Homeostatic flying hovercraft
First Claim
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1. A homeostatic flying saucer comprising:
- a body housing at least four generally downwardly directed thrusters;
an electrical power source operably connected to said thrusters and carried within said body; and
a homeostatic control system operably connected to said thrusters to automatically control a thrust produced by each thruster in order to maintain a desired orientation of said saucer, said homeostatic control system including an XYZ sensor arrangement and associated control circuitry that dynamically determines an inertial gravitational reference for use in automatic control of said thrust produced by each thruster.
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Abstract
A homeostatic flying hovercraft preferably utilizes at least two pairs of counter-rotating ducted fans to generate lift like a hovercraft and utilizes a homeostatic hover control system to create a flying craft that is easily controlled. The homeostatic hover control system provides true homeostasis of the craft with a true fly-by-wire flight control and control-by-wire system control.
141 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A homeostatic flying saucer comprising:
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a body housing at least four generally downwardly directed thrusters;
an electrical power source operably connected to said thrusters and carried within said body; and
a homeostatic control system operably connected to said thrusters to automatically control a thrust produced by each thruster in order to maintain a desired orientation of said saucer, said homeostatic control system including an XYZ sensor arrangement and associated control circuitry that dynamically determines an inertial gravitational reference for use in automatic control of said thrust produced by each thruster. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A homeostatic control system for dynamically determining inertial orientation of a body in three dimensions comprising:
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an X-axis sensor system positioned in an X plane of said body and including at least three first sensors that sense acceleration and gravity in said X plane and at least three second sensors that sense acceleration only in said X plane;
a Y-axis sensor system positioned in an Y plane of said body and including at least three first sensors that sense acceleration and gravity in said Y plane and at least three second sensors that sense acceleration only in said Y plane;
a Z-axis sensor system positioned in a Z plane of said body and including at least one sensor that senses yaw in said Z plane; and
control circuitry operably connected to all of said sensor systems to process signals produced by said sensors in order to dynamically determine an inertial orientation of said body in three dimensions based on a continuous determination of true down.
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15. An electrically powered flying saucer comprising:
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a flying saucer body housing within said body at least four generally downwardly directed thrusters, each thruster mechanically powered by at least one permanent magnet motor that generates at least a portion of the mechanical power provided to said thruster by switching magnetic flux from at least one permanent magnet through at least one laminate; and
an electrical power source operably connected to said thrusters and carried within said body, said electrical power source having a current storage capacity and a weight that enable said saucer to achieve a lift to weight ratio of at least 2;
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16. A radio controlled (RC) flying saucer remotely controlled by a hand-held RC controller, said RC flying saucer comprising:
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a flying saucer body housing within said body at least four generally downwardly directed thrusters, said body being comprised of a foam material;
an electrical power source operably connected to said thrusters and carried within said body; and
control circuitry operably connected to said thrusters and said electrical power source, said control circuitry including a radio frequency (RF) transceiver providing two-way RF communications between said flying saucer and said hand-held RC controller. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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17. A radio controlled (RC) flying saucer remotely controlled by a hand-held RC controller, said RC flying saucer comprising:
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a flying saucer body housing within said body an even number N of ducted fans where N is greater than 2, each ducted fan oriented generally downward and at an angle of greater than 10 degrees and less than 15 degrees to vertical;
an electrical power source operably connected to said thrusters and carried within said body; and
control circuitry operably connected to said thrusters and said electrical power source, said control circuitry including a radio frequency (RF) receiver enabling RF communications from said hand-held RC controller to said flying saucer. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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22. A radio controlled (RC) aircraft remotely controlled by a hand-held RC controller comprising:
said RC controller including;
a body adapted to be held in one hand;
a homeostatic control system positioned within said body to sense a desired orientation of said RC controller by a user selectively positioning an orientation of said RC controller, said homeostatic control system including an XYZ sensor arrangement and associated control circuitry that dynamically determines an inertial gravitational reference for use in sensing said desired orientation;
a bidirectional radio frequency (RF) transceiver providing two-way RF communications between said RC aircraft and said hand-held RC controller that communicates said desired orientation to said RC aircraft; and
said RC aircraft including;
at least one motor that provides motive force to said RC aircraft;
a power source operably connected to said at least one motor and carried within said RC aircraft;
a homeostatic control system operably connected to said at least one motor to automatically control said motor in order to maintain said desired orientation of said RC aircraft, said homeostatic control system including an XYZ sensor arrangement and associated control circuitry that dynamically determines an inertial gravitational reference for use in automatic control of said at least one motor; and
a bidirectional radio frequency (RF) transceiver providing two-way RF communications between said RC aircraft and said hand-held RC controller.
Specification