Vertical take-off and landing (vtol) winged air vehicle with complementary angled rotors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022297828-A1
Application number	US-202217573353-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 11, 2022
Priority date	Jun 3, 2016
Publication date	Sep 22, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems, devices, and methods for an aircraft having a fuselage; a wing extending from both sides of the fuselage; a first pair of motors disposed at a first end of the wing; and a second pair of motors disposed at a second end of the wing; where each motor is angled to provide a component of thrust by a propeller attached thereto that for a desired aircraft movement applies a resulting torque additive to the resulting torque created by rotating the propellers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft comprising:
a top port motor, a bottom port motor, a top starboard motor, and a bottom starboard motor, wherein the top and bottom starboard motors are angled away from each other within a first plane generally perpendicular to a plane of a wing, and wherein the top and bottom port motors are angled away from each other within a second plane generally perpendicular to the plane of the wing; and a processor having addressable memory, the processor configured to:
control thrust to each of the top port motor, the bottom port motor, the top starboard motor, and the bottom starboard motor.

2 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 1 , wherein each motor is angled between 5 and 35 degrees from a longitudinal axis of the aircraft.

3 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 1 , wherein a propeller is attached to each motor.

4 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 3 , wherein each propeller is disposed distal from the wing.

5 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 4 , wherein each propeller is in a clean air region away from turbulent air coming off the wing during horizontal flight.

6 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 1 further comprising:
one or more sensors disposed in a fuselage of the VTOL aircraft, the one or more sensors in communication with the processor.

7 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 6 , wherein the one or more sensors capture data during horizontal flight.

8 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 7 , wherein a sensor of the one or more sensors is a camera.

9 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 7 , wherein a sensor of the one or more sensors is fixed relative to the fuselage of the VTOL aircraft.

10 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 7 , wherein a sensor of the one or more sensors is pivotable relative to the fuselage of the VTOL aircraft.

11 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 1 , wherein each motor is angled from a longitudinal axis of the aircraft based on at least one of: a desired lateral force component needed to provide a sufficient yaw in vertical flight for the VTOL aircraft and a desired lateral force component needed to provide a sufficient roll in horizontal flight for the VTOL aircraft.

12 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 1 , wherein each motor is angled from a longitudinal axis of the aircraft based on a desired lateral force component needed to provide a sufficient yaw in vertical flight for the VTOL aircraft.

13 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 1 , wherein each motor is angled from a longitudinal axis of the aircraft based on a desired lateral force component needed to provide a sufficient roll in horizontal flight for the VTOL aircraft.

14 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
provide substantially equal thrust to the top port motor, the bottom port motor, the top starboard motor, and the bottom starboard motor to achieve a vertical take-off.

15 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
increase thrust to the top motors and decrease thrust to the bottom motors to produce a net moment about a center of mass of the VTOL aircraft and cause the aircraft to pitch forward.

16 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
increase thrust to the top motors and increase thrust to the bottom motors to achieve horizontal flight, wherein the wing of the VTOL aircraft provides primary lift in horizontal flight.

17 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
increase thrust to the top two motors and decrease thrust to the bottom two motors in horizontal flight to pitch the VTOL aircraft down.

18 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
decrease thrust to the top two motors and increase thrust to the bottom two motors in horizontal flight to pitch the VTOL aircraft up.

19 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
provide a lateral component of thrust for each motor based on an angle of each motor relative to the wing.

20 . The VTOL aircraft of claim 1 , further comprising:
a vertical stabilizer, wherein the vertical stabilizer is configured to provide stabilization in horizontal flight, and wherein the vertical stabilizer is configured to maintain the VTOL aircraft in a vertical orientation prior to take-off or after landing.

Assignees

• Aerovironment Inc

Inventors

• Won Henry Thome
• Lindsey Quentin

Classifications

• Y02T50/10

  Drag reduction · CPC title

• B64C29/02 Primary

  having its flight directional axis vertical when grounded · CPC title

• B64C27/26 Primary

  characterised by provision of fixed wings · CPC title

• Y02T50/40

  Weight reduction · CPC title

• B64D27/06

  within, or attached to, wings · CPC title