# US 2019/0168866 A1 · Vertical take-off and landing aircraft

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- Number: US 2019/0168866 A1
- Document ID: US20190168866A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 16/182,107
- Filed: 2018-11-06
- Published: 2019-06-06
- Earliest claimed: 2016-07-26
- Assignees: Obshchestvo S Ogranichennoj Otvetstvennostyu “Avianovatsii”
- Applicants: Obshchestvo S Ogranichennoj Otvetstvennostyu “Avianovatsii”
- Inventors: Sergei Evgenievich TOVKACH; Aleksei Viktorovich SHANIN; Igor CHUDAKOV
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20190168866A1

## CPC

- B64C 27/50: Blades foldable to facilitate stowage of aircraft
- B64C 29/00: Aircraft capable of landing or taking-off vertically, e.g. vertical take-off and landing [VTOL] aircraft (rotorcraft B64C27/00)
- B64U 10/25: Fixed-wing aircraft (VTOL aircraft B64U10/20)
- B64U 20/50: Foldable or collapsible UAVs (with frangible components B64U20/30)
- B64U 20/70: Constructional aspects of the UAV body
- B64U 50/13: using external fans or propellers
- B64U 50/32: generated by fuel cells
- B64D 27/22: using atomic energy
- B64U 20/96: using air
- B64C: AEROPLANES; HELICOPTERS
- B64U: UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES [UAV]; EQUIPMENT THEREFOR
- B64D: EQUIPMENT FOR FITTING IN OR TO AIRCRAFT; FLIGHT SUITS; PARACHUTES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF POWER PLANTS OR PROPULSION TRANSMISSIONS IN AIRCRAFT

## Abstract

There is disclosed a multicopter vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft. The aircraft comprises am airframe with spatial design, a pilot seat, a cockpit, controls, engine units, engine compartment, control system, remote control system. The airframe consists of a central section and, at least, two peripheral sections, wherein peripheral sections can be folded up or down, or be retracted under the central section. The central section and peripheral sections of the airframe have spatial design. Each of the peripheral sections comprises at least three standard engine compartments which are connected to each other. Inside each engine compartment there is an engine unit which comprises at least one engine and at least one horizontally rotating propeller together with the control hardware. Each engine unit is an autonomous member of the distributed control system (DCS).

## Claims

### Claim 1

A multicopter vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft comprising:
an airframe implemented with a spatial design,
a distributed control system,
the airframe including a central section and at least two peripheral sections,
the central section and the at least two peripheral sections being implemented with the spatial design,
each peripheral section including at least three interconnected standard engine compartments,
each engine compartment housing an engine unit, the engine unit including at least one engine and at least one horizontally rotatable propeller together with the control hardware.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the at least two peripheral sections comprise standard modules, each standard module being constructed of a plurality of parts, with at least some of the plurality of parts being interchangeable between any two different standard modules.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the at least two peripheral sections are configured to be at least one of: folded upwards, folded downwards or be retracted under the VTOL aircraft when stored.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the at least two peripheral sections are located in a space limited by structural elements of the airframe, without encompassing any of the structural elements of the airframe inside, the peripheral section including:
at least two fastening points where the at least one engine unit is attached to the airframe, and wherein two neighboring sections have, at least, one fastening point in common between them.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 1, wherein engine compartments with engine units have an in-line arrangement, symmetrical to each other and are located in a single horizontal plane.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 1, wherein sections of the engine compartment are arranged in a chess-board order, displaced to each other and located in a single horizontal plane.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the at least one engine being supplied with power, in use, from at least one power supply source located directly on the engine unit located within an airstream produced by the at least one horizontally rotatable propeller.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 7, wherein the at least one power supply source of a given engine unit is configured to be selectively switched to supply power to another engine unit via a wired system of switches.

### Claim 9 (depends on 7)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 7, wherein the at least one power supply source comprises at least one of: a set of fuel cells, radioisotope and nuclear sources of electric power.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the engine unit comprises, at least, two coaxially located electric engines.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 1, wherein each of the engine units is implemented as an autonomous unit having:
an electric engine
an independent power supply source,
an instrumentation set,
engine control appliances,
battery charging and control appliances,
an autonomous autopilot module,
the autonomous unit being integrated with other autonomous units as part of the VTOL aircraft functioning as one whole system of the flying vehicle.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 1, wherein each engine unit comprises at least one pneumatic engine, wherein power supply of each one of the at least one pneumatic engine is supplied from the compressor installed in the central section of the airframe via individual piping with a valve system with electric drives, regulating the flow of the compressed gas supplied to the at least one pneumatic engines and their thrust in response to commands from the distributed control system.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 12, wherein the at least one pneumatic engine comprises at least two coaxially arranged pneumatic engines.

### Claim 14 (depends on 12)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 12, wherein the individual pipings are located either inside or outside the airframe.

### Claim 15 (depends on 12)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 12, wherein each pneumatic engine unit is an autonomous unit with a separate channel of pneumatic energy transfer from the compressor and an instrumentation set operated in response to commands received from the distributed control system.

### Claim 16 (depends on 12)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 12, further comprising a redundant compressor and redundant pipings with autonomously operated valves, wherein the redundant compressor is installed inside the central section of the airframe.

### Claim 17 (depends on 1)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the central section comprises: a cockpit with a pilot seat and controls, control system, hand- and foot-operated controls, steering block and a compressor.

### Claim 18 (depends on 1)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 1, further comprising a remote control unit that comprises standard controls configured to be selectively disassembled, in order to use the standard control for remote control VTOL aircraft of the VTOL aircraft in an unmanned mode.

### Claim 19 (depends on 1)

The VTOL aircraft according to claim 1, wherein each peripheral section comprises a plurality of engine units that are autonomously controllable, each peripheral section being implemented with an equal number of engine units having propellers rotating clockwise and engine units having propellers rotating counterclockwise.

### Claim 20 (depends on 1)

The aircraft according to claim 1, wherein each engine unit is controlled autonomously, wherein each peripheral section has an even number of engine units having contra rotating propellers.