Aircraft with dual flight regimes
First Claim
1. An aircraft capable of rotor sustained vertical flight and wing sustained horizontal flight, said aircraft comprising:
- a front wing with a planform area, a wing span, and backward sweep;
a rear wing featuringa wing spana W-shaped leading edge and a W-shaped trailing edge, said leading edge and trailing edge defining a W-shaped plan form,wherein area of the W-shaped plan form is larger than the area of said plan form of the front wing, a wing span that is larger than the wing span of the front wing,wherein the wing span of the rear wing is larger than the wing span of the front wing;
a first streamlined body that (a) is longitudinally oriented between the front and rear wings and (b) supports a first rotor;
a second streamlined body that (a) is longitudinally oriented between the front and rear wings and (b) supports a second rotor;
said first and second stream lined bodies located on lateral portions of said front and back wings; and
,said first and second streamlined bodies having a longitudinal length between said front and back wings, wherein said first and second rotors feature a diameter approximately equal to the longitudinal length of said first and second streamlined bodies.
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Abstract
The aircraft is capable of two distinct fuel-efficient flight regimes: one is a vertical flight regime supported by two large two-bladed rotors with low disc loading located on right and left longitudinal booms. The booms extend between outboard regions of a front wing and inboard regions of a rear wing that has a larger span an area than the front wing. The other flight regime is high speed up to high subsonic Mach number with the aircraft supported by wing lift with high wing loading, and with the rotors stopped and faired with minimal local drag contiguous to the booms. The longitudinal location of the aircrafts center of gravity, aerodynamic center and the center of the rotors are in close proximity. The front wing is preferably swept back, and the rear wing is preferably of W planform.
30 Citations
9 Claims
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1. An aircraft capable of rotor sustained vertical flight and wing sustained horizontal flight, said aircraft comprising:
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a front wing with a planform area, a wing span, and backward sweep; a rear wing featuring a wing span a W-shaped leading edge and a W-shaped trailing edge, said leading edge and trailing edge defining a W-shaped plan form, wherein area of the W-shaped plan form is larger than the area of said plan form of the front wing, a wing span that is larger than the wing span of the front wing, wherein the wing span of the rear wing is larger than the wing span of the front wing; a first streamlined body that (a) is longitudinally oriented between the front and rear wings and (b) supports a first rotor; a second streamlined body that (a) is longitudinally oriented between the front and rear wings and (b) supports a second rotor; said first and second stream lined bodies located on lateral portions of said front and back wings; and
,said first and second streamlined bodies having a longitudinal length between said front and back wings, wherein said first and second rotors feature a diameter approximately equal to the longitudinal length of said first and second streamlined bodies. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An aircraft capable of operating in rotor sustained vertical flight and in wing sustained high speed horizontal flight, said aircraft comprising:
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a front wing with a front wing span; a rear wing with a span that is larger than said front wing span; two longitudinal streamlined bodies attached to lateral portions of said wings, said streamlined bodies having a longitudinal length between said wings, with each of said longitudinal bodies supporting a rotor, and with the diameters of said rotors being approximately equal to said longitudinal length of said streamlined bodies between said wings; wherein each of said rotors having two blades that are adapted to be permanently stopped during high speed wing-sustained flight with their long dimension parallel and in close proximity to, and aerodynamically faired with said longitudinal bodies in a low drag disposition; wherein said front wing features backward sweep, and said rear wing features a trailing edge and a leading edge each having a W shaped planform with a rear wing area larger than the area of said front wing; and
,wherein said aircraft center of gravity, an aerodynamic center, and axis of rotation of each of said rotors with longitudinal positions that are in close proximity to alignment.
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Specification