Vectored thruster augmented aircraft
AssigneePiasecki Aircraft Corporation
InventorsFrederick W. Piasecki, Frank N. Piasecki
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The Invention is a rotary-wing aircraft having at least two vectored thrusters that may be tilted from a horizontal to a vertical position and to positions intermediate between the horizontal and vertical positions. The two vectored thrusters are equipped with propellers having separately variable pitch. The two vectored thrusters also are equipped with vanes having selectable vane angles to direct separately the air flow from the two vectored thrusters. A control system detects the flight condition of the aircraft and selects vectored thruster control settings corresponding to the detected flight condition and consistent with predetermined control rules to provide lift, thrust, yaw moments and roll moments.
Claims20
A rotary wing aircraft, the rotary wing aircraft comprising:
- a. a fuselage, said fuselage having a longitudinal axis;
- b. an engine attached to said fuselage;
- C. at least one rotor connected to said fuselage and adapted for rotation, said at least one rotor having a selectable cyclic pitch and a selectable collective pitch, said at least one rotor being operatively connected to said engine, said at least one rotor being configured to apply selectably a lift to said fuselage;
- d. at least two vectored thrusters, said at least two vectored thrusters being arrayed in a spaced-apart relation on opposing sides of said fuselage generally transverse to said longitudinal axis, said at least two vectored thrusters being operably connected to said engine, said at least two vectored thrusters having a selectable tilt, said selectable tilt of said at least two vectored thrusters defining a first position and a second position with respect to said fuselage, each of said at least two vectored thrusters having a propeller, each said propeller having a propeller axis of rotation, said propeller axis of rotation of each of said vectored thrusters being oriented generally parallel to said fuselage longitudinal axis when each said vectored thruster is in said first position.
A tandem-rotor helicopter, the tandem-rotor helicopter comprising:
- a. a fuselage, said fuselage having a longitudinal axis;
- b. an engine attached to said fuselage;
- c. two rotors connected to said fuselage and adapted for rotation, said two rotors each having a separately selectable cyclic pitch and a separately selectable collective pitch, said two rotors being operatively connected to said engine, said two rotor being configured to apply selectably a lift to said fuselage;
- c. a port vectored thruster and a starboard vectored thruster, said port and said starboard vectored thrusters being arrayed in a spaced-apart relation on opposing sides of said fuselage, said port vectored thruster having a selectable tilt about a port vectored thruster axis, said port vectored thruster axis falling on a first plane generally normal to said longitudinal axis, said starboard vectored thruster having a selectable tilt about a starboard vectored thruster axis, said starboard vectored thruster axis falling on a plane generally normal to said longitudinal axis, said port and said starboard thruster axes defining an angle thereinbetween when viewed along said longitudinal axis, said angle being greater than 90 degrees, said selectable tilt of said port and said starboard vectored thrusters defining a first position and a second position with respect to said fuselage, each of said port and said starboard vectored thrusters having a propeller adapted for rotation and operably connected to said engine, each said propeller having a propeller axis of rotation, said propeller axis of rotation of each of said port and said starboard vectored thrusters being oriented generally parallel to said fuselage longitudinal axis when said port and said starboard vectored thrusters are in said first position;
- d. at least two exhaust vanes, at least one of said exhaust vanes being located in an exhaust of each of said two thrusters, each said exhaust vane having a selectable vane angle with respect to said thruster propeller axis of rotation, said vane angle of a one said vectored thruster being separately selectable from said vane angle of the other said vectored thruster.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.