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Thrust unit for VTOL aircraft

  • US 5,407,150 A
  • Filed: 03/25/1993
  • Issued: 04/18/1995
  • Est. Priority Date: 07/25/1990
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A VTOL aircraft comprising:

  • an airframe;

    a thrust unit located within the airframe for propelling the VTOL aircraft in a vertical flight mode and a transition flight mode between vertical flight and horizontal flight, the thrust unit having;

    a) a duct including;

    an inlet disposed substantially vertically upwardly on an upper surface of the airframe for allowing air into the duct, the inlet having means for inhibiting separation of the air from an outer lip of the inlet for improving the efficiency of operation of the duct,a chamber located below the inlet, anda plurality of sub-ducts, each sub-duct being curved outwardly and downwardly from the chamber to a respective outlet, each outlet being disposed substantially vertically downwardly on a lower surface of the airframe for exhausting air out of the duct in a substantially downward direction for providing positive lift, the sub-ducts having a width dimension which is critical to the flow of air therethrough, the critical width dimension being less than a length of a path which air takes through the sub-duct so that air exhausting from each of the outlets is substantially non-convergent, the outlets being spaced apart and located below and outside a vertical profile of the inlet so as to render the VTOL aircraft easier to control, an average width of a vertical profile of the outlets measured at the extremities thereof being greater than a vertical distance between the inlet and the outlets so as to reduce a frontal area of the airframe for reducing the drag of the VTOL aircraft in the horizontal plane,an air pump for inducing a draft of air through the duct, the air pump being located in the chamber, the air pump operating on a substantially vertical axis; and

    control means for controlling the lift force and the attitude of the VTOL aircraft.

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