Aerial vehicles with protective members for absorbing shock load during wire strike
AssigneeUniversity of Kansas
InventorsRonald M. Barrett, Mason Ross Denneler, Zachary Schwab
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This disclosure generally relates to aerial vehicles that may convert from hover-mode to missile-mode flight and back via body tilt for efficient flight and can strike wires such that neither the wires nor the aircraft are damaged, and divergence is prevented. This includes an aerial vehicle having an elongate fuselage having a nose tip, a plurality of engines connected to the fuselage, and at least three protective members connected substantially near the nose tip of the fuselage longitudinally beyond the plurality of engines.
Claims20
An aerial vehicle, comprising:
- a fuselage having a body and a nose, the nose including an upper body and a nose tip, the fuselage being elongate;
- a plurality of engines connected to the fuselage;
- and
- at least three protective members each connected to the fuselage at a first connection, and connected to the nose at a second connection longitudinally ahead of the plurality of engines at or proximate the nose tip of the nose.
An aerial vehicle, comprising:
- a fuselage having a body and a nose, the nose including an upper body and a nose tip, the fuselage being elongate;
- a plurality of engines connected to the fuselage;
- and
- at least three protective members each connected to the fuselage at the nose at or proximate the nose tip of the nose, wherein the at least three protective members are curvilinear and extend from the nose of the fuselage in aft direction of aft direction of the aerial vehicle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.