Future Planes: Engineers Develop Innovative High-Lift System With Lower Noise & Drag

How many of you know that every year, the traffic in the air grows by about 6%? This growing air-traffic has concerned the engineers at German Aerospace Center and they, together with like minded researchers at Airbus, EADS Innovation Works and Cassidian Air Systems have developed a new, high-lift mechanism that promises lower noise levels and reduced drag. The team has designed and tested a modern alternative to the traditional leading-edge slat. The window-seat preferrers among you might have noticed that the flaps on the trailing edges of the wings and the slats located on the leading edges are extended during landing and take-off. This is necessary to provide the aircraft with necessary lift and stability. The gap between the slats and the wings allows air to pass at a very high speed; which results into higher noise levels and even add to the drag.

[caption id="attachment_42057" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Credit: DLR (CC-BY 3.0)[/caption]

The newly developed  smart droop nose, a morphing wing leading edge engineers seem to have addressed this problem. The new system eliminates the necessity of separate slats. Researchers performed tests under realistic conditions at Europe's largest wind tunnels at the Russian Central Aerohydrodynamics Institute’s (TsAGI) Zhukovsky research facility south of Moscow.

Expect the future air travel to be less noisy and more comfortable.

Via: #-Link-Snipped-# Source: #-Link-Snipped-#