US 12,752,915 B1Granted

Vertical takeoff and landing aeronautical apparatus with a folding wing

AssigneeAerhart, LLC

InventorKevin Burns

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Abstract

An electric VTOL aeronautical apparatus is disclosed that has folding wings each having an inboard wing portion coupled to an outboard portion via a hinge. Folding wings are known to be used during flight, although using a motor to fold and unfold the wings. In the present disclosure, the motor with its concomitant weight and complication is obviated or reduced by employing the force generated by deploying a control surface in a moving airstream. By controlling this deployment, aero forces on the desired wing portion can be controlled and used to obviate the need for a motorized actuator. Lift generated by the wing and control surface are used to unfold the folding portion of wing, reconfiguring it for forward flight. When the aeronautical apparatus transitions to vertical flight, gravity pulls the wings downward into the folded position.

Claims19

Dependent claims

An aeronautical apparatus, comprising:

a fuselage having a longitudinal axis, a transverse axis and a vertical axis;
a first wing attached to a right side of the fuselage;
and
a second wing attached to a left side of the fuselage, wherein:
the first wing has a first inboard wing portion coupled to a first outboard wing portion via a first hinge;
the second wing has a second inboard wing portion coupled to a second outboard wing portion via a second hinge;
the first outboard wing portion folds downward with respect to the first inboard wing portion;
the second outboard wing portion folds downward with respect to the second inboard wing portion;
the first outboard wing portion has a first control surface which is configured to fold with respect to the first outboard wing portion;
and
the second outboard wing portion has a second control surface which is configured to fold with respect to the second outboard wing portion, the aeronautical apparat us further comprising:
an electronic control unit (ECU) configured to communicate signals to the first control surface and the second control surface wherein:
the ECU determines a desired control surface deployment of the first control surface and second control surface based at least on a fold angle of the first hinge a ad the second hinge.

10 more elements

An aeronautical apparatus, comprising:

a fuselage having a longitudinal axis, a transverse axis and a vertical axis;
a first wing attached to a right side of the fuselage;
and
a second wing attached to a left side of the fuselage, wherein:
the first wing has a first inboard wing portion coupled to a first outboard wing portion via a first hinge;
the second wing has a second inboard wing portion coupled to a second outboard wing portion via a second hinge;
the first hinge allows the first outboard wing portion to fold downward with respect to the first inboard wing portion;
the second hinge allows the second outboard wing portion to fold downward with respect to the second inboard wing portion;
the first inboard wing portion has a first inboard control surface which is configured to fold;
the second inboard wing portion has a second inboard control surface that is configured to fold;
the first outboard wing portion has a first outboard control surface which is configured to fold with respect to the first outboard wing portion;
and
the second outboard wing portion has a second outboard control surface which is configured to fold with respect to the second outboard wing portion, the aeronautical apparatus further comprising:
a first one-way bearing coupled on axis with the first hinge;
a second one-way bearing coupled on axis with the second hinge;
a first switch coupled to and actuated by the first thrust angle motor, the first switch also being coupled to the first one-way bearing;
and
a second switch coupled to and actuated by the second thrust angle motor, the second switch also being coupled to the second one-way bearing, wherein:
the first switch, when actuated by the first thrust angle motor, toggles between a first setting in which the first outboard wing portion is allowed to rotate from a folded position to an unfolded position only and a second setting in which the first outboard wing portion is allowed to rotate from the unfolded position to the folded position only;
and
the second switch, when actuated by the second thrust motor, toggles between a first setting in which the second outboard wing portion is allowed to rotate from a folded to an unfolded position only and a second setting in which the second outboard wing portion is allowed to rotate from the unfolded position to the folded position only.

18 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.