Metamorphic Wings: The Future of Flight is Here

This video is about the world of shape shifting wings, also known as morphing, or metamorphic wings! These insane designs can improve efficiency, performance, and control of planes, making them more sustainable due to lower emissions, and safer.

Intro card by Johannes Skolaude

Sources:

00:00 Plane Wings
01:15 Metamorphic Wings
01:52 Wing Type 1
04:34 Wing Type 2
05:25 Experimental Wings
07:27 Flight Tests

Thanks for watching! - Ryan.

#breakthrough #flight #efficiency

[umvhu]

First thing that comes to mind is temperature. Early mobilephone stations suffered terribly from temperature change, going out of tune as the weather changed. Getting these flexible surfaces to behave consistantly over the temperature range airliners experience will be a substancial challenge.

[PhreddCrintt]

Flaps on landing. Whilst they do increase drag when deployed and therefore reduce airspeed as you say, their primary function is to maintain lift at lower airspeeds. 😊

[neilfoster]

Back in the days when I was a sailplane pilot, for high speed flight when jumping from one thermal to another, we would select negative flap (flaps deflected upwards) to modify the aerofoil to a high speed, low drag section. Once in the thermal we would lower maybe 10° of flap and slow right down to about stalling speed to be in the rising air for as long as possible. This was a really efficient way of flying.

[benrockwell]

Even if shape shifting wings become a reality, Fowler style flaps will probably still be needed on large aircraft due to separation at large curvatures. Fowler flaps have several elements. The gaps between the elements allow air to bleed from below the wing to above which prevents separation. A shape shifting wing could not do this. Shape shifting does seem useful for all other moving surfaces like ailerons, rudders and trim surfaces. It would be really interesting if they could also change the thickness and other aspects of the section to tune efficiency to speed and angle of attack to move the drag bucket around.

[agginswaggin]

Been watching your channel since the beginning, knew it was going to be a hit from day 1. Crazy to see how much it's already grown! So proud of you!

[jacob]

I would be VERY suprised if this method of increasing wing efficiency (over many tried and proven ones) would generate a net gain in efficiency at a useful scale and therefore cost savings once you factor in the absurd increase in conplexity, moving parts, weight and service requirements, not to mention the additional reinforement that would be required for the wing structure and the substantial decrease in usable capacity for holding fuel in the wings. Oh and then theres the manufacturing costs which would be... A lot.

[williambunting]

I spent some time designing a morphing wing which transformed from an ultralight (high speed low lift low drag low landing approach angle) configuration to a microlight (low speed high lift high drag high landing approach angle) configuration which used just two morphing control points, for a small 3 seat amphibian. It was also a weight shift control arrangement with the wing assembly attached above the fuselage with a stiff rhombic truss that was controlled with a standard stick arrangement either floor mounted or roof mounted, as was the 1935 Waterman Aerobile. I also included a Goldschmeid drag reduction feature in the fuselage ( a little more difficult in an amphibian fuselage), all of which I never got to test to see if it worked as envisaged.
I achieved the water breakaway function in the fuselage with a trim tab which reduced drag when retracted after lift off.

My 2 favourite aircraft are the Brazilian Airmax Seamax (which can land gear down on water) and the Waterman Aerobile. And the A380 of course.

[EXQCmoi]

Ever since I learned in school that even dolphins use the trick to swim faster, I've been excited about morphing. I'm a comfort guy and love my motorcycle not so much for it's handling but for the option to electrically adjust the windscreen height to my actual speed, and electrically fold the mirrors when approaching a narrow passage, like a traffic jam (I just don't understand this isn't standard on every bike; it really should). So I fully believe in this development. When it comes to aerodynamics morphing is the holy grail.

[jackalopewright]

I worked on a very similar design about 20 years ago in a AFRL funded project. It might have some applications for small vehicles but for larger vehicles there is no advantage over conventional “morphing” systems like flaps and slats.

[gryphonvalorant]

"500 years ago I was an engineer at boeing and i came up with this design all on my own. thank god someone else saw it too wjeifijwejif"

[malcolmrickarby]

I’m glad that you mentioned improving efficiency in wind turbines. I was also thinking of sailing ships. Any improvement for the large scale movement of freight without using the heavy fuel oil that they currently use would save money and pollution.🤔

[DavidGP]

Why did I have to wait decades until finally seeing the inner workings of the awesome linkage of airplane flaps

[matiastutezhang]

I work in airplane maintenance, structure engineering to be more specific, and damages on these surfaces are quite often, like dents, punctures, lightning strikes or disbond. I wonder how repaireable are these new metamorphic parts, I mean, they are awesome, but if you could provide some info about the repairability of these parts would be really appreciated

[jonnyueland]

The the extra maintenance cost, extra weight and the extra danger for flutter. Will probably prevent this from ever getting used in larger aircraft.

[allmyutube]

My concern is wear and tear every time it goes through a storm and material fatigue. I love that it seems to reduce drag lots and all smooth surfaces. I hope this gets off the ground soon as long as there is a standard for all actuators and are strong enough to last a certain amount of time before replacement. Nice to know they’re working on this kind of wing. I see this being used in other products and space technology. Morphing ships.

[wessong]

I think you are confusing the Flaps & the Ailerons.
This technology could be useful for Aileron application, but Flaps does not only changes the shape of the wing.

For your info, a flap extension literally increases the surface area of the wing, which generates more lift.
The slots in between the flaps could re-energise the airflow, delay the airflow separation, hence, stall.
Of course, it changes the Angle Of Attack too.

The technology introduced in the video do not increase the surface area, nor have the slot for air to pass through. Hence, it didn’t contribute lift as well as flap does.

[StepDub]

“Creating SOME lift” Most lift is generated through the angle of attack, splitting the forward air movement into two vectors (maybe not the exact way to phrase this, but you get the idea) Nice piece. Thanks.

[kbirdpalace]

To prove the theory I'm an airplane builder of hundreds of R/C aircraft. If you want to hover really well, (float at low speed), you close off the gaps between your control surfaces to the point that the wing and ailerons flaps and all become seamless vs the typical gaps between each adding more turbulence. The difference in flight between the 2 designs is incredibly different. It took 3D flights to a whole new level with any size bird from small nitromethane flight to giant scale gasoline stuff at 150" wing spans.

[MG-pwjp]

NASA was the original organisation to test modern versions of shape shifting wings like 9 years ago. Love how other organisations in the aviation industry are using that research by NASA to move on make versions of their own. NASA worked on other components of aircraft to in order to decrease drag and increase fuel economy, NASA did all this to start working on a commercial product which is a blended wing body aircraft. They are working on the product alongside Boeing.


Edit: Thank me later for the info.

[petegarnett]

Whenever I hear anyone talking about 125% efficiency or similar, I would suggest they ither need basic science or language lessons. Even if you improve efficiency by 25% over what is currently achieved it is NOT 125% efficiency. Morphing wings have been tried before, and will become more accurately controllable in future, which makes them potentially more efficient than jointed flaps. Full credit to anyone working in this field.