VTOL aircraft having combination lift and lift/cruise engines
AssigneeGrumman Aerospace Corporation
InventorRobert W. Kress
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
By mounting a lift engine and a lift/cruise engine closely to the center of gravity of an aircraft and by orienting the respective engines such that the thrust axes thereof are arranged for ensuring that the vector sum of the lift engine thrust and the lift/cruise engine thrust pass through the center of gravity at all times, a fuel efficient aircraft can controllably takeoff and land vertically. To provide for vectoring the thrust of the respective engines, different nozzles are provided. Further, to provide for pitch, roll and yaw control, a vane assembly is coupled to the aircraft in such a way that it remains in alignment to the jet stream of the lift engine.
Claims17
A vehicle having a fuselage, comprising:
- a first engine mounted coaxially along an axis transversely oblique to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage for producing a first thrust;
- first movable means for vectoring the first thrust about at least two axes with respect to the transversely oblique axis;
- a second engine mounted in front of the first engine in a parallel relationship to the longitudinal axis for producing a second thrust;
- second movable means for vectoring the second thrust;
- wherein exhausts from the first and second engines interact such that the vector sum of the first and second thrusts passes through the center of gravity of the vehicle during its vertical movement, thereby controllably moving the vehicle verticlly.
An aircraft having a fuselage, comprising:
- a first engine mounted coaxially along an axis transversely oblique to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage for producing a first thrust along a first thrust axis;
- a second engine mounted in front of the first engine in a parallel relationship to the longitudinal axis for producing a second thrust along a second thrust axis;
- a swivel nozzle engaged to the output of the first engine for vectoring the first thrust about at least two axes with respect to the first thrust axis against gravitational forces of the earth;
- a movable vectoring nozzle engaged to the output of the second engine for vectoring the second thrust to interact with the first thrust;
- wherein exhausts from the first and second engines interact for arranging the thrust axes to produce zero net moment in pitch during vertical takeoffs, landings and hovering of the aircraft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.