Ducted fan VTOL vehicles
First Claim
1. A ducted air flow vehicle comprising:
- a fuselage and associated air flow control surfaces;
at least one air flow duct mounted along a fuselage which includes a prime air mover to force surrounding air to flow through said duct thereby creating force directed along a duct flow axis which provides vertical lift force and which, when the duct axis is tilted with respect to vertical, also provides a force component in the direction of tilt; and
at least adjustable opening formed in at least one peripheral wall portion of said duct which, when opened, allows for faster vehicle motion by reducing the drag contribution of said wall portion and providing a more direct fluid flow through the duct wall during vehicle motion.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle including a fuselage having a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis, two Ducted Fan lift-producing propellers carried by the fuselage on each side of the transverse axis, a pilot'"'"'s compartment formed in the fuselage between the lift-producing propellers and substantially aligned with one side of the fuselage, a payload bay formed in the fuselage between the lift-producing propellers and opposite the pilot'"'"'s compartment, and two pusher fans located at the rear of the vehicle. Many variations are described enabling the vehicle to be used not only as a VTOL vehicle, but also as a multi-function utility vehicle for performing many diverse functions including hovercraft and ATV functions. Also described is an Unmanned version of the vehicle. Also described are unique features applicable in any single or multiple ducted fans and VTOL vehicles.
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Citations
63 Claims
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1. A ducted air flow vehicle comprising:
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a fuselage and associated air flow control surfaces;
at least one air flow duct mounted along a fuselage which includes a prime air mover to force surrounding air to flow through said duct thereby creating force directed along a duct flow axis which provides vertical lift force and which, when the duct axis is tilted with respect to vertical, also provides a force component in the direction of tilt; and
at least adjustable opening formed in at least one peripheral wall portion of said duct which, when opened, allows for faster vehicle motion by reducing the drag contribution of said wall portion and providing a more direct fluid flow through the duct wall during vehicle motion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A ducted fan vane apparatus comprising:
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an air flow duct having opposite inlet and exit ends;
an air prime mover mounted within said duct to force ambient air therethrough from said inlet through said duct and its exit; and
a plurality of parallel vanes mounted at spaced locations within and closely adjacent at least one of said inlet and said exit ends of the duct, said vanes being controllable to produce a desired transverse force component to a lift force produced by air flow through said duct, wherein each of a subset of said vanes has a chord line that is differently angled along the vane spanwise axis to better match local ducted air flow vectors. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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16. A ducted fan vane apparatus as in claim 16 wherein:
said subset of vanes include first and second groups of vanes at least at one of said inlet and said exit.
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18. A VTOL vehicle, comprising:
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a fuselage having a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis; and
at least two lift-producing prime air movers contained inside respective air flow ducts fixedly disposed within said fuselage along said longitudinal axis, wherein said at least two ducts are inclined forward with respect to vertical. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A VTOL vehicle, comprising:
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a fuselage having a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis; and
at least two lift-producing prime air movers carried by said fuselage and contained inside two hollow ducts disposed within said fuselage along said longitudinal axis, wherein a forward one of said ducts has a least one forward facing circumferentially-extending controllable aperture in its duct wall that, when open, channels external air through said aperture. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A VTOL aircraft drive train comprising:
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a first engine connected to a first transmission;
a first forward thrust propeller connected to and driven by said first transmission;
a second engine connected to a second transmission;
a second forward thrust propeller connected to and driven by said second transmission; and
a first gearbox operative to drive a lift propeller, wherein said gearbox is intermediate said first and second transmissions and separately connected thereto by separate shafts. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39)
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40. A VTOL aircraft drive train comprising:
a single engine driving a single transmission connected by a first pair of gearboxes to drive a pair of lift rotors, respectively, and by at least a second pair of gearboxes to drive a pair of pusher fans, respectively.
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41. A ducted flow vane configuration comprising:
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at least one lift-producing propeller disposed inside a hollow flow duct;
a first plurality of parallel spaced control vanes extending across at least an inlet end of said duct, generally along a first predetermined direction, said vanes being controllable to produce a desired force component to a lift force produced by said propeller generally along a second direction transverse to said first direction; and
a second plurality of parallel spaced control vanes located across at least said inlet generally along a second predetermined direction, said vanes being controllable to produce a desired force component to a lift force produced by said propeller generally along a third direction transverse to said second direction.
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42. A ducted fan vane configuration comprising:
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at least one lift-producing propeller contained inside a duct;
a first plurality of pivotally-mounted parallel vanes extending within and across either of an inlet and an exit of said duct at an angle of generally +45°
with respect to a first direction, said vanes being selectively controllable to produce a desired force component to a lift force produced by said propeller generally +45°
to said first direction; and
a second plurality of pivotally-mounted parallel vanes extending within and across either of said inlet and said exit at an angle generally −
45°
with respect to said first direction, said vanes being selectively controllable to produce a desired force component to a lift force produced by said propeller generally −
45°
to said direction.
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43. A ducted flow vane configuration comprising:
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at least one lift-producing propeller disposed inside a duct;
first and second pluralities of parallel vanes extending within and across either of an inlet and an exit of said duct generally along a first direction, said vanes being selectively controllable to produce a desired first transverse force component with respect to a lift force produced by said propeller; and
third and fourth pluralities of parallel vanes extending within and across either of said inlet and said exit generally along a second direction, said vanes being selectively controllable about their axes to produce a desired second transverse force component with respect to a lift force produced by said propeller. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46)
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47. A VTOL aircraft, comprising:
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a fuselage having a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis;
at least one lift-producing propeller contained inside a duct disposed within said fuselage along said longitudinal axis;
at least one pusher propeller at the rear end of the fuselage; and
a normally collapsed and stowed wing controllably deployable to extend above said vehicle in-flight while remaining connected thereto. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49)
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50. A VTOL aircraft comprising:
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a fuselage having a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis;
at least one lift-producing propeller disposed inside a duct along said longitudinal axis, wherein air flow into said duct is at least partially obstructed by either of a nacelle and part of said fuselage; and
at least one air flow channel through which air may flow into said partially obstructed duct wherein an exit portion of said channel meets and is substantially aligned with an upper inlet lip of said duct.
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51. A VTOL aircraft comprising:
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a fuselage having a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis, at least one lift-producing propeller disposed inside a duct along said longitudinal axis;
a litter slidingly mounted within said fuselage; and
a swiveling seat also mounted within said fuselage for rotatable access to said litter.
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52. A ducted fan for use in a vehicle, said ducted fan comprising:
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at least one lift-producing propeller disposed inside a duct having an inlet and an exit at opposite ends thereof, wherein at least one peripheral sidewall portion of said duct is formed with at least one controllable aperture therein, thereby allowing air to flow into an interior of said duct through both said inlet and said at least one aperture when opened. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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55. A ducted fan as in 54 further comprising:
a plurality of externally actuated rotating valves, each valve being disposed between two of said partition elements and selectably rotatable to block and to permit air flow around said elements and into said duct.
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60. A VTOL vehicle comprising:
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a chassis supporting plural lift generating ducted fans disposed substantially along a longitudinal axis of the vehicle;
at least one engine driving said fans;
a first cabin disposed on one side of said chassis; and
a second cabin disposed on an opposite side of said chassis;
wherein said ducted fans have axes that are substantially parallel to one another and tilted forward with respect to the fuselage to provide a force component in the direction of tilt in forward flight. - View Dependent Claims (61)
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62. A VTOL aircraft comprising:
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a fuselage having a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis;
at least two lift fans housed in hollow ducting and disposed along said longitudinal axis;
at least two pusher fans located in a rearward portion of said fuselage, with at least one pusher fan being located on each side of said longitudinal axis;
at least one engine supported within said fuselage and connected to drive said lift fans and pusher fans;
said fuselage being concavely contoured in areas adjacent at least some of said pusher fans to facilitate outside air flow into said pusher fans. - View Dependent Claims (63)
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Specification