Vertical takeoff and landing aircraft
AssigneeMitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
InventorHideharu Kawai
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft is superior in maneuverability, safety, and mobility. The aircraft has turbofan engines with separate core engines having fan engines used commonly for cruising and lifting up. The thrust from the fan engines can be directed to all directions by supporting the fan engines of the turbofan engines with separate core engines with biaxial support so that the fan engines are rotatable in the direction of pitching and rolling. The fan engines are mounted on both sides of each of front and rear sings. With this construction, the VTOL aircraft can cruise and hover by tilting the fan engines about the two axes while using the fan engines commonly for cruising and hovering.
Claims15
A vertical takeoff and landing aircraft capable of hovering and cruising with identical propulsion units, wherein:
- each of said propulsion units comprises a turbofan engine with separate core engine, said turbofan engine with separate core engine comprising a core engine and a fan engine to which high-pressure air is supplied from said core engine;
- said aircraft has left and right front wings and left and right rear wings;
- each of said left and right front wings and said left and right rear wings has a respective said fan engine mounted thereon;
- and
- each said fan engine is tilt-rotatably supported to be rotatable about a first axis extending in a side-to-side direction of said aircraft and about a second axis extending in a back-and-forth direction of said aircraft such that said aircraft can hover and cruise with the identical propulsion units.
A vertical takeoff and landing aircraft capable of hovering and cruising, comprising:
- an aircraft fuselage having a front and rear so as to define a back-and-forth direction that extends between the front and the rear of said aircraft fuselage and a side-to-side direction perpendicular to said back-and-forth direction;
- left and right front wings and left and right rear wings mounted with said fuselage;
- a plurality of identical propulsion units, each of said propulsion units comprising a turbofan engine and a separate core engine to supply high-pressure gas to said fan engine;
- each of said left and right front wings having a respective said fan engine of said propulsion units mounted thereon;
- said left and right rear wings having at least one said fan engine of said propulsion units mounted thereon;
- and
- each said fan engine being tilt-rotatably supported so as to be rotatable about a first axis extending in said side-to-side direction and about a second axis extending in said back-and-forth direction of said aircraft such that said aircraft can hover and cruise.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.