An aircraft (200; 300; 400; 500) comprises a fuselage (205; 305; 405), one or more support structures (210a-c, 215; 310a-c, 315; 410a-c, 415) connected to the fuselage, the one or more support structures comprising a closed or ring wing (215, 315, 415) and spokes (210a-210c, 310a-310c, 410a-410c), one or more engines or motors disposed within or attached to the one or more support structures or the fuselage, and a distributed propulsion system. The distributed propulsion system comprises two or more propellers (220a-220l, 320a-320l, 420a-420l, 510a-510h) configured in pairs, the propellers symmetrically distributed along the one or more support structures (210a-c, 215; 310a-c, 315; 410a-c, 415) and operably connected to the one or more engines or motors. Each propeller has a rotation direction (225a-225l, 325a-325l, 425a-425l, 512a-512h) within a tilted plane of rotation (235a-235l, 335a-335l, 435a-435l, 514a-514h), and the rotational axes (240a-240l, 340a-340l, 440a-440l, 516a-516h) of the propellers in each pair are substantially coplanar with a vertical axis (245, 345, 350, 445, 518) disposed between the respective pair of propellers, such that a summation of horizontal force vectors (230a-230l; 330a-330l; 430a-430l) created by the tilted plane of rotation of all the propellers is substantially zero when all the propellers are creating a substantially equal thrust magnitude. Movement of the aircraft is controlled by selectively increasing or decreasing a thrust of at least one of the two or more propellers.
TILTED PROPELLERS FOR ENHANCED DISTRIBUTED PROPULSION CONTROL AUTHORITY
GENEIGTE PROPELLER FÜR VERBESSERTE VERTEILTE ANTRIEBSSTEUERUNGSAUTORITÄT
HÉLICES INCLINÉES POUR AUTORITÉ DE COMMANDE DE PROPULSION DISTRIBUÉE AMÉLIORÉE
2023-04-12
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
TILTED PROPELLERS FOR ENHANCED DISTRIBUTED PROPULSION CONTROL AUTHORITY
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