Flying vehicle hybrid power plant
AssigneeHoversurf, Inc.
InventorAleksandr ATAMANOV
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for operating a flying vehicle that includes a plurality of fan blades disposed on a first shaft. The shaft forms a rotor part of an electric motor. The shaft is coupled through a clutch assembly to a second shaft. The second shaft is coupled to a crankcase and to an internal combustion engine. The clutch assembly, motor and engine are all controlled by an on-board processor such that the processor controls the thrust provided by the fan blade by controlling operation of the motor and engine and clutch assembly. In operation the electric motor may be operated as a generator to recharge a power storage system. Moreover, a plurality of such hybrid-electric motors may be used to provide lift and propulsion for the flying vehicle.
Claims12
A vehicle including:
- a plurality of fan blades, said fan blades disposed on a first shaft;
- an electric motor, said motor including the first shaft as a rotor portion;
- an internal combustion engine, said engine coupled to a second shaft;
- a clutch assembly, said clutch assembly operable to couple the first shaft and the second shaft;
- a processor, said processor coupled to the electric motor, the internal combustion engine, and the clutch assembly;
- wherein the processor is operable to control the power applied to the electric motor and the internal combustion engine.
A thrust device including:
- a plurality of fan blades, said fan blades disposed on a first shaft;
- an electric motor, said motor including the first shaft as a rotor portion;
- an internal combustion engine, said engine coupled to a second shaft;
- a clutch assembly, said clutch assembly operable to couple the first shaft and the second shaft;
- a processor, said processor coupled to the electric motor, internal combustion engine and the clutch assembly;
- wherein the processor controls the electric motor, clutch assembly and internal combustion engine to effectuate a predetermined amount of thrust from the thrust device.
A flying vehicle including:
- a plurality of vertical hybrid-electric motors, said motors disposed about the flying vehicle for providing vertical thrust;
- a plurality of horizontal hybrid-electric motors, said horizontal hybrid-electric motors disposed about the flying vehicle for providing horizontal thrust;
- a processor, said processor coupled to the vertical hybrid-electric motors and he horizontal hybrid electric motors;
- a memory coupled to the processor, said memory operable to hold non-transitory program instructions directing the processor to perform one or more methods, and
- at least one sensor, said sensor coupled to the processor and operable to measure flight characteristic of the flying vehicle,
- wherein the processor controls the hybrid-electric motors in response to the sensor information.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.