Tilting hexrotor aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022306293-A1
Application number	US-202117527900-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 16, 2021
Priority date	Mar 29, 2021
Publication date	Sep 29, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

One embodiment is an aircraft operable in a hover mode and a cruise mode and including a fuselage; wings connected on opposite sides of the fuselage; a canard connected to the fuselage forward of the wings; forward propulsion systems connected to a trailing edge of the canard on opposite sides of the fuselage; aft propulsion systems connected to trailing edges of the wings; and wing-mounted propulsion systems connected to leading edges of the wings. The aft propulsion systems are tiltable between a first position when the aircraft is in the hover mode and a second position when the aircraft is in the cruise mode. Each of the propulsion systems includes a rotor assembly comprising a plurality of rotor blades. The propulsion systems are substantially equidistant from a center of gravity (CG) of the aircraft.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An aircraft operable in a hover mode and a cruise mode, the aircraft comprising:
a fuselage; first and second wings connected on opposite sides of the fuselage; a canard connected to the fuselage forward of the first and second wings; first and second forward propulsion systems connected to a trailing edge of the canard on opposite sides of the fuselage; first and second aft propulsion systems connected to trailing edges of the first and second wings; and first and second wing-mounted propulsion systems connected to leading edges of the first and second wings; wherein the first and second aft propulsion systems are tiltable between a first position when the aircraft is in the hover mode and a second position when the aircraft is in the cruise mode; wherein each of the propulsion systems includes a rotor assembly comprising a plurality of rotor blades; and wherein the propulsion systems are substantially equidistant from a center of gravity (CG) of the aircraft.

2 . The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the propulsion systems are substantially equally distributed radially about the CG.

3 . The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second wings includes a wing plate on an outboard end of the wing and wherein the wing plate is substantially vertical or canted with reference to the wing.

4 . The aircraft of claim 1 , further comprising first and second wing strakes connected on opposite sides of the fuselage forward of the wings.

5 . The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second forward propulsion systems comprise pylons fixedly connected to the canard.

6 . The aircraft of claim 5 , wherein the rotor blades of the first and second propulsion systems rotate above the pylons.

7 . The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second wing-mounted propulsion systems comprise pylons fixedly connected to the wings.

8 . The aircraft of claim 7 , wherein the rotor blades of each of the first and second wing-mounted propulsion systems rotate above the pylons.

9 . The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second aft propulsion systems comprise pylons tiltably connected to the wings.

10 . The aircraft of claim 9 , wherein the rotor blades of each of the first and second aft propulsion systems rotate below the pylons when the aircraft is in hover mode and aft of the wings when the aircraft is in cruise mode.

11 . The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of rotor blades comprises at least two rotor blades.

12 . The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the aft propulsion systems comprise a different number of rotor blades than the forward and wing-mounted propulsion systems.

13 . The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the first and second aft propulsion systems are connected to the wings inboard of the first and second wing-mounted propulsion systems.

14 . A vertical take-off and landing vehicle (VTOL) comprising:
a fuselage; aft-sweeping wings connected on opposite sides of the fuselage; a canard connected to the fuselage forward of the wings; forward propulsion systems comprising first pylons fixedly connected to a trailing edge of the canard on opposite sides of the fuselage; aft propulsion systems comprising second pylons rotatably connected to trailing edges of the wings, wherein the second pylons are tiltable between a first position when the VTOL is in a hover mode and a second position when the VTOL is in a cruise mode; and wing-mounted propulsion systems comprising third pylons fixedly connected to leading edges of the wings outboard of the second pylons; wherein the propulsion systems are substantially equidistant from a center of gravity (CG) of the VTOL and distributed substantially equally radially about the CG.

15 . The VTOL of claim 14 , wherein each of the wings includes a substantially vertical wing plate on an outboard end of the wing.

16 . The VTOL of claim 14 , wherein each of the wings comprises a swept wing portion and a wing strake connected to the fuselage forward of the swept wing portion.

17 . The VTOL of claim 14 , wherein rotor blades of the forward propulsion systems rotate above the first pylons when the VTOL is in the hover mode and are prevented from rotating when the VTOL is in the cruise mode.

18 . The VTOL of claim 14 , wherein the rotor blades of the wing-mounted propulsion systems rotate above the third pylons when the VTOL is in the hover mode and are prevented from rotating when the VTOL is in the cruise mode.

19 . The VTOL of claim 14 , wherein the rotor blades of each of the aft propulsion systems rotate below the second pylons when the VTOL is in hover mode and the rotor blades of each of the aft propulsion systems rotate aft of the wings when the VTOL is in cruise mode.

20 . The VTOL of claim 14 , wherein the CG of the VTOL is substantially the same as a center of lift of the VTOL when the VTOL is in the hover mode.

Assignees

• Bell Textron Inc

Inventors

• Groninga Kirk L
• Moore Danielle Lynn

Classifications

• B64C39/12

  Canard-type aircraft · CPC title

• B64C5/08

  mounted on, or supported by, wings · CPC title

• B64C29/0025

  the propellers being fixed relative to the fuselage · CPC title

• B64C29/0033 Primary

  the propellers being tiltable relative to the fuselage · CPC title

• B64D27/26

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic