Air-Vehicle Integrated Kinesthetic Control System

• US 20120032032A1
• Filed: 10/20/2011
• Published: 02/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aeroflex Incorporated (Cobham PLC)
• Original Assignee: Aeroflex Incorporated (Cobham PLC)
• Inventors: De Roche, Mark Stephen
• Granted Patent: US 8,651,432 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 244/221
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 27/20 Rotorcraft characterised by having shrouded rotors, e.g. flying platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 29/0025 the propellers being fixed relative to the fuselage

Abstract

A lift platform with a kinesthetic control system that is coupled to means for altering air flow through the first and second longitudinally-spaced ducts comprising the lift platform is provided. The control system includes a control handle bar with left and right hand grips, and first and second control roll bars located on either side of the lift platform'"'"'s central cowling. Forward/rearward movement of the control handle bar from a neutral position generates nose-down/nose-up pitching moments, respectively; counterclockwise/clockwise movement of the control handle bar from the neutral position generates counterclockwise rotation/clockwise rotation of the lift platform about a lift platform vertical centerline; and left movement/right movement of the control roll bars generates left roll/right roll moments about the lift platform roll axis.

Claims

1. A vehicle with a kinesthetic control system, comprising:

a lift platform comprising a first rotor mounted within a first duct and located in a fore position in said lift platform, a second rotor mounted within a second duct and located in an aft position in said lift platform, wherein said first and second positions are longitudinally spaced, wherein said first and second positions are centered on a lift platform centerline, wherein a first lift plane defined by said first rotor is below a lift platform center of gravity, and wherein a second lift plane defined by said second rotor is below said lift platform center of gravity;

means for altering air flow through said first and second ducts;

a control handle bar coupled to said means, said control handle bar comprising a linkage assembly, a left hand grip and a right hand grip slaved to said left hand grip, wherein forward movement from a neutral position of said control handle bar along said lift platform centerline adjusts said means to generate a nose-down pitching moment, wherein rearward movement from said neutral position of said control handle bar along said lift platform centerline adjusts said means to generate a nose-up pitching moment, wherein counterclockwise movement from said neutral position of said control handle bar about a vertical lift platform axis adjusts said means to generate a counterclockwise rotation of said lift platform about a lift platform vertical centerline, and wherein clockwise movement from said neutral position of said control handle bar about said vertical lift platform axis adjusts said means to generate a clockwise rotation of said lift platform about said lift platform vertical centerline; and

a first control roll bar located on a left side of a central cowling of said lift platform and a second control roll bar located on a right side of said central cowling of said lift platform, wherein said first and second control roll bars are longitudinally oriented, wherein said first and second control roll bars are rigidly fixed to one another, wherein said first and second control roll bars are coupled to said means, wherein movement of said first and second control roll bars in a vehicle left direction from a roll bar neutral position adjusts said means to generate a roll left moment about a lift platform roll axis, and wherein movement of said first and second control roll bars in a vehicle right direction from said roll bar neutral position adjusts said means to generate a roll right moment about said lift platform roll axis.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said means is comprised of a first airflow augmentation system corresponding to said first duct and a second airflow augmentation system corresponding to said second duct, wherein each of said first and second airflow augmentation systems comprise:

an inner cowling member, wherein said inner cowling member is mechanically mounted to an inside duct surface of a duct trailing edge via a plurality of inner cowling stand-offs, wherein said inner cowling member is mounted within the downwash of a duct propeller, and wherein a trailing edge of said inner cowling member extends below said duct trailing edge;

an outer cowling member, wherein said outer cowling member is mechanically mounted to an outside duct surface of said duct trailing edge via a plurality of outer cowling stand-offs, and wherein a trailing edge of said outer cowling member extends below said duct trailing edge; and

a plurality of actuators, wherein each of said plurality of actuators is mounted between said trailing edge of said inner cowling member and said trailing edge of said outer cowling member, wherein each of said plurality of actuators may be positioned within at least two positions comprised of an open position and a closed position, wherein an actuator in said open position provides minimal profile to airflow passing between said inner cowling member and said duct, and wherein said actuator in said closed position redirects airflow entering between said inner cowling member and said duct outboard between said outer cowling member and said duct.

3. The vehicle of claim 2, further comprising a plurality of ejector cavities, wherein each ejector cavity of said plurality of ejector cavities is comprised of a portion of said inner cowling member and a portion of said outer cowling member, wherein adjacent ejector cavities are separated by a combination of one of said plurality of inner cowling stand-offs and one of said plurality of outer cowling stand-offs, and wherein at least one actuator of said plurality of actuators corresponds to each ejector cavity of said plurality of plurality of ejector cavities.

4. The vehicle of claim 2, wherein each of said plurality of actuators has a curvilinear shape.

5. The vehicle of claim 4, wherein a cylindrical axis corresponding to said curvilinear shape is parallel to a downward vector corresponding to primary airflow when said actuator is in said open position.

6. The vehicle of claim 2, wherein each of said plurality of actuators is comprised of a first actuator surface hingeably coupled to said inner cowling member and a second actuator surface hingeably coupled to said outer cowling member.

7. The vehicle of claim 2, further comprising a control system coupled to said plurality of actuators and to said control handle bar, wherein forward movement of said control handle bar from said neutral position along said lift platform centerline causes a first subset of said plurality of actuators corresponding to said first duct to close and generate said nose-down pitching moment, and wherein rearward movement of said control handle bar from said neutral position along said lift platform centerline causes a second subset of said plurality of actuators corresponding to said second duct to close and generate said nose-up pitching moment.

8. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein said first subset of said plurality of actuators are located forward of a first rotor centerline corresponding to said first duct, and wherein said second subset of said plurality of actuators are located aft of a second rotor centerline corresponding to said second duct.

9. The vehicle of claim 2, further comprising a control system coupled to said plurality of actuators and to said first and second control roll bars, wherein movement of said first and second control roll bars in said vehicle left direction from said roll bar neutral position causes a first subset of said plurality of actuators corresponding to said first duct and a second subset of said plurality of actuators corresponding to said second duct to close and generate said roll left moment about said lift platform roll axis, and wherein movement of said first and second control roll bars in said vehicle right direction from said roll bar neutral position causes a third subset of said plurality of actuators corresponding to said first duct and a fourth subset of said plurality of actuators corresponding to said second duct to close and generate said roll right moment about said lift platform roll axis.

10. The vehicle of claim 9, wherein said first and second subsets of said plurality of actuators are located to the left of said lift platform centerline, and wherein said third and fourth subsets of said plurality of actuators are located to the right of said lift platform centerline.

11. The vehicle of claim 9, wherein said left hand grip is pivotable in a left direction and in a right direction relative to said lift platform centerline and relative to said linkage assembly, wherein said right hand grip is pivotable in said left direction and in said right direction relative to said lift platform centerline and relative to said linkage assembly, wherein said vehicle further comprises a second control system coupled to said plurality of actuators and to said left and right hand grips, wherein pivoting said left and right hand grips in said left direction causes a fifth subset of said plurality of actuators corresponding to said first duct and a sixth subset of said plurality of actuators corresponding to said second duct to close and generate an auxiliary roll left moment about said lift platform roll axis, and wherein pivoting said left and right hand grips in said right direction causes a seventh subset of said plurality of actuators corresponding to said first duct and an eighth subset of said plurality of actuators corresponding to said second duct to close and generate an auxiliary roll right moment about said lift platform roll axis.

12. The vehicle of claim 2, wherein said left hand grip is pivotable in a left direction and in a right direction relative to said lift platform centerline and relative to said linkage assembly, wherein said right hand grip is pivotable in said left direction and in said right direction relative to said lift platform centerline and relative to said linkage assembly, wherein said vehicle further comprises a control system coupled to said plurality of actuators and to said left and right hand grips, wherein pivoting said left and right hand grips in said left direction causes a first subset of said plurality of actuators corresponding to said first duct and a second subset of said plurality of actuators corresponding to said second duct to close and generate said roll left moment about said lift platform roll axis, and wherein pivoting said left and right hand grips in said right direction causes a third subset of said plurality of actuators corresponding to said first duct and a fourth subset of said plurality of actuators corresponding to said second duct to close and generate said roll right moment about said lift platform roll axis.

13. The vehicle of claim 12, wherein said first and second subsets of said plurality of actuators are located to the left of said lift platform centerline, and wherein said third and fourth subsets of said plurality of actuators are located to the right of said lift platform centerline.

14. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said means is comprised of at least a pair of rotatable fore-mounted longitudinal control surfaces mounted above said first duct and at least a pair of aft-mounted rotatable longitudinal control surfaces mounted above said second duct, wherein said vehicle further comprises a control system coupled to said fore-mounted and aft-mounted longitudinal control surfaces and to said control handle bar, wherein counterclockwise movement of said control handle bar causes a leading edge of said fore-mounted longitudinal control surfaces to rotate to the left and causes a leading edge of said aft-mounted longitudinal control surfaces to rotate to the right, and wherein clockwise movement of said control handle bar causes said leading edge of said fore-mounted longitudinal control surfaces to rotate to the right and causes said leading edge of said aft-mounted longitudinal control surfaces to rotate to the left.

15. The vehicle of claim 14, wherein a first control surface of said fore-mounted longitudinal control surfaces is mounted to the left of said lift platform centerline and a second control surface of said fore-mounted longitudinal control surfaces is mounted to the right of said lift platform centerline, and wherein a first control surface of said aft-mounted longitudinal control surfaces is mounted to the left of said lift platform centerline and a second control surface of said aft-mounted longitudinal control surfaces is mounted to the right of said lift platform centerline.

16. The vehicle of claim 14, wherein said left hand grip is pivotable in a left direction and in a right direction relative to said lift platform centerline and relative to said linkage assembly, wherein said right hand grip is pivotable in said left direction and in said right direction relative to said lift platform centerline and relative to said linkage assembly, wherein said vehicle further comprises a second control system coupled to said fore-mounted and aft-mounted longitudinal control surfaces and to said left and right hand grips, wherein pivoting said left and right hand grips in said left direction causes said leading edge of said fore-mounted and aft-mounted longitudinal control surfaces to rotate to the left to generate a translate left moment, and wherein pivoting said left and right hand grips in said right direction causes said leading edge of said fore-mounted and aft-mounted longitudinal control surfaces to rotate to the right to generate a translate right moment.

17. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a drive system coupled to said first and second rotors, a throttle controller coupled to the drive system and mounted to at least one of said left hand grip and said right hand grip, a pair of foot support plates, and wherein said central cowling defines a pilot seating region.

18. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein a first roll bar linkage assembly is coupled to said first control roll bar and a second roll bar linkage assembly is coupled to said second control roll bar, wherein said first roll bar linkage assembly passes through a left side portion of said central cowling to position said first control roll bar at approximately pilot knee height, and wherein said second roll bar linkage assembly passes through a right side portion of said central cowling to position said second control roll bar at approximately pilot knee height.

19. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said linkage assembly of said control handle bar further comprises a pair of leading arms and a pair of trailing arms, and wherein said linkage assembly prevents an angle between said left and right hand grips and a lift platform plane to vary as said control handle bar is moved forward and rearward from said neutral position.

20. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said linkage assembly of said control handle bar further comprises a leading yaw link, a trailing yaw link, a left side link to which said left hand grip is affixed, and a right side link to which said right hand grip is affixed, and wherein said linkage assembly prevents left and right hand grip rotation as said control handle bar is moved counterclockwise from said neutral position and clockwise from said neutral position.