Design of Electrically Powered Morphing Winglet

Cycloidal and planetary gear drives are considered for the actuation of an electrically powered morphing winglet. A torque of 6723 N*m is required at the winglet hinge. The stepper motor selected as the electrical actuator is the HT34-487 stepper motor. This motor can provide a torque of approximately 6 N*m. The cycloidal drive consists of the selected stepper motor, a bevel gearbox, and a two-stage cycloidal gearbox. The bevel gearbox is used to change the axis of rotation of the stepper motor from span-wise direction to chord-wise direction. Stage one of the cycloidal gearbox contains an input shaft, two cycloidal disks with 180 degrees offset rotation, an eccentric cam and an output shaft. The cycloidal disks in stage one have 35 lobes, providing a gear ratio of 35:1. The second stage of the cycloidal gearbox consists of only one cycloidal disk with 34 lobes, providing a gear ratio of 34:1. The total gear ratio of the cycloidal drive is 1190:1. Material selection and FEA simulations are performed on the components in the cycloidal drive to ensure the selected materials can withstand the applied loads. A differential planetary gear drive is also considered to actuate an electrically powered morphing winglet. Spur gears are selected to be used as the sun and planet gears. A ratio of 180:1 is achieved in the planetary gear drive. Using gear tooth bending calculators, it is found that designing spur gears to withstand the loads of the electrically powered morphing winglet and to fit inside the dimensions of the wingbox is not feasible.