Compound rotorcraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10131424-B2
Application number	US-201615259219-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 8, 2016
Priority date	Sep 11, 2015
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

A compound rotorcraft with a fuselage and at least one main rotor, the fuselage comprising a lower side and an upper side that is opposed to the lower side, the at least one main rotor being arranged at the upper side, wherein at least one propeller is provided and mounted to a fixed wing arrangement that is laterally attached to the fuselage, the fixed wing arrangement comprising at least one upper wing that is arranged at an upper wing root joint area provided at the upper side of the fuselage and at least one lower wing that is arranged at a lower wing root joint area provided at the lower side of the fuselage, the upper and lower wings being at least interconnected at an associated interconnection region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A compound rotorcraft with a fuselage and at least one main rotor that is at least adapted for generating lift in operation, the fuselage comprising a lower side and an upper side that is opposed to the lower side, the at least one main rotor being arranged at the upper side, wherein the compound rotorcraft comprises at least one propeller at least adapted for generating forward thrust in operation, the at least one propeller being mounted to a fixed wing arrangement that is laterally attached to the fuselage, the fixed wing arrangement comprising at least one upper wing that is arranged at an upper wing root joint area provided at the upper side of the fuselage and at least one lower wing that is arranged at a lower wing root joint area provided at the lower side of the fuselage, the upper and lower wings being at least interconnected at an associated interconnection region, each of the at least one propeller being mounted to an associated interconnection region; the compound rotorcraft being provided with a wheel-type main landing gear,
wherein the lower wing comprises an inboard section defining a first quarter chord line and a first centroid axis and an outboard section defining a second quarter chord line and a second centroid axis, the inboard section being an integral part of the fuselage at the lower wing root joint area and to the outboard section at a sections interconnection region, the wheel-type main landing gear being mounted to the inboard section adjacent to the sections interconnection region and the outboard section being connected to the inboard section at the sections interconnection region and to the upper wing at the associated interconnection region, wherein the second centroid axis is inclined relative to the first centroid axis by a relative dihedral angle that is defined in a first coordinate plane, and wherein the second quarter chord line is inclined relative to the first quarter chord line by a relative sweep angle that is defined in a second coordinate plane;
wherein the upper wing is removably attached to the upper wing root joint area by means of a hinged root joint and that the outboard section is removably attached to the inboard section at the sections interconnection region by means of a hinged joint or a clamped joint.

2. The compound rotorcraft according to claim 1 , wherein the relative dihedral angle is comprised in a range between 5° and 45°, the first coordinate plane being defined by a front view plane of the compound rotorcraft.

3. The compound rotorcraft according to claim 2 , wherein the relative sweep angle is comprised in a range between 5° and 45°, the second coordinate plane being defined by a top view plane of the compound rotorcraft.

4. The compound rotorcraft according to claim 1 , wherein the outboard section comprises wing spars and that the fuselage is provided with wing attachment frames, the hinged joint or the clamped joint connecting the wing spars to the wing attachment frames.

5. The compound rotorcraft according to claim 1 , wherein the wheel-type main landing gear is at least partly retractable into the inboard section in operation.

6. The compound rotorcraft according to claim 1 , wherein the first quarter chord line is at least essentially parallel to the first coordinate plane with a maximum variance comprised in a range of ±5°.

7. The compound rotorcraft according to claim 1 , wherein the inboard section exhibits a dihedral angle comprised in a range between −30° to 30°.

8. The compound rotorcraft according to claim 1 , wherein the outboard section comprises a span length that is at least two to ten times longer than a span length of the inboard section.

9. The compound rotorcraft according to claim 1 , wherein the lower wing root joint area and the upper wing root joint area define a transversal wing attachment basis in height direction of the fuselage and a longitudinal wing attachment basis in longitudinal direction of the fuselage, the transversal wing attachment basis being at least one to five times larger than the longitudinal wing attachment basis.

10. The compound rotorcraft according to claim 1 , wherein at least one propeller is mounted to the associated interconnection region.

11. The compound rotorcraft according to claim 1 , wherein the fixed wing arrangement comprises at least one pair of upper and lower wings arranged on a port side of the compound rotorcraft and at least one pair of upper and lower wings arranged on a starboard side of the compound rotorcraft, the at least one pair of upper and lower wings arranged on the starboard side of the compound rotorcraft comprising the at least one upper wing and the at least one lower wing.

Assignees

• Airbus Helicopters Deutschland GmbH

Inventors

• Fink Axel
• Blacha Martin

Classifications

• B64C39/068

  having multiple wings joined at the tips · CPC title

• B64C27/26 Primary

  characterised by provision of fixed wings · CPC title

• B64C2027/8263

  comprising in addition rudders, tails, fins, or the like · CPC title

• B64C2027/8236

  including pusher propellers · CPC title

• B64C27/06

  with single rotor · CPC title