System and method for utilizing stored electrical energy for VTOL aircraft thrust enhancement and attitude control
AssigneeAurora Flight Sciences Corporation
InventorRobert Parks
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method are provided for a short take-off and landing/vertical take-off and landing aircraft that stores required take-off power in the form of primarily an electric fan engine, and secondarily in the form of an internal combustion engine, wherein the combined power of the electric fan and internal combustion engines can cause the STOL/VTOL A/C to take-off in substantially less amount of time and space than other STOL/VTOL A/C, and further wherein the transition from vertical to horizontal thrust is carefully executed to rapidly rise from the take-off position to a forward flight position, thereby minimizing the necessity for a larger electric fan engine.
Claims34
A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, comprising:
- a tiltable primary engine configured to produce thrust for forward flight and thrust for hovering, said tiltable primary engine being disposed on a center of gravity of said aircraft and vertically tiltable with respect to an aircraft center line;
- a plurality of electrically-driven fans arranged about a periphery of an airframe of the VTOL aircraft, said plurality of electrically-driven fans consisting of (i) a first fan disposed at a nose of the VTOL aircraft, (ii) a second fan disposed at a left wing tip of the VTOL aircraft, and (iii) a third fan disposed at a right wing tip of the VTOL aircraft, the second fan and the third fan each being disposed closer to a tip than a root of the respective wing, said plurality of electrically-driven fans being disposed equidistant from said aircraft center of gravity;
- wherein airflow provided by each of the electrically-driven fans is oriented substantially perpendicular to the fuselage of the VTOL aircraft for producing thrust for hovering;
- a thrust control circuit in communication with each of the plurality of electrically-driven fans,
- wherein the thrust control circuit is configured to independently control the thrust for hovering provided by each of the plurality of electrically-driven fans to alter a total thrust for hovering provided by the plurality of electrically-driven fans and to alter pitch and roll moments of the VTOL aircraft while hovering;
- a plurality of vanes located in a fan exhaust of each of the plurality of electrically-driven fans;
- and
- an attitude control circuit in communication with each of the plurality of vanes and the thrust control circuit,
- wherein the attitude control circuit is configured to independently control deflection of each of the plurality of vanes for re-directing the thrust for hovering provided by each of the plurality of electrically-driven fans to control a yaw moment of the VTOL aircraft while hovering.
A vertical take-off and landing aircraft, comprising:
- a plurality of electrically-driven fans consisting of (i) a first electrically-driven fan disposed at a nose of the aircraft and configured to provide vertical downward thrust;
- (ii) a second electrically-driven fan disposed at an end of a left wing of the aircraft and configured to provide vertical downward thrust;
- and (iii) a third electrically-driven fan disposed at an end of a right wing of the aircraft and configured to provide vertical downward thrust;
- and
- a tiltable internal-combustion engine disposed on a center of gravity of the aircraft and equidistant from said first, second, and third electrically-driven fans and configured to provide downward thrust and forward thrust, said tiltable internal-combustion engine being vertically tiltable in a plane passing through a central axis of the vertical take-off and landing aircraft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.