Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft with distributed thrust and control

• US 7,159,817 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2005
• Issued: 01/09/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Josiah Vandermey, Timothy Vandermey
• Original Assignee: Josiah Vandermey, Timothy Vandermey
• Inventors: VanderMey, Timothy, VanderMey, Josiah
• Primary Examiner(s): Luu; Teri Pham
• Assistant Examiner(s): Holzen; Stephen A
• Application Number:
  US11/035,263
• Publication Number:
  US 20060151666A1
• Time in Patent Office: 726 Days
• Field of Search: 244/12.1, 244/6, 244/12.2, 244/12.3, 244/12.4, 244/12.6, 244/12.7, 244/17.13, 244/17.23, 244/21
• US Class Current: 244/12.1
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 29/0016 the lift during taking-off being created by free or ducted propellers or by blowers
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/062 having annular wings
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/068 having multiple wings joined at the tips
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/08 having multiple wings

Abstract

An aircraft having a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) propulsion system. The aircraft includes a fuselage, the VTOL propulsion system, at least one forward thruster, a power source used for both the VTOL propulsion system and forward thruster, fore and aft wings and a plurality of spars attached to and spanning the space between the two wings. The VTOL propulsion system includes a plurality of VTOL cells (including a motor, motor controller, and propeller) attached in a spaced relation along each spar. The VTOL cells are used exclusively for vertical flight or hovering and are powered down as the aircraft develops forward flight velocity and corresponding wing lift. During forward flight the VTOL propellers are articulated to allow the aircraft to take on a low drag configuration. The present invention is suitable for use in manned or un-manned aircraft of any scale.

Claims

1. A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, comprising a fuselage;

a forward and an aft wing on each side of the fuselage, a plurality of spars on at least one side of the fuselage;

each spar having one end attached to one of the forward wings and the other end of each spar attached to at least one of the aft wings, a plurality of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) cells attached directly to, and in a spaced relationship along each of said spars, each of said VTOL cells further comprising a motor, a motor controller, and a low inertia fixed pitched two blade propeller;

at least one forward thruster;

at least one power source connected to each VTOL cell motor and to said at least one forward thruster;

wherein the VTOL cells are retractable within the spars in order to take on an aerodynamic configuration.

2. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein said at least one forward thruster includes and is controlled by a corresponding forward thruster controller.

3. The VTOL aircraft of claim 2, wherein said at least one power source is controlled by an at least one corresponding power source controller.

4. The VTOL aircraft of claim 3, wherein said at least one forward thruster controller, said at least one power source controller, and each of said VTOL cell motor controllers include self-diagnostic capabilities.

5. The VTOL aircraft of claim 4, wherein said at least one forward thruster controller, said at least one power source controller, and each of said VTOL cell motor controllers include power bus networking capabilities.

6. The VTOL aircraft of claim 5, wherein said at least one forward thruster controller, said at least one power source controller, and each of said VTOL cell motor controllers are connected to a common network data bus.

7. The VTOL aircraft of claim 6, wherein said at least one forward thruster controller, said at least one power source controller and each of said VTOL cell motor controllers are additionally connected to at least one redundant data bus.

8. The VTOL aircraft of claim 7, wherein said at least one forward thruster controller broadcasts on said common network data bus forward thruster operating status.

9. The VTOL aircraft of claim 8, wherein each of said VTOL cell motor controllers broadcast on said common network data bus cell motor operating status.

10. The VTOL aircraft of claim 9, wherein said at least one power source controller broadcasts on said common network data bus power availability.

11. The VTOL aircraft of claim 10, wherein said VTOL aircraft is further comprised of a plurality of input devices and a plurality of sensors all connected to said common network data bus.

12. The VTOL aircraft of claim 11, wherein said input devices broadcast on said common network data bus target aircraft altitude, orientation and speed data.

13. The VTOL aircraft of claim 12, wherein said sensors broadcast on said common network data bus actual aircraft orientation, altitude and speed data.

14. The VTOL aircraft of claim 13, wherein each of said VTOL cell intelligent motor controllers is programmed to analyze and compare all of said broadcast data on said common data bus to derive pitch error, roll error, yaw error, altitude error and local power error.

15. The VTOL aircraft of claim 14, wherein said local power error comprised of the rotational speed error of said VTOL cell propellers.

16. The VTOL aircraft of claim 15, wherein each of said at least one forward thrust controller is programmed to analyze and compare all of said broadcast data on said common data bus.

17. The VTOL aircraft of claim 16, wherein each of said forward thrust controller is analyzes and compares all of said broadcast data on said common data bus and derives pitch error, roll error, yaw error, altitude error and local power error.

18. The VTOL aircraft of claim 17, wherein said local power error comprises the rotational speed error of said forward thrust propellers.

19. The VTOL aircraft of claim 16, wherein said at least one power source controller is programmed to provide regulated power to one of said busses.

20. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein said VTOL cell motor is further comprised of a high torque electric motor for providing the aircraft with the ability to respond quickly to load or environment variations with large amounts of control power.

21. The VTOL aircraft of claim 20, wherein said high torque electric motor is a brushless DC motor.

22. The VTOL aircraft of claim 21, wherein each of said VTOL cell motors is an approximately 2 horsepower motor.

23. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein each of said VTOL cell two-blade propellers are within a range of from 14 to 18 inch propellers.

24. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein said at least one power source provides power to said VTOL cells during vertical take-off, landing and hovering and wherein, as the VTOL cells create vertical lift, power from said at least one power source is diverted from said VTOL cells to said at least one forward thruster in order to increase forward speed and thereby provide greater vertical lift.

25. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, further comprised of two or more of said power sources for safety and redundancy.

26. The VTOL aircraft of claim 23, wherein the blades of each of said two-blade VTOL cell propellers rotate and, during forward flight when said VTOL cells are not in use, rotate to align with said spars to take on an aerodynamic configuration.

27. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein said spars articulate in order to fully enclose said VTOL motor, controller and aligned propeller to provide for a low drag configuration when in forward flight.

28. The VTOL aircraft of claim 27, wherein said first and second wings further comprise vertical fins attached to each wing tip for mounting said forward thrusters.

29. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein said at least one power source is comprised of an internal combustion engine and a generator.

30. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein said at least one power source is comprised of a fuel cell.

31. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein said first wing is swept and cambered to create lift during forward flight, said first and second wings being oriented perpendicular to said fuselage, and said at least one forward thruster comprises a pair of forward thrusters mounted distally on a wingtip of said first and second wings.

32. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein said forward thrusters are further comprised of pusher propellers.

33. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein said forward thrusters are further comprised of tractor propellers.

34. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein said first and second wings are symmetrical, oval-shaped and oriented such that the spars are suspended above the fuselage, and wherein said plurality of forward thrusters are mounted on vertical spars mounted within the oval of the second wing.

35. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein said first wing is swept and cambered to create lift during forward flight, said second wing is reverse-swept to provide a diamond wing formation.

36. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein each of said VTOL cells are replaceable for easy maintenance.

37. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein said spars are positioned above the aircraft'"'"'s center of gravity so that the VTOL cells mounted on said spars operate near or above said aircraft center of gravity, thereby providing intrinsic pitch and roll stability to the aircraft.

38. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein said plurality of VTOL cells comprises at least ten VTOL cells and wherein adjacent VTOL cell motor controllers will compensate for a malfunctioning VTOL cell.

39. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein said plurality of VTOL cells are suspended beneath said spars.

40. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein said plurality of VTOL cells extend above said spars.

41. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein electrical power is transmitted via aircraft structural components.

42. The VTOL aircraft of claim 41, wherein said aircraft structural components are said spars adapted as power distribution buses to transmit electrical power.

43. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein the VTOL motor can be convectively cooled when said spars are exposed to high velocity air.

44. The VTOL aircraft of claim 43, wherein when said spars are thermally coupled to said VTOL motors to improve said convective cooling.

45. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein adjusting power to each of said VTOL cells individually controls altitude, yaw, roll and pitch during hover and vertical take off and landing.

46. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, operating with a plurality of said forward thrusters, wherein adjusting power to each of said forward thrusters individually controls altitude, yaw, roll and pitch and forward flight speed during forward flight, without the use of control surfaces.

47. The VTOL aircraft of claim 1, wherein half of said VTOL cell propellers of said aircraft rotate clockwise while the remaining half rotate counterclockwise, and yaw control is achieved by maintaining constant total power to the VTOL cell propellers while applying more of said total power to the said VTOL cell propellers rotating in one direction than to the said VTOL cell propellers rotating in the opposite direction, thus creating a net yaw moment on the said aircraft.

48. The VTOL aircraft of claim 44, wherein said at least one power source controller broadcasts on the common network data bus the remaining available power status and wherein said at least one forward thruster controller and each of said VTOL cell controllers analyze said power availability for altitude, yaw, roll and pitch control and adjust their error corrective outputs accordingly.