Dual hull airship controlled by thrust vectoring
AssigneesNautilus, Inc., Politecnico Di Torino
InventorsPiero Gili, Ugo Icardi, Romualdo Ruotolo, Manuela Battipede, Piercarlo Vercesi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A highly maneuverable aircraft with aerostatic lift consists, in particular, of a non-rigid airship (10) which can be piloted or radio-controlled; the airship (10) is sustained by helium and consists of two spindle-shaped elements side by side (11) joined by a connecting structure (12) to form a characteristic catamaran shape, without deflecting aerodynamic control surfaces as the command system consists of a set of several adjustable electric motors, each driving a variable-pitch propeller (13).
Claims9
Aircraft with aerostatic lift, comprising a structure, which includes at least two non-rigid spindle-shaped elements side by side (11), joined by at least one connecting element (12), said aircraft also being provided with a movement and attitude control system with a set of several electric motors, of which at least one is adjustable with rotation around an axis perpendicular to the rotation axis of said motor, each of which drives a propeller (13) with fixed or variable pitch, wherein at least one of the propellers (13) is mounted on a vertical arm (14) extending from the connecting element (12) and disposed at a distance from the whole body centre of gravity, and wherein the aircraft consists of an airship (10), which can be piloted or radio-controlled, without deflecting aerodynamic control surfaces and sustained by helium, said movement and attitude control system being solely of the propulsive type, with a ballonets system wherein for each hull during the climbing phase, ballonets deflate progressively, from the outer to the central sector and during the descent phase, ballonets inflate progressively from the central to the outer sectors.
Aircraft with aerostatic lift, comprising a structure, which includes at least two non-rigid spindle-shaped elements side by side (11), joined by at least one connecting element (12), said aircraft also being provided with a movement and attitude control system with a set of several electric motors, of which at least one is adjustable with rotation around an axis perpendicular to the rotation axis of said motor, each of which drives a propeller (13) with fixed or variable pitch, wherein at least one of the propellers (13) is mounted on a vertical arm (14) extending from the connecting element (12) and disposed at a distance from the whole body centre of gravity, and wherein the aircraft consists of an airship (10), which can be piloted or radio-controlled, without deflecting aerodynamic control surfaces and sustained by helium, said movement and attitude control system being solely of the propulsive type, wherein said airship (10) is provided with ballonets system (15), at least one for each spindle-shaped element(11), in order to vary the altitude within a pre-set range without loss of gas, said ballonets (15) being intercommunicating like the volumes of gas of said spindle shaped elements (11) said ballonets (15) communicate by means of a second duct (16), provided with two controlled single-acting valves (17), while said spindle-shaped elements (11) communicate by means of a second duct (18) provided with a first controlled single-acting valve (19) and a second single-acting valve (20), coupled with an aperture for inflating said spindle-shaped elements (11), said ballonets (15) being kept pressurized by a third single-acting valve (21), at the inlet of which a dynamic intake(23) is provided with an inflation aperture, and a compressor (22).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.