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US 12,686,492 B2Granted
Aircraft with transonic rotor
AssigneeKarem Aircraft, Inc.
InventorsAbraham Karem, John Paul Parcell, Sage Thayer, Ryan Patterson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A rotorcraft aircraft design incorporates double swept forward and aft rotor blades configured to provide efficient hover and efficient cruise at Mach number of 0.65-0.7 without varying a diameter of the rotor. The aircraft design combines the benefits of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, enabling vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capabilities while also achieving improved forward flight speed and reduced noise emissions.
Claims13
A method for operating a tilt rotor aircraft having first proprotor has a blade with an inboard portion and a swept outboard portion, in which:
- the swept portion occupies at least 50% of a length of the blade;
- and
- a leading edge of the blade is swept both forward and aft;
- the blade is constructed of a medium-modulus carbon fiber whereby a distribution of fiber orientations changes from 0 degree fibers at a blade root and 45 degree fibers at an outboard station of the blade;
- and operating the aircraft with a tip speed of the rotor between Mach 0.8-0.9 via a drive system with variable RPM coupled to the first proprotor.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.