The Boeing Company

Douglas M Friedman

John Charles Vassberg

Adam P Malachowski

Dino L Roman

Christopher A Vegter

Split winglet

A winglet system for an aircraft wing includes an upper winglet and a lower winglet mounted to a wing. The lower winglet has a static position when the wing is subject to an on-ground static loading. The lower winglet is configured such that upward deflection of the wing under an approximate 1-g flight loading causes the lower winglet to move upwardly and outwardly from the static position to an in-flight position resulting in an effective span increase of the wing under the approximate 1-g flight loading relative to the span of the wing under the on-ground static loading. The lower winglet is configured to aeroelastically deflect upwardly under the approximate 1-g flight loading and further increase the effective span of the wing beyond the effective span increase that is caused by the upward deflection of the wing.

Split winglet system

A winglet system for an aircraft wing includes an upper winglet and a lower winglet mounted to a wing. The lower winglet has a static position when the wing is subject to an on-ground static loading. The lower winglet may be substantially straight in the static position. The lower winglet is configured such that upward deflection of the wing under an approximate 1-g flight loading causes the lower winglet to move upwardly and outwardly from the static position to an in-flight position resulting in an effective span increase of the wing under the approximate 1-g flight loading relative to the span of the wing under the on-ground static loading.

Winglet system having upper and lower winglet

A winglet system for an aircraft wing may include an upper winglet and a lower winglet mounted to a wing tip. The upper winglet root chord and the lower winglet root chord may each have a length of no greater than 100 percent of the wing tip chord. The lower winglet may have a static position when the wing is subject to an on-ground static loading. The lower winglet may be configured such that upward deflection of the wing under an approximate 1-g flight loading causes the lower winglet to move upwardly and outwardly from the static position to an in-flight position resulting in an effective span increase of the wing under the approximate 1-g flight loading relative to the span of the wing under the on-ground static loading.

Winglet system

A winglet system for an aircraft wing may include an upper winglet and a lower winglet mounted to a wing tip. The lower winglet may have a static position when the wing is subject to an on-ground static loading. The lower winglet may be configured such that upward deflection of the wing under an approximate 1-g flight loading causes the lower winglet to move upwardly and outwardly from the static position to an in-flight position resulting in an effective span increase of the wing under the approximate 1-g flight loading relative to the span of the wing under the on-ground static loading. The lower winglet may have a length of approximately 50-80 percent of a length of the upper winglet.

Winglet system and method

A winglet system for an aircraft wing may include an upper winglet and a lower winglet mounted to a wing tip. The lower winglet may have a static position when the wing is subject to a ground static loading. The lower winglet may be configured such that upward deflection of the wing under an approximate 1-g flight loading causes the lower winglet to move from the static position to an in-flight position and resulting in a relative span increase of the wing.

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Irvine, CA, United States of America

Douglas M Friedman