Design and optimization of a transmission mechanism developed for distributed electric propulsion aircraft

In order to obtain better aerodynamic efficiency and take-off/landing capacity, it will be an excellent configuration for distributed electric propulsion (DEP) aircraft to install the blown flap in the propulsion wake. For this configuration, the coupling motion between the blown flap and the duct is hard to be achieved by the transmission mechanism of traditional distributed electric propulsion aircraft. This article describes the design and optimization of a transmission mechanism of a high lift device which composed of the distributed electric propulsion system and the blown flap. Firstly, the theoretical design rationale which is mainly based on the analytic hierarchy process and ant colony algorithm is introduced. Then, the kinematic simulation is conducted in details using closed loop vector equation. To further demonstrate the feasibility and reliability of the design approach, the functional test of a full-size transmission mechanism model is carried out. Kinematic simulation and ground test results show that the proposed mechanism can meet the requirements of the coupling motion between the duct and the blown flap, and the corresponding design scheme can be used to solve the design problem of such DEP aircraft transmission mechanism with the blown flap.