Fold-out propeller tip extensions
AssigneeWing Aviation LLC
InventorsGiulia Pantalone, André Prager
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A propeller blade for an unmanned aerial vehicle (“UAV”) is disclosed. The UAV includes a plurality of lift propellers and at least one thrust propeller. Each of the plurality of thrust propellers includes a thrust propeller blade coupled to a hub of the thrust propeller. The thrust propeller blade is configured such that a centrifugal force acting on the thrust propeller blade causes a thrust propeller disk area to increase from a first disk area when the UAV is in a first operational state to a second disk area when the UAV is in a second operational state.
Claims15
An unmanned aerial vehicle (“UAV”) comprising:
- a lift propulsion system including a plurality of lift propellers configured to provide lift to the UAV;
- and
- a thrust propulsion system including a thrust propeller in an orientation different from the lift propellers and configured to provide thrust to the UAV, wherein only the thrust propulsion system includes expandable propeller blades, and wherein a centrifugal force acting on each expandable propeller blade causes a thrust propeller disk area to increase from a first disk area when the UAV is in a first operational state to a second disk area when the UAV is in a second operational state.
A method, comprising:
- operating a lift propulsion system of an unmanned aerial vehicle (“UAV”) including lift propellers during a first operational state that includes at least one of a takeoff or landing operation;
- operating a thrust propulsion system of the UAV such that a thrust propeller rotates below a threshold rotations per minute (“RPM”) when the UAV is in the first operational state, wherein the thrust propeller has an orientation different from the lift propellers;
- and
- operating the thrust propulsion system such that the thrust propeller rotates above the threshold RPM when the UAV is in a second operational state that includes a forward flight operation, wherein a disk area of the thrust propeller is larger during the forward flight operation than during at least one of the takeoff or landing operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.