The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 31, 2009
Filed:
Sep. 28, 2005
Kenneth R Williams, Huntington Beach, CA (US);
John B Allen, Long Beach, CA (US);
Kenneth R Williams, Huntington Beach, CA (US);
John B Allen, Long Beach, CA (US);
The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US);
Abstract
An energy recovery and storage apparatus especially well adapted for use with flight control surfaces on airborne mobile platforms, such as aircraft. In one form the apparatus includes a ram-like element coupled to a portion of a flight control surface. An accumulator holds a flexible container having a compressible medium contained within the flexible container. The accumulator is in fluid communication with a housing of the ram-like element. When the flight control surface is moved from a deployed to a retracted position, the energy acting on the surface is recovered and stored in the compressible medium as the ram-like element forces fluid from its housing into the accumulator. When the flight control surface is to be deployed again in a subsequent cycle, the stored energy in the compressible medium is used to urge the ram-like element into an extended position, thus assisting in deploying the flight control surface. The various preferred embodiments all enable lower power, smaller and less expensive actuators to be used to control a flight control surface.