Vertical takeoff and landing aircraft

• US 20030080242A1
• Filed: 10/31/2002
• Published: 05/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
• Inventors: Kawai, Hideharu
• Granted Patent: US 6,892,980 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 244/12.4
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 11/001 Shrouded propellers
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 15/12 the power plant being tiltable
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 29/0033 the propellers being tiltable relative to the fuselage
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 29/0075 the motors being tiltable relative to the fuselage
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 35/00 Transmitting power from power plants to propellers or rotors; Arrangements of transmissions
• CPC Class Codes: F02K 3/025 the by-pass flow being at least partly used to create an independent thrust component
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 50/60 Efficient propulsion technologies, e.g. for aircraft

Abstract

For the purpose of providing a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft superior in maneuverability, safety, and mobility, which aircraft is mounted with turbofan engines with separate core engines having fan engines used commonly for cruising and lifting up, through enabling to direct the thrust from fan engines to all directions by supporting the fan engines composing the turbofan engines with separate core engines in 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 wings. With this construction, the VTOL aircraft can cruise and hover by tilting the fan engines about said 2 axis while using the fan engines commonly for cruising and hovering.

Claims

1. A vertical takeoff and landing aircraft capable of hovering and cruising with identical propulsion units, wherein each of said propulsion units is made up of a turbofan engine with a separate core engine consisting of a core engine and a fan engine to which high-pressure air is supplied from said core engine, the aircraft has left/right wing bodies consisting of a front and a rear wing, said fan engines being mounted on both sides of said wing bodies, each of said fan engines being supported in biaxial support to make it possible to hover and cruise by the identical propulsion units.

2. The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft according to claim 1, wherein an intermediate wing part is provided on both sides of the fuselage between said front and rear wing, and said core engines are located in said intermediate wing parts near the center of gravity of the airframe.

3. The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft according to claim 1, wherein said rear wings are located at a position higher than said front wings so that the exhaust gas from the fan engines mounted on said front wings does not overlap with the exhaust gas from the fan engines mounted on said rear wings.

4. The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft according to claim 1, wherein ailerons and rudders are provided to said rear wings, and horizontal tails are not provided.

5. The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the mechanism of supporting the fan engine in biaxial support is composed of a support ring for supporting said fan engine by means of a first pair of hinges, a second pair of hinges for mounting said support ring on a wing, and mechanisms for rotating said first pair and second pair of hinges independently.

6. The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft according to claim 5, wherein a fuel supply passage is provided in one of said first pair of hinges and one of said second pair of hinges, and fuel and high-pressure air from the core engines are supplied to the fan engines supported by means of the first pair of hinges via the support ring supported by means of the second pair of hinges.

7. The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft according to claim 1, wherein shield plates are provided between the fan engines mounted on said wings and the cockpit including the cabin.