Vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle having foldable fixed wing and based on twin-ducted fan power system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11634222-B2
Application number	US-201716613930-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 16, 2017
Priority date	May 16, 2017
Publication date	Apr 25, 2023
Grant date	Apr 25, 2023

Abstract

A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle having a foldable fixed wing and a twin-ducted fan power system (7) arranged at a tail portion of a fuselage in a transverse and tail propulsion arrangement provides lift for vertical take-off and landing and propulsion for horizontal flight. By means of deflection of a control servo plane arranged at a duct exit, a vectored thrust is provided to enable a fast attitude change. When the aerial vehicle takes off and lands vertically/flies at a low speed, the wing is folded to reduce the frontal area exposure to crosswind. When the aerial vehicle is flying horizontally, the wing is expanded to obtain larger lift. A Coanda effect is created at a trailing edge of the wing by suction of the duct to improve performance.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle, the aerial vehicle comprising a fuselage, a foldable wing, two ducts and a retractable landing gear, the fuselage being divided into a nose, a front fuselage, a middle fuselage and a rear fuselage along a longitudinal axis of the fuselage, wherein
the two ducts are symmetrically distributed on both sides of the rear fuselage in a transverse and tail propulsion arrangement, each duct comprises a ducted fan, the ducted fan has an axis of rotation being located below a lower surface of the wing, and the axis of rotation of the ducted fan is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage at all times;
the foldable wing is in an upper single-wing arrangement and is fixed to the front of the middle fuselage via a wing folding shaft, the retractable landing gear is arranged at the front of the rear fuselage,
the aerial vehicle is in a tailless arrangement, the center of gravity of the aerial vehicle is located at the rear of the front fuselage and before the middle fuselage, and
the ducts and the wing are combined in an optimized manner by means of a specific position relationship therebetween.

2. The vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the nose is an electronic cabin for placement of various sensors and optoelectronic devices therein; the front fuselage is a primary load cabin for carrying a primary energy source and a load; the middle fuselage is a secondary load cabin for carrying an avionics system, a secondary energy source, a driving mechanism for the wing folding shaft, and a driving mechanism for the retractable landing gears; and the middle of the rear fuselage is provided with the ducts symmetrically arranged on both sides, and the rear thereof is a conical fairing body.

3. The vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
a foldable configuration is employed for the foldable wing, in which the wing is a two-section folding wing and can fold by 36° to 180° towards the belly along a longitudinal axis, and an aileron is arranged at a trailing edge of the wing close to a wingtip.

4. The vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the specific relative position relationship between the ducts and the wing for achieving combined optimization satisfies:
the relation between the distance l 1 of the trailing edge of the foldable wing from a plane of a duct entrance and a diameter d of the duct entrance is:
0.35 d≤/l 1≤0.45 d;

and the relation between the distance l 2 of a plane of a chord line of the foldable wing from a central axis of the duct and the diameter d of the duct entrance is:
0.25 d≤/l 2≤0.4 d.

5. The vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the aerial vehicle is in the tailless arrangement in which the whole aerial vehicle has no conventional horizontal tail, vertical tail, elevator or rudder.

6. The vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the aerial vehicle comprises four retractable landing gears, and each landing gear is adjustable in real time in length.

7. The vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the duct further comprises: a duct body, a fan driving mechanism, a control servo plane, and a control servo plane driving mechanism, wherein the ducted fan is located in the duct body, and is connected to the duct body via the fan driving mechanism; the control servo planes are located at a duct exit, are four in number, and are of a cross shape surrounding the axis of rotation of the ducted fan; and the control servo plane has an axis of rotation perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the ducted fan, and is connected to the duct body at one end and to the control servo plane driving mechanism arranged in the duct body at the other end.

8. The vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 7 , wherein
the control servo plane is movable, and by means of deflection of the control servo plane, an attitude control moment is provided to enable the stabilization and control of the flight attitude.

9. A vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle, the aerial vehicle comprising a fuselage, a foldable wing, two ducts and a retractable landing gear, the fuselage being divided into a nose, a front fuselage, a middle fuselage and a rear fuselage along a longitudinal axis of the fuselage, wherein
the two ducts are symmetrically distributed on both sides of the rear fuselage in a transverse and tail propulsion arrangement, each duct comprises a ducted fan, the ducted fan has an axis of rotation being located below a lower surface of the wing, and the axis of rotation of the ducted fan is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage at all times;
the foldable wing is in an upper single-wing arrangement and is fixed to the front of the middle fuselage via a wing folding shaft, the retractable landing gear is arranged at the front of the rear fuselage,
the aerial vehicle is in a tailless arrangement, the center of gravity of the aerial vehicle is positioned in a region between the front fuselage and a leading edge of the wing; and
the ducts and the wing are combined in an optimized manner by means of a specific position relationship therebetween.

Assignees

• Univ South China Tech

Inventors

• Pei Hailong
• Cheng Zihuan

Classifications

• B64U60/40

  foldable or retractable · CPC title

• B64U30/26

  Ducted or shrouded rotors · CPC title

• B64U10/20

  Vertical take-off and landing [VTOL] aircraft (flying platforms B64U10/13; helicopters B64U10/17) · CPC title

• B64U50/19

  using electrically powered motors · CPC title

• B64U50/14 Primary

  ducted or shrouded · CPC title