Personal aircraft
First Claim
1. A personal aircraft comprising:
- a fuselage, having a longitudinal axis and a vertical axis;
a forward wing coupled to the fuselage and located forward of a center of gravity of the aircraft;
an aft wing coupled to the fuselage and located aft of the center of gravity of the aircraft;
a port propulsion boom coupled to the fuselage and oriented substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage along its port side;
a port propeller coupled to the port propulsion boom for providing forward thrust;
a first plurality of rotors coupled to the port propulsion boom, the rotors of the first plurality arranged substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage, each rotor coupled to a motor, wherein each rotor provides thrust in a direction primarily along the vertical axis;
a starboard propulsion boom coupled to the fuselage and oriented substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage along its starboard side;
a starboard propeller coupled to the starboard propulsion boom for providing forward thrust;
a second plurality of rotors coupled to the starboard propulsion boom, the rotors of the second plurality arranged substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage, each rotor coupled to a motor, wherein each rotor provides thrust in a direction primarily along the vertical axis;
wherein each motor coupled to the plurality of rotors is adapted to be controlled independently of the other motors; and
wherein at least one of the first plurality of rotors and at least one of the second plurality of rotors is coupled in an orientation to provide a non-zero component of thrust in a direction not on the vertical axis.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A safe, quiet, easy to control, efficient, and compact aircraft configuration is enabled through the combination of multiple vertical lift rotors, tandem wings, and forward thrust propellers. The vertical lift rotors, in combination with a front and rear wing, permits a balancing of the center of lift with the center of gravity for both vertical and horizontal flight. This wing and multiple rotor system has the ability to tolerate a relatively large variation of the payload weight for hover, transition, or cruise flight while also providing vertical thrust redundancy. The propulsion system uses multiple lift rotors and forward thrust propellers of a small enough size to be shielded from potential blade strike and provide increased perceived and real safety to the passengers. Using multiple independent rotors provides redundancy and the elimination of single point failure modes that can make the vehicle non-operable in flight.
53 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A personal aircraft comprising:
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a fuselage, having a longitudinal axis and a vertical axis; a forward wing coupled to the fuselage and located forward of a center of gravity of the aircraft; an aft wing coupled to the fuselage and located aft of the center of gravity of the aircraft; a port propulsion boom coupled to the fuselage and oriented substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage along its port side; a port propeller coupled to the port propulsion boom for providing forward thrust; a first plurality of rotors coupled to the port propulsion boom, the rotors of the first plurality arranged substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage, each rotor coupled to a motor, wherein each rotor provides thrust in a direction primarily along the vertical axis; a starboard propulsion boom coupled to the fuselage and oriented substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage along its starboard side; a starboard propeller coupled to the starboard propulsion boom for providing forward thrust; a second plurality of rotors coupled to the starboard propulsion boom, the rotors of the second plurality arranged substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage, each rotor coupled to a motor, wherein each rotor provides thrust in a direction primarily along the vertical axis; wherein each motor coupled to the plurality of rotors is adapted to be controlled independently of the other motors; and wherein at least one of the first plurality of rotors and at least one of the second plurality of rotors is coupled in an orientation to provide a non-zero component of thrust in a direction not on the vertical axis. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An aircraft comprising:
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a fuselage; a forward wing coupled to the fuselage and located forward of a center of gravity; an aft wing coupled to the fuselage and located aft of the center of gravity; a first plurality of lift rotors located between the forward wing and the aft wing on a port side of the fuselage, at least one of the first plurality having a first cant and at least one of the plurality having a second cant, the second cant having an angle different from the first cant; a second plurality of lift rotors located between the forward wing and the aft wing on a starboard side of the fuselage, at least one of the second plurality having a third cant and at least one of the plurality having a fourth cant, the fourth cant having an angle different from the third cant; a propeller coupled to the fuselage for providing forward thrust; and a flight computer, coupled to the fuselage, and configured to independently control an amount of thrust provided by each of the first plurality and each of the second plurality of lift rotors. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An aircraft comprising:
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a fuselage; a forward wing coupled to the fuselage and located forward of a center of gravity; an aft wing coupled to the fuselage and located aft of the center of gravity; a first mounting boom coupled to a port side of the fuselage; a second mounting boom coupled to a starboard side of the fuselage; a first plurality of lift rotors, each rotor mounted on the first mounting boom between the forward wing and the aft wing on the port side of the fuselage, at least one of the first plurality having a first cant and at least one of the plurality having a second cant, the first cant having an angle different from the second cant; a second plurality of lift rotors, each rotor mounted on the second mounting boom between the forward wing and the aft wing on the starboard side of the fuselage, at least one of the second plurality having a third cant and at least one of the plurality having a fourth cant, the third cant having an angle different from the fourth cant; a first propeller coupled to the first mounting boom for providing forward thrust; a second propeller coupled to the second mounting boom for providing forward thrust; and a flight computer, coupled to the fuselage, for independently controlling an amount of thrust provided by each of the first plurality and each of the second plurality of lift rotors. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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Specification