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US 11,827,335 B2Granted
Hinged rotor blade to provide passive variable pitch
AssigneeKitty Hawk Corporation
InventorTodd Reichert
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hinged propeller comprising a hub and one or more blades is disclosed. In various embodiments, a blade is connected to the hub via a hinge, wherein at least a substantial part of the blade has a longitudinal axis that is substantially parallel to a line extending radially from a center of the hub, and wherein the hinge has an axis of hinge rotation that is oriented at a non-zero acute angle to a line that is perpendicular, in a plane of rotation of the hub, to said longitudinal axis.
Claims20
A propeller for an aircraft, comprising:
- a hub;
- a blade including a neck portion angled away from a plane of rotation of the hub, wherein the blade has a longitudinal axis extending through a center of the blade and running from a tip of the blade to an end of the neck portion;
- and
- a hinge including a pivotal link, the hinge connecting the blade to the hub, wherein:
- the hinge has an axis of hinge rotation that is offset from a line perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the blade;
- and
- the hinge responds to forces acting on the blade to vary a pitch of the blade including causing the blade to be at a lower pitch and higher dihedral angle in a vertical flight mode relative to a forward flight mode, the dihedral angle being an angle of the blade relative to the plane of rotation of the hub.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.