ANNULAR AIRBORNE VEHICLE
First Claim
1. An airborne vehicle having a wing-body which defines a wing-body axis and appears substantially annular when viewed along the wing-body axis, the interior of the annulus defining a duct which is open at both ends;
- and a propulsion system comprising one or more pairs of propulsion devices, each pair comprising a first propulsion device mounted to the wing-body and positioned on a first side of a plane including the wing-body axis, and a second propulsion device which is mounted to the wing-body, positioned on a second side of the plane including the wing-body axis, and operable independently of the first propulsion device, wherein a direction of thrust of the first propulsion device can be adjusted independently of the direction of thrust of the second propulsion device.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An airborne vehicle having a wing-body which defines a wing-body axis and appears substantially annular when viewed along the wing-body axis, the interior of the annulus defining a duct which is open at both ends. A propulsion system is provided comprising one or more pairs of propulsion devices, each pair comprising a first propulsion device mounted to the wing-body and positioned on a first side of a plane including the wing-body axis, and a second propulsion device mounted to the wing-body and positioned on a second side of the plane including the wing-body axis. A direction of thrust of the first propulsion device can be adjusted independently of the direction of thrust of the second propulsion device and/or a magnitude of thrust of the first propulsion device can be adjusted independently of the magnitude of thrust of the second propulsion device. In certain embodiments the wing-body appears swept forward when viewed from a first viewing angle, and swept backward when viewed from a second viewing position at right angles to the first viewing angle.
-
Citations
21 Claims
-
1. An airborne vehicle having a wing-body which defines a wing-body axis and appears substantially annular when viewed along the wing-body axis, the interior of the annulus defining a duct which is open at both ends;
- and a propulsion system comprising one or more pairs of propulsion devices, each pair comprising a first propulsion device mounted to the wing-body and positioned on a first side of a plane including the wing-body axis, and a second propulsion device which is mounted to the wing-body, positioned on a second side of the plane including the wing-body axis, and operable independently of the first propulsion device, wherein a direction of thrust of the first propulsion device can be adjusted independently of the direction of thrust of the second propulsion device.
- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 19, 20, 21)
- 11. An airborne vehicle having a wing-body which defines a wing-body axis and appears substantially annular when viewed along the wing-body axis, the interior of the annulus defining a duct which is open at both ends, wherein the wing-body appears swept forward when viewed from a first viewing angle, and swept backward when viewed from a second viewing angle at right angles to the first viewing angle.
- 16. An airborne vehicle having a wing-body which defines a wing-body axis and appears substantially annular when viewed along the wing-body axis, the interior of the annulus defining a duct which is open at both ends, wherein the wing-body carries at least one rudder on its left side and at least one rudder its right side.
Specification