Directionally controllable, self-stabilizing, rotating flying vehicle

• US 7,794,302 B2
• Filed: 01/05/2009
• Issued: 09/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Steven Davis
• Original Assignee: Steven Davis
• Inventors: Davis, Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo; Pater D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): RADA, ALEX P
• Application Number:
  US12/348,460
• Publication Number:
  US 20090197499A1
• Time in Patent Office: 617 Days
• Field of Search: 446454-456, 446 34- 36, 446/46, 446/48, 244/12.1, 244/23.A, 244/23.B, 244/23.C, 244/23.R, 244/189, 244/75.1, 398/118
• US Class Current: 446/454
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 27/12 Helicopters A63H27/04 takes precedence; Flying tops
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 30/04 using wireless transmission

Abstract

A rotating flying vehicle in accordance to an embodiment of the present invention includes a hub having an outer perimeter, an outer ring having a diameter greater than the outer perimeter, a plurality of blades extending outwardly and downwardly connecting the hub to the outer ring, and a plurality of rotor assemblies. Each rotor assembly further includes a motor to spin a propeller, where the propellers are positioned beneath the plurality of blades. The propellers when spinning will cause the hub, blades, and outer ring to sufficiently rotate and generate lift such that the vehicle will fly. The vehicle also includes a system for determining a directional point of reference for the rotor assemblies when the vehicle is rotating and includes a control system to fly the vehicle in a specified direction relative to a remote controller.

Claims

1. A system to control the flight path of a flying aircraft having at least one propeller mechanism, comprising:

a hand held controller operable by a user, the hand held controller includes a front portion housing four outwardly positioned IR transmitters situated in a circular quadrant placement with respect to each other, each transmitter capable of wirelessly sending a signal that is identifiable from the other signals, and;

the aircraft having a receiver and a microprocessor in communication with the receiver, the microprocessor having means to control the propeller mechanism in a manner that moves the aircraft in a specified direction in response to received signals sent by said hand held controller,

wherein when the receiver is receiving two of the four signals, caused by the hand held controller being moved in a direction, the microprocessor controls the propeller mechanism to fly the aircraft in a specified direction that corresponds to the movement of the hand held controller.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a signal blocking element positioned between two adjacent transmitters to reduce intermingling of signals.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the aircraft includes a plurality of rotor assemblies, each rotor assembly having a propeller, and said propellers of the plurality of rotor assemblies are positioned in substantially the same plane, and wherein the microprocessor has means to generate drive signals in relation to the received signals and to send said drive signals to the rotor assemblies, the drive signals defined to have a resultant thrust vector that moves the aircraft in a specified direction.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising:

a throttle input positioned in the hand held controller and manually operable by said user, means to change the signals emitted from the hand held controller in response to said throttle input, the microprocessor positioned in the aircraft having programming to control a level of each of the drive signals in relation to the change in the signals.

5. A rotating flying vehicle comprising:

a hub having an outer perimeter;

an outer ring having a diameter greater than said outer perimeter defined by the hub;

a plurality of blades extending outwardly and downwardly connecting the hub to the outer ring;

at least one rotor assembly having a motor to spin a propeller, said propeller being positioned beneath said plurality of blades,

a microprocessor controlling the at least one propeller to spin such that when spinning the at least one propeller cause the hub, blades, and outer ring to sufficiently rotate in an opposite direction as the at least one spinning propeller and will generate lift such that the vehicle will fly;

a system for determining a directional point of reference for the at least one rotor assembly as the entire vehicle is rotating, wherein the system for determining said directional point of reference includes a transmitter being placed on a hand held controller operated by a remote user, the transmitter emitting a signal, and a receiving system placed at a position on the vehicle in relation to the rotor assemblies, the receiving system being in communication with a microprocessor, the microprocessor having programming to determine the directional point of reference of the rotor assemblies when the receiving system senses said signal; and

a control system to fly the vehicle in a specified direction based on the directional point of reference and relative to a remote user, and wherein the control system the transmitter further emitting encoded commands to fly the vehicle in a specified direction relative to the remote user, the encoded commands being received by said receiving system, and the microprocessor having programming to control the rotor assemblies in response to received encoded commands and in relation to the directional point of reference such that the vehicle flies in said specified direction relative to the remote user.

6. The vehicle of claim 5, receiving system includes a directional receiver for receiving the signal and includes a non directional receiver for receiving the encoded commands.

7. The vehicle of claim 6, wherein the microprocessor includes programming to generate a drive signal for each rotor assembly and corresponding to said encoded commands wherein the drive signals control the vehicle to move in said specified direction.

8. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein the hand held controller further includes:

a throttle controller manually operable by said remote user, the throttle controller when manipulated by said remote user causes the transmitter to send encoded commands to indicate to the microprocessor to increase and decrease a level of each drive signal.

9. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein the hand held controller further includes:

a directional controller manually operable by said remote user, the directional controller when manipulated by said remote user causes the transmitter to send encoded commands to indicate to the microprocessor to generate said drive signal for each rotor assembly.

10. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein each drive signal includes a sinusoidal wave that is out of phase with one another by a predetermined offset angle defined by the placement of the rotor assemblies in reference to each other.

11. A system to control the flight path of a flying aircraft having at least one propeller mechanism, comprising:

a hand held controller operable by a user, the hand held controller includes a front portion housing a plurality of outwardly positioned IR transmitters capable of wirelessly sending a signal that is identifiable from the other signals, the plurality of IR transmitters being positioned in a circular section formation with respect to each other such that each transmitter is positioned in a circular sector determined by the number of transmitters, and;

the aircraft having a receiver and a microprocessor in communication with the receiver, the microprocessor having means to control the propeller mechanism in a manner that moves the aircraft in a specified direction in response to received signals sent by said hand held controller,

wherein when the receiver is receiving two of the plurality of signals, caused by the hand held controller being moved in a direction, the microprocessor controls the propeller mechanism to fly the aircraft in a specified direction that corresponds to the movement of the hand held controller.

12. The system of claim 11 further comprising a signal blocking element positioned between two adjacent transmitters to reduce intermingling of signals.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the plurality of outwardly positioned IR transmitters is defined as having four transmitters positioned in a circular quadrant placement.