AIRCRAFT HAVING THE ABILITY FOR HOVERING FLIGHT, FAST FORWARD FLIGHT, GLIDING FLIGHT, SHORT TAKE-OFF, SHORT LANDING, VERTICAL TAKE-OFF AND VERTICAL LANDING

• US 20090008510A1
• Filed: 03/02/2007
• Published: 01/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: David Posva
• Original Assignee: David Posva
• Inventors: Posva, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,181,903 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 244/7.R
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 15/14 the jets being other than main propulsion jets jet flaps B64C9/38
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 27/28 with forward-propulsion propellers pivotable to act as lifting rotors
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 29/0025 the propellers being fixed relative to the fuselage

Abstract

Aircraft having two, preferably four or more, rotors (20) in wing hatches (10) which can be closed.

The closure mechanism comprises, at the top, individually curved elements on a rollshutter (scroll/roller blind) (40) and, at the bottom, a set of longitudinal fins (30).

The rotors are each driven (50) by one or more motors or engines.

One or more propeller/impeller drives are firmly connected to the stabilator (60), which can be pivoted over a wide extent.

In hovering flight, the wing hatches (10) are opened and the impeller drives (60), together with the stabilator, are pivoted largely vertically downwards.

During the transition to cruise flight, the large flaperons (100) are lowered, and the propeller/impeller drives (60), together with the stabilator, are slowly pivoted to the horizontal. When the forward speed is sufficient, the wing hatches (10) are closed, the rotors (20) are stopped, and the flaperons (100) are raised somewhat again.

The pilot has unobstructed visibility through the gap between the wingtips (70) in all directions of flight, even when components of the wing hatches are in front of the pilot'"'"'s seat.

The two connected bars shaping a vertex (80) between the wing tips (70) prevent cables from becoming hooked up.

If the rotor system fails during hovering flight close to the ground, the impact is damped by solid-propellant rockets (110).

Claims

1. A vertical take-off and landing aircraft, wherein:

a) a part, preferably one half or more of the wing holds two, preferably four or more closable round wing hatches (10), with internal rotors (20) which accelerate air downwards, which can be fully closed or opened according to the needs and

b) the wing hatch closure mechanism, which is positioned on the lower side of the wing, consists of a set of longitudinal fins (31) (standing parallel to the longitudinal axis), which turn around the longitudinal axis/roll-axis, which enable a continuous and rapidly modifiable deflection of the hatch exiting air to the left and right, as well as full closing of the wing hatches (10) towards the bottom and

c) characterized by an elevator/stabilator (60), which is positioned in the rear, above the level of the main wings, with a distance to the fuselage and main wings and which has attached gondolas holding impellers (62), alternatively free propellers or jet turbines or rocket engines, which are optimized for the fast cruise flight but are also effective in hover flight, and whereby the elevator/stabilator with the gondolas can be tilted from vertically down up to horizontal to the rear by more than 90 degrees around the cross-axis (lateral axis) so that the air exit stream (exhaust jet stream/exiting air blast) neither touches the main wings nor the fuselage nor other aerodynamically important parts of the airplane, and whereby the air intake cone does not affect the aerodynamics adversely.

2. The aircraft of claim 1, wherein the wing hatch closure mechanism on the upper side of the wings consists of a rollshutter (scroll/roller blind) (40) with several elements (41) curved according to the aerodynamic needs, attached to a flexible band (45), which can be, for hover flight, rolled up on a spindle in the wing, aside of the wing hatch, in order to open the wing hatch on top. For the cruise flight, the rollshutter is unrolled and thus the elements slide along the hatch edges into their positions above the wing whereby they are pushed tight together, in order to close the wing hatch on top.

3. The aircraft of claim 1, wherein the wing hatch closure mechanism on the upper side of the wings consisting of several elements (41), curved according to the aerodynamic needs, which glide individually aside the wing hatch (10) to open the wing hatches for hover flight.

For the cruise flight on the other hand, the elements are pushed out along the wing hatch edges to be positioned above the wing hatch and pushed together, in order to close the wing hatch on top.

4. The rotor drives for the rotors (20) according to claim 1 consist of one or more electric motors and/or combustion engines, depending on performance requirements, reliability and heat removal abilities of the chosen engine technology, with one engine situated in the center (51), and the remaining engines (52) outside the rotor area, transferring their power to the central axis, through shafts inside spokes (53) (each with a bevel gear wheel/bevel gear wheel combination), alternatively with chains or belts.

5. The aircraft of claim 1, with two wings, characterized by an unusually large wing chord and two wing tips (70), which point to the front aside of the cockpit window, respectively a gap between the front parts of the wings for unobstructed visibility.

6. The aircraft of claim 1, characterized by two connected bars shaping a vertex (80), respectively an arched bar, between the two front wing tips (70) according to claim 5, which neither obstructs the view nor the aerodynamics significantly, but prevents the aircraft from becoming hooked up in the event of a collision with cables in the air and helps protect the cockpit glass when maneuvering and taxiing on the ground.

7. The aircraft of claim 1, due to the small wing loading in cruise flight enhanced by the unobstructed visibility to the front and down, enabled by claim 5, allows the same steep approach angle for both flight modes, so the pilot can switch at any time between the hover flight modus and the cruise flight modus and still aim and land on the same touch-down point, however, in cruise mode with much smaller angle of attack and correspondingly larger forward and descend speed resulting in the need of a short rolling distance when landing in cruise mode. This rolling distance in cruise mode landing can be minimized through the use of the rotors (20) at touch-down.

8. The aircraft of claim 1, characterized by large ailerons (100) at the trailing edge of the main wings, used as flaperons (100), which not only permit the regulation of the lift force, but also enables a slow flight, at the transition from hovering flight modus into the cruise flight modus, with a minimized angle of attack, so that the forces generated by the rotors (20) in the main wings according to claim 1, do not interfere with the acceleration of the aircraft.

9. The aircraft of claim 1, wherein are individually ignitable and individually, through the discharge outlets (111), releasable solid fuel rockets (110) at various points on the aircraft, so that they generate an upward force (in relation to the aircraft coordinate system) and an individual torque.

10. An aircraft according to claim 1 and to claim 2, with two wings, characterized by an unusually large wing chord and two wing tips (70), which point to the front aside of the cockpit window, respectively a gap between the front parts of the wings for unobstructed visibility.

(=Combination of the features of claims 1+2+5)

11. An aircraft according to claim 1, claim 2 and claim 5, characterized by two connected bars shaping a vertex (80), respectively an arched bar, between the two front wing tips (70) according to claim 5, which neither obstructs the view nor the aerodynamics significantly, but prevents the aircraft from becoming hooked up in the event of a collision with cables in the air and helps protect the cockpit glass when maneuvering and taxiing on the ground.

(=Combination of the features of claims 1+2+5+6)