Back to results
US 12,637,210 B2Granted
Flying wing vertical take-off and landing aircraft
AssigneeArcher Aviation Inc.
InventorGeoffrey C. Bower
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A passenger vertical take-off and landing aircraft includes a flying wing comprising a passenger compartment, a first set of rotors positioned at least partially forward of a leading edge of the flying wing, and a second set of rotors positioned at least partially rearward of a trailing edge of the flying wing. The first set of rotors may include at least four rotors and the second set of rotors may comprise at least two rotors. The first set of rotors, the second set of rotors, both, or neither may be tiltable between lift configurations for providing lift for vertical take-off and landing of the aircraft and propulsion configurations for providing forward thrust to the aircraft.
Claims41
A flying wing vertical take-off and landing aircraft comprising:
- a flying wing comprising a passenger compartment;
- at least four tiltable rotors positioned at least partially forward of a leading edge of the flying wing;
- at least two non-tiltable rotors positioned at least partially rearward of a trailing edge of the flying wing, wherein a number of non-tiltable rotors of the aircraft is less than a number of tiltable rotors of the aircraft;
- a first set of booms mounted to the flying wing, each boom of the first set of booms supporting one of the at least four tiltable rotors and one of the at least two non-tiltable rotors;
- and
- a second set of booms mounted in a fixed position to the flying wing inwardly of wing tips of the flying wing, each boom of the second set of booms supporting only one rotor, the one rotor being one of the at least four tiltable rotors, wherein for each boom of the second set of booms, a rear end of the boom is mounted to the flying wing such that the boom extends only forward of the flying wing and the tiltable rotor that is supported by the boom is tiltably mounted to a forward portion of the boom at a tilt axis that is spaced forward of the leading edge of the flying wing.
3 more elements
A flying wing aircraft comprising:
- a flying wing;
- a plurality of rotors comprising rotors positioned at least partially forward of a leading edge of the flying wing, and rotors positioned at least partially rearward of a trailing edge of the flying wing, wherein the rotors positioned at least partially forward of the leading edge of the flying wing are tiltable, and a number of the rotors positioned at least partially forward of the flying wing is greater than a number of the rotors position at least partially rearward of the flying wing;
- and
- a plurality of booms mounted to the flying wing, the plurality of booms comprising:
- at least one boom that supports only one rotor, the one rotor being one of the rotors positioned at least partially forward of the leading edge of the flying wing, wherein a rear end of a respective boom of the at least one boom that supports only one rotor is mounted in a fixed position to the flying wing inwardly of a respective wing tip of the flying wing such that the respective boom extends only forward of the flying wing, and wherein the rotor that is supported by the respective boom is tiltably mounted to a forward portion of the respective boom at a tilt axis that is spaced forward of the leading edge of the flying wing.
2 more elements
A method comprising:
- positioning a plurality of tiltable rotors of a flying wing aircraft in a vertical orientation and operating the plurality of tiltable rotors and a plurality of non-tiltable rotors for vertical takeoff or hover, wherein a number of non-tiltable rotors is less than a number of tiltable rotors, the tiltable rotors are positioned at least partially forward of a leading edge of a flying wing, and the non-tiltable rotors are positioned at least partially rearward of a trailing edge of the flying wing, and wherein the plurality of tiltable rotors and plurality of non-tiltable rotors are supported by a plurality of booms that include at least one boom that supports only one rotor, the one rotor being one of the tiltable rotors, wherein a rear end of a respective boom of the at least one boom that supports only one rotor is mounted in a fixed position to the flying wing inwardly of a respective wing tip of the flying wing such that the respective boom extends only forward of the flying wing, and wherein the tiltable rotor that is supported by the respective boom is tiltably mounted to a forward portion of the respective boom at a tilt axis that is spaced forward of the leading edge of the flying wing;
- and
- adjusting tilts of the plurality of tiltable rotors to transition to a cruise configuration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.