Omnidirectional aircraft
First Claim
1. An omnidirectional aircraft comprising:
- a body, six propulsion means, and a control means;
the body defining a reference system comprising an origin where intersect three mutually orthogonal reference axes, a first axis, a second axis, and a third axis, each axis having an origin, a negative direction and a positive direction, the origin and negative direction of said first, second and third axes respectively defining corresponding first, second and third negative half-axes, and the origin and positive direction of said first, second and third axes respectively defining corresponding first, second and third positive half-axes;
each of said six propulsion means being attached to said body through a mounting means, and defining a plane and a center in said plane through which passes a thrust axis having a negative direction and a positive direction, said thrust axis being normal to said plane; and
each propulsion means being able to develop a motion-inducing force in the direction of its corresponding thrust axis, said force being continuously variable from a predetermined maximum negative value to a predetermined maximum positive value;
a first propulsion means having a center substantially located on said first negative half-axis, a second propulsion means having a center substantially located on said first positive half-axis, a third propulsion means having a center substantially located on said second negative half-axis, a fourth propulsion means having a center substantially located on said second positive half-axis, a fifth propulsion means having a center substantially located on said third negative half-axis, and a sixth propulsion means having a center substantially located on said third positive half-axis;
the six propulsion means being configured such that, from their collective action, the resultant translational thrust vector and the resultant rotational thrust vector each spans all directions of said reference system;
the control means being adapted to accept control input signals in the form of vehicle translation and rotation vectors, and to convert said signals to thrust commands for said propulsion means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An omni-directional aircraft with flight capabilities surpassing those of a regular VTOL or helicopter, being able to take full advantage of the simultaneous six degrees of freedom of motion possible in the atmosphere, undergoing any desired combination of translational and rotational movement, and keeping station in the air in any arbitrary attitude. In the preferred embodiment, the flying object comprises a cubic body on the six faces of which are mounted six propulsion units, such that the propellers on each pair of opposite faces are coplanar with each other and with the main axis passing through the centers of these opposite faces, and their thrusts act along the direction of another main axis, each of the three pairs of propellers acting along a different one of the cube'"'"'s three main axes. The thrust from each motion-inducing assembly being continuously variable and reversible, the resultant translational and rotational thrust vectors can be positioned arbitrarily within their respective solid envelopes. A control element with equal freedom of motion allows intuitive piloting of the vehicle. In an alternate embodiment, the propulsion units are disposed along the sides of a tetrahedron.
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Citations
8 Claims
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1. An omnidirectional aircraft comprising:
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a body, six propulsion means, and a control means;
the body defining a reference system comprising an origin where intersect three mutually orthogonal reference axes, a first axis, a second axis, and a third axis, each axis having an origin, a negative direction and a positive direction, the origin and negative direction of said first, second and third axes respectively defining corresponding first, second and third negative half-axes, and the origin and positive direction of said first, second and third axes respectively defining corresponding first, second and third positive half-axes;
each of said six propulsion means being attached to said body through a mounting means, and defining a plane and a center in said plane through which passes a thrust axis having a negative direction and a positive direction, said thrust axis being normal to said plane; and
each propulsion means being able to develop a motion-inducing force in the direction of its corresponding thrust axis, said force being continuously variable from a predetermined maximum negative value to a predetermined maximum positive value;
a first propulsion means having a center substantially located on said first negative half-axis, a second propulsion means having a center substantially located on said first positive half-axis, a third propulsion means having a center substantially located on said second negative half-axis, a fourth propulsion means having a center substantially located on said second positive half-axis, a fifth propulsion means having a center substantially located on said third negative half-axis, and a sixth propulsion means having a center substantially located on said third positive half-axis;
the six propulsion means being configured such that, from their collective action, the resultant translational thrust vector and the resultant rotational thrust vector each spans all directions of said reference system;
the control means being adapted to accept control input signals in the form of vehicle translation and rotation vectors, and to convert said signals to thrust commands for said propulsion means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification