Aerodynamically efficient lightweight vertical take-off and landing aircraft with pivoting rotors and stowing rotor blades

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10625852-B2
Application number	US-201514660771-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 17, 2015
Priority date	Mar 18, 2014
Publication date	Apr 21, 2020
Grant date	Apr 21, 2020

Abstract

An aerial vehicle adapted for vertical takeoff and landing using a set of wing mounted thrust producing elements and a set of tail mounted rotors for takeoff and landing. An aerial vehicle which is adapted to vertical takeoff with the rotors in a rotated, take-off attitude then transitions to a horizontal flight path, with the rotors rotated to a typical horizontal configuration. The aerial vehicle uses different configurations of its wing mounted rotors and propellers to reduce drag in all flight modes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An aerial vehicle adapted for vertical take-off and horizontal flight, said aerial vehicle comprising:
a main vehicle body;
a right side wing, said right side wing comprising a forward swept wing,
one or more right side wing rotor assemblies, said one or more right side wing rotor assemblies comprising a propeller and a motor, wherein one or more right side wing rotor assemblies are attached to said right side wing along a middle section of the wing span, and wherein said one or more right side wing rotor assemblies protrude forward of the leading edge of said right side wing, and wherein the centers of mass of each of the one or more right side wing rotor assemblies are forward of the leading edge of said right side wing; and
a left side wing, said left side wing assembly comprising a forward swept wing;
one or more left side wing rotor assemblies, said one or more left side wing rotor assemblies comprising a propeller and a motor, wherein one or more left side wing rotor assemblies are attached to said left side wing along a middle section of the wing span, and wherein said one or more left side wing rotor assemblies protrude forward of the leading edge of said left side wing, and wherein the centers of mass of each of the one or more left side wing rotor assemblies are forward of the leading edge of said left side wing.

2. The aerial vehicle of claim 1 wherein said one or more right side wing rotor assemblies are attached to said right wing by a deployment mechanism adapted to deploy said one or more right side wing rotor assemblies from a forward facing horizontal flight configuration to a vertical take-off configuration, and wherein said one or more left side wing rotor assemblies are attached to said left wing by a deployment mechanism adapted to deploy said one or more left wing rotor assemblies from a forward facing horizontal flight configuration to a vertical take-off configuration.

3. The aerial vehicle of claim 2 wherein said motor of each one or more right side wing rotor assemblies is an electric motor, and wherein said motor of each one or more left side wing rotor assemblies is an electric motor.

4. The aerial vehicle of claim 2 wherein said one or more right side wing rotor assemblies and said one or more left side wing rotor assemblies comprise propeller blades adapted to pivot from a deployed configuration to a stowed configuration.

5. The aerial vehicle of claim 4 wherein stowed propeller blades reside in recesses within a rotor mounting nacelle.

6. An aerial vehicle adapted for vertical take-off and horizontal flight, said aerial vehicle comprising:
a main vehicle body;
a right side wing, said right side wing comprising a partially forward swept wing,
one or more right side wing rotor assemblies, said one or more right side wing rotor assemblies comprising a propeller and a motor, wherein one or more right side wing rotor assemblies are attached to said right side wing along a middle section of the wing span, and wherein said one or more right side wing rotor assemblies protrude forward of the leading edge of said right side wing, and wherein the centers of mass of each of the one or more right side rotor assemblies are forward of the leading edge of said right side wing; and
a left side wing, said left side wing assembly comprising a partially forward swept wing;
one or more left side wing rotor assemblies, said one or more left side wing rotor assemblies comprising a propeller and a motor, wherein one or more left side wing rotor assemblies are attached to said left side wing along a middle section of the wing span, and wherein said one or more left side wing rotor assemblies protrude forward of the leading edge of said left side wing, and wherein the centers of mass of each of the one or more left side wing rotor assemblies are forward of the leading edge of said left side wing.

7. The aerial vehicle of claim 6 wherein said one or more right side wing rotor assemblies are attached to said right wing by a deployment mechanism adapted to deploy said one or more right side wing rotor assemblies from a forward facing horizontal flight configuration to a vertical take-off configuration, and wherein said one or more left side wing rotor assemblies are attached to said left wing by a deployment mechanism adapted to deploy said one or more left wing rotor assemblies from a forward facing horizontal flight configuration to a vertical take-off configuration.

8. The aerial vehicle of claim 7 wherein said one or more right side wing rotor assemblies comprise an electric motor, and wherein said one or more left side wing rotor assemblies comprise an electric motor.

9. The aerial vehicle of claim 7 wherein said one or more right side wing rotor assemblies and said one or more left side wing rotor assemblies comprise propeller blades, said propeller blades adapted to pivot from a deployed configuration to a stowed configuration.

10. The aerial vehicle of claim 9 wherein stowed propeller blades reside in recesses within a rotor mounting nacelle.

11. The aerial vehicle of claim 2 wherein the spin axis of the propellers of the one or more right side rotor assemblies are forward of the leading edge of the right side wing when in the vertical take-off configuration, and wherein the spin axis of the propellers of the one or more left side rotor assemblies is forward of the leading of the left side wing when in the vertical take-off configuration.

12. The aerial vehicle of claim 7 wherein the spin axis of the propellers of the one or more right side rotor assemblies are forward of the leading edge of the right side wing when in the vertical take-off configuration, and wherein the spin axis of the propellers of the one or more left side rotor assemblies is forward of the leading of the left side wing when in the vertical take-off configuration.

Assignees

• Joby Aviation Inc
• Joby Aero Inc

Inventors

• Bevirt Joeben
• Stoll Alex

Classifications

• B64C11/28

  Collapsible or foldable blades · CPC title

• B64C39/068

  having multiple wings joined at the tips · CPC title

• B64C27/30

  with provision for reducing drag of inoperative rotor · CPC title

• B64C27/28 Primary

  with forward-propulsion propellers pivotable to act as lifting rotors · CPC title

• B64C29/0033

  the propellers being tiltable relative to the fuselage · CPC title