Flying Vehicle

• US 20130068876A1
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Published: 03/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Radu, Bogdan
• Original Assignee: Radu, Bogdan
• Inventors: Radu, Bogdan
• Granted Patent: US 8,827,200 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 244/2
• CPC Class Codes: B60F 5/02 convertible into aircraft

Abstract

A vehicle has a roadable configuration similar to an automobile in which multiple rotors are stowed within the vehicle, and a flying configuration in which the rotors are deployed from the vehicle, allowing it to fly like a VTOL/STOL aircraft or a helicopter.

Claims

1. A flying vehicle having a main body having the characteristics of a vehicle that is in the shape of an automobile or amphibious vehicle configuration and which has (1) a front end, (2) a rear end, (3) two side storage compartment cover doors covering the compact folded rotors and access door for passenger access.

2. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising side rotors/propellers (4) stored compactly inside the car body for the vehicle in roadable land/amphibious configuration.

3. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising an electromechanical system (6) for opening and closing the side storage compartment cover doors.

4. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising an electromechanical system (5) for moving each of the rotors from a compact stored vertical configuration to a deployed position, and for allowing the side storage compartment cover doors to close.

5. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising an electro mechanical system (5) moving each of the rotors from the open position to the horizontal flying configuration, to allow the vehicle to take off, fly and land.

6. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising rotors (4) containing at least one rotor blade with a fixed or adjustable blade pitch configuration control.

7. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising an emergency parachute (6) which has manual and automatic deployment capability for emergency landing and which allows the vehicle to land in an emergency usage in case of different types of vehicle systems failures.

8. The flying vehicle of claim 1 comprising:

a central body having a longitudinal axis;

two or more transverse axis (7) between the adjacent side rotors;

two or more rotors for providing lift during take-off and landing of the flying device and thrust in intermediate flight-regimes, each rotor having at least one rotor blades and having a rotational axis corresponding to the rotation of the rotor blades, each rotor being configured to tilt relative to transverse axis between the right and left side of the vehicle for moving forward or aft during flight configuration and the horizontal position for take-off/landing position such that the rotational axes is substantially normal to the ground during take off/landing;

9. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising at least two arms connected to the central said vehicle body, each arm including an outer part (8) connected to the rotors and an inner part (7) connected to the central body, wherein each outer part (8) can be rotated relative to the corresponding inner part (7) to allow each rotor to be tilted independently of other rotors about the respective second transverse axles of the inner part (7).

10. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising at least two hinged arms connecting the central body to each respective rotor, wherein each axis of rotation can be vertically aligned relative to the ground and each rotor is configured to enable vertical take-off, hovering, flight and vertical landing.

11. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising an electric motor corresponding to each of the rotors, each motor being configured to drive the corresponding rotor and being configured to be independently controlled.

12. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising side rotors powered by electric motors from a battery or a generator driven by a combustion engine or having a connection systems coupling the combustion engine to the said rotors or powered by air motors having the air supplied from special pressurized reservoirs or directly from a said centrifugal compressor.

13. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a steering mechanism comprising

a compound steering wheel, or stick control, mounted on said main body adjacent to said driver'"'"'s seat, said compound steering wheel including an outer steering wheel and an inner steering wheel, the outer steering wheel and the inner steering wheel being rotatable, and

a mechanical or electric steering connection, connecting the additional steering controller stick and the side rotors'"'"' adjustable velocity mechanism or electric motors, and horizontal positioning rotors mechanisms to spin the rotors blades, or to adjust the rotors'"'"' blades to a different blade'"'"'s pitch position of the rotors blades.

14. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising an accelerator mechanism, mounted on said main body and including an accelerator pedal or control stick, mounted in front or on the side of said driver'"'"'s seat on the main body and an accelerator control mechanism, said accelerator control mechanism connecting the accelerator mechanism to the rotor blades of said side rotors to vary the blades'"'"' pitch in accordance with the position of the accelerator mechanism, said accelerator control mechanism being further connected to said side forward rotors and to said side rear rotors.

15. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a power unit for moving the vehicle on roadways or on the water, said power unit being selected from the group consisting of:

a) an internal combustion, diesel or turbofan engine which drives the vehicle'"'"'s wheels through shafts, pinions and gears,

b) an electric power supply, battery or electric generator attached to a combustion, diesel, turboprop or turbofan engine, which drive the vehicle electric motors connected to vehicle wheels, and

c) an air power supply, air from an air compressor attached to a combustion, diesel or turbofan engine, air from a turbofan engine or air from an air reservoir, to drive the vehicle wheels through a central or independent air driven motor on each of the vehicle'"'"'s wheels.

16. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a power unit for driving the rotors during flight of the vehicle, said power unit being selected from the group consisting of:

i) an internal combustion, diesel or turbofan engine which drive the rotors through shafts, pinions and gears,

ii) an electric power supply, battery or electric generator attached to a combustion, diesel, turboprop or turbofan engine, which provide the necessary electrical energy to drive the rotors'"'"' electric motors, and

iii) an air power supply, air from an air compressor attached to a combustion, diesel or turbofan engine, air from a turbofan engine or air from an air reservoir, to drive each of the vehicle rotors through a central or through independent air driven motor for each of the vehicle rotor, or to drive each of the vehicle rotors through a central turbine or through independent turbine for each of the vehicle rotor.

17. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising jet nozzles of the compressed air propulsion system, located on the sides of the vehicle for producing lateral movement during operations.

18. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a stabilizing and navigational system comprising on a computing processor (10), an altimeter (15), motion detectors sensors (16), a gyroscope (11), and a Global Positioning System (GPS) (17).

19. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising radar and motion detector sensors situated inside and outside of the said vehicle body for the stabilization and navigation system, which provide 360 degree coverage and can detect the presence of a nearby object that might present a threat to the present described flying vehicle, said sensors sending signals to the vehicle computing systems which will adjust selectively the scanned space around the vehicle for potential dangerous objects.

20. The flying vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a system of driven wheels which allow the vehicle to move stably on the ground, in water, and during take off and landing in flight configuration, and to minimize wheel-created drag during flight or water operations.