose, and the leading edge slat is provided on a front of the main wing and has a profile nose directed forwards and a trailing edge directed rearwards, facing the main wing, and from a retracted cruise setting, in which the leading edge slat lies flat against the front of the main wing and supplements the profile of the latter to form a shape suitable for cruise flight, can be extended for increasing the lift with an increase in curvature and extension of a wing profile in the wing chordwise direction, wherein   the leading edge slat in a first, partially extended setting with the trailing edge lying flat against the main wing and in a second, further extended setting with the trailing edge spaced apart from the profile nose of the main wing so as to open up a gap feeding high-energy air from the lower surface of the leading edge slat to the upper surface of the main wing,   wherein the leading edge slat comprises a main body and the trailing edge part facing the main wing, which can be bent flexibly around the spanwise direction of the leading edge slat relative to the main body, and on which the trailing edge of the leading edge slat is provided, and which, by a device generating a contact force, is loaded for making contact between the leading edge slat trailing edge and the profile nose of the main wing,   wherein the trailing edge part is connected with the main body of the leading edge slat via an articulation, in order that the trailing edge part can be bent flexibly around the spanwise direction of the leading edge slat relative to the main body,   wherein the articulation is formed by an elastic-in-bending element,   wherein the elastic-in-bending element is provided on an outer skin forming the upper surface of the leading edge slat, and   wherein the device generating the contact force is provided connecting the lower surface of the trailing edge part with the main body of the leading edge slat.   
     
     
         2 . The leading edge slat in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein the device generating the contact force is formed by an elastic element. 
     
     
         3 . The leading edge slat in accordance with  claim 2 ,
 wherein the elastic element is an elastic-in-translation element.   
     
     
         4 . The leading edge slat in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 wherein the device generating the contact force is formed by an actuator.   
     
     
         5 . The leading edge slat in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 wherein the elastic-in-bending element extends essentially over the total span of the leading edge slat.   
     
     
         6 . The leading edge slat in accordance with  claim 2 ,
 wherein the elastic element extends essentially over the total span of the leading edge slat.   
     
     
         7 . The leading edge slat in accordance with  claim 4 ,
 wherein the actuator is formed by a shape memory actuator or a piezo-actuator.   
     
     
         8 . The leading edge slat in accordance with  claim 4 ,
 wherein the actuator is coupled with a control device for control, by which the actuator can be controlled such that in a partially extended setting of the leading edge slat the leading edge slat trailing edge for opening up the gap feeding air to the upper surface of the main wing in the interests of an increase of the maximum possible lift coefficient is optionally lifted from the main wing.   
     
     
         9 . The leading edge slat in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 wherein a stop element is provided for limiting bending of the trailing edge part relative to the main body of the leading edge slat.   
     
     
         10 . The leading edge slat in accordance with  claim 9 ,
 wherein the stop element is provided on the element generating the contact force.