Stirling engine with flapping wing for an emission-free aircraft
AssigneeAirbus Defence and Space GmbH
InventorJost Seifert
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Aircraft with an emission-free drive and method for emission-free driving of an aircraft. The aircraft includes a drive device, having a flapping wing device, structured and arranged to generate thrust, a lift device structured and arranged to generate lift, and a heat engine, having at least one flat-plate Stirling engine drivable by solar thermal radiation, structured and arranged to convert thermal energy into kinetic energy to drive the drive device. The flapping wing device includes at least one flapping wing, which is pivotable transverse to a flight direction.
Claims20
An aircraft with an emission-free drive, comprising:
- a drive device, comprising a flapping wing device, structured and arranged to generate thrust;
- a lift device structured and arranged to generate lift;
- and
- a heat engine, comprising at least one flat-plate Stirling engine drivable by solar thermal radiation, structured and arranged to convert thermal energy into kinetic energy to drive the drive device,
- the flapping wing device including at least one flapping wing, which is pivotable transverse to a flight direction,
- wherein a working chamber is arranged between a wing top and a wing underside, and a displacer is arranged to divide the working chamber into a first and a second chamber region and, with movement, to displace a working gas from one of the first and second chamber region into the other of the first and second chamber region;
- and
- wherein the top of the wing forms a first side of the flat-plate Stirling engine with a first temperature and the underside of the wing forms a second side of the flat-plate Stirling engine with a second temperature, in which the second temperature is lower than the first temperature.
A method for the emission-free driving of an aircraft, comprising:
- receiving solar thermal energy to a flat-plate Stirling engine;
- converting the thermal energy into kinetic energy via the flat-plate Stirling engine;
- and
- driving, via the flat-plate Stirling engine, a drive device having a flapping wing device for thrust,
- wherein a working chamber is arranged between a wing top and a wing underside, and a displacer is arranged to divide the working chamber into a first and a second chamber region and, with movement, to displace a working gas from one of the first and second chamber region into the other of the first and second chamber region;
- and
- wherein the top of the wing forms a first side of the flat-plate Stirling engine with a first temperature and the underside of the wing forms a second side of the flat-plate Stirling engine with a second temperature, in which the second temperature is lower than the first temperature.
An aircraft with at least one heat engine arranged in at least one of a wing and a fuselage to drive a flapping wing drive, the aircraft comprising:
- a working chamber, having a top and an underside filled with a working gas, being located in the at least of the wing and fuselage;
- a displacer structured and arranged for movement between the top and the underside of the working chamber to a define a first and a second chamber region;
- and
- a working piston structured and arranged to adjust a working volume of the working chamber through a linear movement,
- wherein the linear movement of the working piston pivotably drives at least one flapping wing of the flapping wing drive,
- wherein the working chamber is arranged between a wing top and a wing underside, and the displacer is arranged to divide the working chamber into the first and the second chamber region and, with movement, to displace the working gas from one of the first and second chamber region into the other of the first and second chamber region;
- and
- wherein the top of the wing forms a first side of the flat-plate Stirling engine with a first temperature and the underside of the wing forms a second side of the flat-plate Stirling engine with a second temperature, in which the second temperature is lower than the first temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.