Design, modeling, and optimization of a thermally activated reconfigurable wing system

Abstract

Reconfigurable structures such as morphing aircraft generally require an on-board energy source to function. At high speeds, however, frictional heating generated at the nose of a morphing aircraft can provide a large amount of thermal energy during a short period of time. This thermal energy can be collected, transferred, and utilized to reconfigure the aircraft. Direct utilization of thermal energy has the ability to significantly decrease or eliminate the losses associated with converting thermal energy to other forms, such as electric. The following work describes possible system designs and components that can be utilized to transfer the thermal energy harvested at the nose of the aircraft to internal components for direct thermal actuation of a reconfigurable wing structure. Previously reported topology optimized heat collectors, vehicle trajectories, and the deployment mechanism are combined with the presented analytical model of a heat pipe for a system level model used to optimize the system based on weight and the desired wing deployment time.