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US 8,950,698 B1Granted
Convertible compounded rotorcraft
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorGlenn T. Rossi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A compound rotorcraft including a rotary wing aircraft having a fuselage and at least one rotor and a fixed-wing aircraft coupled to the rotary wing aircraft, wherein the rotary wing aircraft can fly on the rotor or the fixed-wing aircraft, and wherein the fixed-wing aircraft is detachable from the rotary wing aircraft to fly independently.
Claims16
A compound rotorcraft comprising:
- a rotary wing aircraft comprising a fuselage and at least one rotor;
- and
- a fixed-wing aircraft releasably coupled to an underside of said fuselage of said rotary wing aircraft, said fixed-wing aircraft comprising:
- a center body;
- a left wing extending outwardly from said center body;
- a right wing extending outwardly from said center body away from said left wing;
- a left proprotor mounted on said left wing;
- and
- a right proprotor mounted on said right wing,
- wherein said left wing and said right wing are rotatably attached to said center body and translatable between a generally horizontal position and a generally vertical position,
- wherein said fixed-win aircraft augments vertical flight of said rotary wing aircraft when said left wing and said right wing are in said vertical position, and
- wherein said fixed-wing aircraft augments horizontal flight of said rotary wing aircraft when said left wing and said right wing are in said horizontal position.
9 more elements
A compound rotorcraft comprising:
- a fixed-wing aircraft comprising a wing and a propulsion drive, said fixed-wing aircraft being configured to be coupled to a rotary wing aircraft, said rotary wing aircraft initially having a fuselage and at least one rotor, said fixed-wing aircraft comprising:
- a center body;
- a left wing extending outwardly from said center body;
- a right wing extending outwardly from said center body away from said left wing;
- a left proprotor mounted on said left wing;
- and
- a right proprotor mounted on said right wing,
- wherein said left wing and said right wing are rotatably attached to said center body and translatable between a generally horizontal position and a generally vertical position,
- wherein said fixed-wing aircraft augments vertical flight of said rotary wing aircraft when said left wing and said right wing are in said vertical position, and
- wherein said fixed-wing aircraft augments horizontal flight of said rotary wing aircraft when said left wing and said right wing are in said horizontal position,
- wherein said rotary wing aircraft can fly on said rotor of said rotary wing aircraft or said propulsion drive of said fixed-wing aircraft, and
- wherein said fixed-wing aircraft is detachable from said rotary wing aircraft to fly independently of said rotary wing aircraft.
9 more elements
A method of compounding a rotary wing aircraft comprising a fuselage, at least one rotor, and a docking bay disposed on an underside of said fuselage, said method comprising the steps of:
- providing a fixed-wing aircraft comprising:
- a center body;
- a left wing extending outwardly from said center body;
- a right wing extending outwardly from said center body away from said left wing;
- a left proprotor mounted on said left wing;
- and
- a right proprotor mounted on said right wing,
- wherein said left wing and said right wing are rotatably attached to said center body and translatable between a generally horizontal position and a generally vertical position;
- and
- releasably coupling said fixed-wing aircraft to said docking bay of said rotary wing aircraft to form a compound aerial platform,
- wherein said rotary wing aircraft can fly on said rotor of said rotary wing aircraft or said propulsion drive of said fixed-wing aircraft,
- wherein said fixed-wing aircraft augments vertical flight of said rotary wing aircraft when said left wing and said right wing are in said vertical position,
- wherein said fixed-wing aircraft augments horizontal flight of said rotary wing aircraft when said left wing and said right wing are in said horizontal position, and
- wherein said fixed-wing aircraft is detachable from said rotary wing aircraft to fly independently.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.