Maturation of the Smart Droop Nose Technology in the Smart Fixed Wing Aircraft Integrated Technology Demonstrator

Abstract

Since 2007 the DLR Institute of Composite Structures and Adaptive Systems investigates the smart Droop Nose as high-lift device at the leading edge for commercial aircrafts [1]. The device is intended to be an enabler for a NLF (natural laminar flow) wing providing the necessary high quality surface on a wings leading edge upper and lower surface and is based on the patent [2] of the Dornier company. Furthermore a slot-less leading edge high-lift system offers the potential for noise reduction since the conventional slat devices are identified to be one of the major contributors to the airframe noise [3]-[5], so that the smart droop nose can be beneficial for turbulent wings too. Within the previous projects the maturity and concept of the smart droop nose was increased step by step and investigated without providing answers to questions of the industrialization of such a device. In the JTI-SFWA CleanSky1 these topics (like de-icing, erosion protection, impact protection, etc.) are addressed the first time. The activities of the DLR Institute of Composite Structures and Adaptive Systems ranges from integration studies of the integration of a smart droop nose into a turbulent wing and weight estimations over material tests of multi-material combinations for integration of necessary functionalities to cyclic testing of full-scale leading edge sections with various integrated technologies.