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Destination Tomorrow - DT2 - Morphing Aircraft

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Subido el 28 de mayo de 2007 por EducaMadrid

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NASA Destination Tomorrow Segment exploring morphing technology and how it can change the future of aircraft.

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Imagine how most people felt the first time they heard that one day man would be able 00:00:00
to fly, or that we hope to actually land a man on the moon. 00:00:08
Those ideas seemed pretty crazy at the time, but today we know just about anyone can fly 00:00:13
in an airplane, and we have astronauts actually living in space. 00:00:17
Now what if I told you that one day we would be able to fly in an aircraft that could bend, 00:00:23
twist, and maneuver just like a bird? 00:00:27
Sound crazy? 00:00:30
Well, I spoke with Anna McGowan at the NASA Langley Research Center, who's working to 00:00:31
incorporate something called morphing technology into aircraft. 00:00:35
And these morphing technologies could turn those crazy ideas into reality. 00:00:39
Morphing is looking at really advanced materials and other technologies that will make airplanes 00:00:45
even better than they are today. 00:00:50
We got the word morphing actually from the word metamorphosis. 00:00:51
The word morph means to change, and we're using a lot of advanced materials and technologies 00:00:56
to make airplanes change from one configuration to the other. 00:01:01
Our task at NASA Langley is to look 20 years into the future. 00:01:06
Some of our challenges are making the airplanes even safer, making them more efficient, meaning 00:01:09
you could fly farther on the same tank of fuel, or carry more passengers, for example. 00:01:14
And we're working on making airplanes as versatile as a bird is. 00:01:19
So we're taking some lessons from nature. 00:01:24
To get aircraft to perform with bird-like agility, first you have to understand how 00:01:27
birds fly. 00:01:31
Efficient wing design, feathers, and hollow, lightweight bones allow birds to fly better 00:01:33
than any man-made machine. 00:01:38
By drawing on the inspiration of birds, Langley researchers are hoping to develop technologies 00:01:40
that will enable aircraft to perform with bird-like agility. 00:01:45
For example, synthetic jets will cover parts of the wing and replicate the effects of feathers. 00:01:49
These technologies can alter the airflow over the wings for superior maneuverability. 00:01:55
Microspheres will replicate the bird's hollow bones and allow lightweight wings to be manufactured 00:02:00
for increased performance and efficiency. 00:02:06
Sounds like science fiction, but in fact, these technologies are real. 00:02:09
We make airplanes as efficient as birds by trying to replicate or mimic some of the characteristics 00:02:14
birds have. 00:02:19
As an example, birds use feathers to control the airflow over the wings. 00:02:20
We are doing that by using what are called synthetic jets. 00:02:25
Synthetic jets suck in their own air and then pump it out very quickly, creating a fluctuating 00:02:28
plume of air. 00:02:34
This little plume of air basically simulates what a feather would do. 00:02:35
On a bird, the feathers are used to adjust the airflow over the wing of the birds so 00:02:39
that the bird flies optimally no matter what the air conditions are outside. 00:02:45
Now, on an airplane, we do the same thing. 00:02:48
We put these jets inside the wing of the airplane and say, for example, we had a gust of wind 00:02:51
coming into the airplane. 00:02:55
We would turn on very specific jets at the right time and at the right frequency. 00:02:56
And by doing so, then we can adjust the airflow over the wings of the airplane, thereby making 00:03:01
the airplane very stable and comfortable and maneuverable at all flight conditions. 00:03:06
We also want to be able to mimic the porous inside section of a bird bone because that 00:03:11
porous inside section is lightweight, but it adds extra strength. 00:03:16
We do that by using what are called tiny microspheres. 00:03:20
You would take these microspheres and actually inject them into a composite material. 00:03:25
And once we inject them in, we would use heat to fuse them together. 00:03:30
Therefore, we could achieve a lightweight structure that is also very strong, which 00:03:34
is the same thing that birds use when they fly. 00:03:38
Anna, besides birds, are there any other designs inspired by nature? 00:03:41
Well, we're also looking to the water for some inspiration from nature. 00:03:45
Fish and shark and whales swim very efficiently in the water. 00:03:49
And the flow of water over the skin of a shark is very similar to the flow of air over the 00:03:53
wings of an airplane. 00:03:59
If you look at shark skin under a microscope, you'll actually see a bunch of little teeny 00:04:00
grooves. 00:04:04
So our hope at NASA Langley is that perhaps our material scientists can create the same 00:04:05
groove-like material and we can apply that to the skin of airplanes and make them much 00:04:10
better flyers. 00:04:14
We're also looking at flapping wing airplanes, believe it or not. 00:04:15
This design was inspired by the wings of a hummingbird. 00:04:19
If you use an airplane that does not have flapping wings, you have to have two things, 00:04:23
an engine and wings. 00:04:27
Flapping wing airplanes do not need an engine. 00:04:29
The wings will provide you forward motion or thrust, as well as lift, which goes up. 00:04:31
So, Anna, tell me how you design a flapping wing without using an engine. 00:04:36
We actually use what are called smart or active materials instead of using an engine. 00:04:40
And why is it referred to as smart material? 00:04:46
Well, smart materials actually move on command. 00:04:47
These are materials that when you apply a stimulus, like electricity or heat or in some 00:04:51
case magnetism, they actually move. 00:04:55
Another very common one that we've just developed is called a macrofiber composite. 00:04:58
The macrofiber composite works by when you apply electricity to it, it will move in the 00:05:04
direction you'd like it to move. 00:05:08
So what we would do is when we adhere this, or if you were embedded inside an airplane 00:05:10
wing or the tails of a fighter airplane, it would actually absorb the vibration. 00:05:15
As a consumer, you can put these in your washing machine to absorb vibration. 00:05:20
You can put it in your cars. 00:05:23
You can even use it to absorb sound. 00:05:24
So we think that these materials, like this one, are really going to revolutionize how 00:05:27
we build things in the future. 00:05:31
We're also looking at a material called a shape memory alloy. 00:05:33
You would use this material to bend and twist airplane wings. 00:05:36
Now, you might wonder why we'd want to do that kind of thing. 00:05:39
Well, birds also bend and twist their wings in flight. 00:05:42
Now, being able to bend and twist airplane wings is really difficult because airplane 00:05:45
wings tend to be very stiff. 00:05:50
If you bend this material, this shape memory alloy, it will actually go back to its original 00:05:52
shape. 00:05:57
So if you bend this, I'll show you what it looks like. 00:05:58
Then I'm going to apply this lighter to it, and you can watch it go back to its original 00:06:00
shape. 00:06:06
Now, this simple little material can pull around 700 pounds. 00:06:07
So by placing a couple of these in an airplane wing, we can make the airplane bend or twist. 00:06:12
We hope that by flying more like a bird does, we can save a lot of money on fuel, as well 00:06:17
as reduce the complexity of the mechanisms within the airplane wing. 00:06:22
So we're using a lot of these biologically inspired materials and technologies to make 00:06:26
aircraft and spacecraft a lot safer to fly. 00:06:31
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Idioma/s:
en
Niveles educativos:
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Autor/es:
NASA LaRC Office of Education
Subido por:
EducaMadrid
Licencia:
Reconocimiento - No comercial - Sin obra derivada
Visualizaciones:
665
Fecha:
28 de mayo de 2007 - 17:04
Visibilidad:
Público
Enlace Relacionado:
NASAs center for distance learning
Duración:
06′ 35″
Relación de aspecto:
4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.
Resolución:
480x360 píxeles
Tamaño:
38.33 MBytes

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