Unmanned aircraft with automatic fuel-to-air mixture adjustment
OwnerErnest A. Carrollinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A miniature unmanned aircraft which uses remotely controlled model aircraft components and technology, and has on-board automatic “on-the-fly” fuel and air mixture adjustment enabling high altitude flight. The aircraft, which may have conventional fuselage, wing, reciprocating piston engine and radio frequency operated controls, also has sensors for sensing atmospheric pressure, atmospheric temperature, engine crankshaft rotational speed, engine temperature, and exhaust temperature. A microprocessor aboard the aircraft receives inputs from the sensors and controls at least one servo to adjust fuel and air mixture according to preprogrammed look-up tables and equations to operate the engine at appropriate fuel-to-air ratios for the altitude and other operating conditions.
Claims11
An unmanned aircraft having a remotely controlled guidance system, a reciprocating piston internal combustion engine, a fuel supply system disposed to supply a mixture of fuel and air to said engine, at least one sensor disposed to monitor engine operation parameters, at least one control disposed to substantially automatically adjust said mixture of fuel and air with regard to ratios of fuel to air, and a microprocessor communicably connected to at least one of said sensors and operably connected to said at least one control, wherein said microprocessor has programming disposed to calculate appropriate ratios of fuel to air and to operate said at least one control such that said fuel supply system supplies an appropriate mixture of fuel and air to said engine in the absence of control commands originating externally from said aircraft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.