Flaps

Design and Purpose

 Wing flaps can be activated by a number of ways, with manual and electric systems being the
most common on light aircraft. Usually a switch or lever is installed in the cockpit and the pilot is
able to select a desired flap setting anywhere from 0 to 40 degrees, depending on the aircraft
make and model.

 Flaps are not used as brakes. Flaps are used to increase and maintain lift at slower speeds. During the
flare the flaps change horizontal energy to vertical energy that is used to decrease the sink rate prior to
touchdown. Fowler type flaps, as on Cessnas, deflect air downward and the gap created on flap
deployment helps increase airflow over the wing's trailing edge. In the flare the flaps allow an energy
conversion from horizontal to vertical. The air is reflected downward into the ground effect region. This
allows the aircraft to be slow, nose high and controlled as it floats to touchdown.
 Flaps contribute primarily to the landing approach angle by increasing the 'braking effect' of drag. The
drag is used initially to increase the approach angle without a corresponding increase in speed. There is
no appreciable (required or created) change in approach speed as distinguished from no-flap
speeds. When the approach slope is changed into the roundout and flare, speed is quickly decreased. It is
this decrease in speed, the horizontal slowness of possible ground contact that protects the aircraft
structure. The more flaps available and used, the slower the speed, the slower the touchdown and
shorter the rollout.
 Flaps can change the camber or curve of the wing airfoil by adding 1/4 of the wing cord without changing
the critical angle of attack. The efficiency of the wing at different speeds can be changes as required.
When flaps are added the zero lift line changes, as does the angle of attack. Exceeding this angle with or
without flaps will cause a stall. As flaps change the trailing edge of the wing the chord line (zero lift line
parallel to the relative wind) between the leading edge and trailing edge of the wing is changed.
 Flaps: Making Your Wing More Versatile
 Flaps help your wing adapt to your current phase of flight. Are you taking off or landing?
Extending your flaps increases lift, and allows you to fly at slower speeds. Are you cruising at
altitude? Retracting flaps reduces lift, and in turn, decreases drag.

 But how exactly do flaps work? To put it simply, flaps increase the camber (and sometimes the
area) of your wing. By increasing the camber of your wing, you also increase the amount of lift
your wing can produce. With flaps down, your wing can produce more lift at slower speeds, than
when your flaps are retracted.
 Using flaps gives you three distinct advantages in your plane:
 You can produce more lift, giving you lower takeoff and landing speeds
 You can produce more drag, allowing a steeper descent angle without increasing your airspeed
on landing
 You can reduce the length of your takeoff and landing roll
 Not all flaps are created equal. In fact, there are 4 primary flap designs, and each of them have
advantages and disadvantages. Here's how they work.

Operation
 You cannot just use an electrical motor or a hydraulic pump to move the flaps. They are a means
of providing the muscle required to move the flaps. To transfer the power extracted from either
a hydraulic system or an electrical system to the flaps you would need something in between
and in most aircraft this is achieved by using screw jacks.
 Most large airplanes use hydraulics to move flaps because the flaps are too heavy and large for a
practical electric motor to operate. Here, when the pilot moves the flap lever to the wanted
detent, a unit called a Flap Power Unit (FPU) is powered up. The FPU is a hydraulic pump which
receives input from the hydraulic system of the aircraft. It uses this hydraulic power to turn a
drive shaft (torque tube), which then turns the screw jacks to extend and retract the flaps.
Depending on the size of the aircraft there might be in excess of four screw jacks per wing.
 In smaller airplanes like most Cessnas an electrical motor runs the screw jack. You would be able
see the jack very clearly when the flaps are extended and during pre flight you have to check to
see if the screw jack is stuck by giving it a little jolt. If it is moves you are good to go.
 One reason a jack screw is chosen as the mechanism to move flaps and some slats, over other
seemingly more direct systems such as hydraulic piston, is that a jack screw can be designed to
hold its position once set without the need for any additional power. This can be a crucial safety
feature in the event of a hydraulic or electrical system failure system failure.

 IIRC this was a critical factor (among several that led to this particular accident) in one of the
early DC-10 crashes in that the initial models relied solely on a hydraulic pressure to to secure
the leading edge slat maintained position. When the left engine and pylon separated it cut the
the hydraulic lines on the wing and the slat was pushed back into into its stowed position. This
caused the left wing to stall and the rolled the aircraft over.

 Flaps have different actuation mechanisms from primary flight controls. Flaps
deflection brings a shift of pitching moment with it, and it is done slowly to give the
pilot time to adjust the aerodynamic trim. Usually with electrical screwjacks, with a
fine pitch that stops the forces on the flaps from feeding back into the motors.

 Yes flipping the switch switches the electric motors on. Most jetliners use Fowler
flaps, which ride out on their little rails attached to the wing, and clad with an
aerodynamic fairing at the trailing edge. This picture (source) shows the rails, flaps,
and screwjacks when completely extended.
 Flaps are a high lift device consisting of a hinged panel or panels mounted on the
trailing edge of the wing. When extended, they increase the camber and, in most
cases, the chord and surface area of the wing resulting in an increase of both lift and
drag and a reduction of the stall speed. These factors result in an improvement in
takeoff and landing performance.
 

Types of Flaps
1) Plain Flaps
a. he most simple flap is the plain flap. Plain flaps hinge to the back of the wing, and they
pivot down when you extend them. However, they're fairly limited in the amount of lift
they can create. That's because as air moves over the wing, it loses energy and starts to
separate from the wing. By extending flaps, the airflow separation is even more
pronounced, creating a large wake behind the wing.
b. The rear portion of the wing aerofoil rotates downwards on a simple hinge arrangement
mounted at the front of the flap.
c. Simple devices are merely sections of trailing edge of the wing,inboard of the
ailerons.they are about the same size of the aileron and are hinged so they can
deflected usually ib increments of 10,25, and 40 degrees
2) Split Flaps
a. Next up are split flaps, which deflect from the lower surface of the wing. Split flaps
produce slightly more lift than plain flaps, but like their plain counterparts, they also
produce a lot of drag.
b. The rear portion of the lower surface of the wing aerofoil hinges downwards from the
leading edge of the flap, while the upper surface remains immobile.
 c. A portion of the lower surface of the trailing edge of the wing from one aileron to the
other across the bottom of the fuselage could be hinged down in to the airstream,
produce more drag than plain flaps
3) Slotted Flaps
a. Slotted flaps are the most commonly used flaps today, and they can be found on both
small and large aircraft. What makes them so special? Two things:
b. They increase wing camber, like other flaps
c. When extended, they open a slot between the wing and the flap
d. By opening a slot between the wing and the flap, high pressure air from the bottom of
the wing flows through the slot into the upper surface. This adds energy to the wing's
boundary layer, delays airflow separation, and produces less drag. The result? Lots of
additional lift, without the excessive drag.
e. Similar to a Plain Flap but incorporates a gap between the flap and the wing to force
high pressure air from below the wing over the upper surface of the flap. This helps
reduce boundary layer separation and allows the airflow over the flap to remain
laminar.
f. Most popular flap on airplanes today is the slotted flap
4) Fowler Flaps
a. When you need serious lift, you need serious flaps, and Fowlers are there to make it
happen. Fowler flaps increase the area of your wing by extending out on rails or tracks.
Fowler flaps often have a series of slots to add energy to the airflow as well - they're
called slotted-Fowler flaps.
b. In the first stages of a Fowler flap's extension, there's a large increase in lift, but little
increase in drag, making the setting ideal for takeoff in a large jet. As they continue to
extend, the flaps move downward more and more, creating a little more lift, but a lot
more drag.
c. A split flap that slides rearwards level for a distance prior to hinging downwards. It
thereby first increases chord (and wing surface area) and then increases camber. This
produces a flap which can optimise both takeoff (partial extension for optimal lift) and
landing (full extension for optimal lift and drag) performance. This type of flap or one of
its variations is found on most
d. Changes the camber of the wing it also increases the wing area instead of rotating down
on a hinge it slides backwards on tracks and in forst position,it increases the drag ver
little but increases the lift a great deal as it increases both area and camber. As the
extension continues the flap deflects downward and during the last portion of its travel
it increases the drag with little additional increase in lift.
5) Double Slotted Fowler Flap
a. - This design improves the performance of the Fowler flap by incorporating the
boundary layer energising features of the slotted flap.
Parts
Push- Pull rod – a stiff rod or hollow tube in an aircraft control system that movves a control surfaceby
iether pushing or pulling it.

Torque tube – a tube in an acs that rransmits a torsional force from the operating control surfaceto the
control surface

Actuator – a componenet of machine that is responsible for moving or controlling a mechanism or

system, an actuator requires a contrl signal and a source of energy, the control signal is relatively low
wenergy anf may be elctric volatge or curretn,pneumatic or hydraulic presure or even human power.

737 Flaps
Are triple slotted (-3/4/500) / double slotted (-NG) and are normally powered by hyd sys B.

An asymmetry condition on the classic is deemed to be a split of 22+/-5 degrees on the flap position
indicator. On the NG's the FSEU will detect an asymmetry at the flap position transmitters at a level
which is almost undetectable by eye. In any series of 737, if an asymmetry is detected, hydraulic power
is removed. The NG FSEU will also detect a flap skew, if detected the flap position indicators will display
a 15 degree split.

If hydraulic system B is lost, flaps can be moved electrically with ALTERNATE FLAPS. There is no
asymmetry protection with alt flaps and the LE flaps and slats can be extended but not retracted. The
duty cycle limitations are for a complete extension and retraction e.g. if flaps moved from 0 to 15 and
back to 0, then must wait 5mins before using alternate flap again.

A flap load limiter (-3/4/500) / flaps/slats electronics unit (-NG) will automatically retract the flaps from
40 to 30 (-3/4/500) / also 30 to 25 (-NG) if the limit speed is exceeded. The flaps will extend again when
speed is reduced. This feature is on all aircraft even though the FLAP LOAD RELIEF light is only fitted to a
few.

The basic 737-1/200's also had a green LE FLAPS FULL EXT light.

Trivia: Although the flap placard limit speeds are different for each 737NG variant, the structural limit
speed for the flaps is equal to the placard speeds (175k – F30, 162k – F40) for the heaviest variant (737-
800/900). The Flap Load Relief trigger speeds (176k – F30, 163k – F40) are set to allow all variants to fly
to the structural limit speed without system activation. Setting lower flap placard speeds for the –600
and –700 variants allows for greater service life of flap components due to the larger margins to the
structural design speed.
 t's the Flap Drive Torque Tube. Has teeth at each end that match teeth in the gearboxes, which then
turn the Flap Jackscrews which move the flaps up and down..

Flap Torque Tube

Here's a good photo showing the torque tube, gearbox, 'U-joint', jackscrew gimbal, jackscrew, flap track
and flap carriage. One can see how coming off the torque tube, the drive components make two 90'
changes getting to the jackscrew