GB2409672A

GB2409672A - Vehicle with integrated contra-rotating rotor arrangement

Info

Publication number: GB2409672A
Application number: GB0330215A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter Tambe Agbor
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2003-12-31
Filing date: 2003-12-31
Publication date: 2005-07-06
Anticipated expiration: 2023-12-31
Also published as: GB2409672B; GB0330215D0

Abstract

A road vehicle has a contra-rotating rotor arrangement fixed atop the vehicle roof, wherein the vehicle roof may comprise an elastic material. The rotor arrangement may be mounted on a telescopic shaft arrangement, affording vertical movement of the rotor arrangement relative to the vehicle body. The elastic material may then be stretched to a conical form, which may aid the downdraft from the rotor arrangement to pass over the vehicle body. A manual control means may be attached to the telescopic shaft for tilting of the rotor arrangement, whilst further directional control may be afforded by exhaust vectoring. A dual mode gear box may be used to impart drive, selectable between drive and fly modes. The diameter of the rotors may be approximately equal to the width of the vehicle. A parachute may be stowed within the vehicle.

Description

IIELICAR

INTRODUCTION

The problem with existing means of air transport is that one has to travel far from ones home to board them. Aeroplanes, for example, needs runways and these are usually located far from most people houses and are relatively few in numbers. Helicopters are a bit more flexible but the sheer length of the rotor blades makes it impractical for them to be parked in front of people's houses. Because of these drawbacks it is impractical to take a plane or helicopter to work or school or to the shops.

The huge costs of road construction and maintenance calls for a means of transport which needs to depend less on roads and more on the air. Traffic congestion is mainly caused by the roads on the ground being relatively few. The 'roads' in the air are infinite and cost nothing to construct and maintain.

The main problem with conventional cars is that of parking - especially in big cities - because of the sheer number of cars.

The defects of the conventional car, aeroplane, and helicopter led me to inventing a new form of transport which I call HELICAR.

HELICAR

The helicar is basically a lightweight vehicle which can be driven on the road as well as flown in the air. Fig. 1 (pages) shows the side view of a helicar (with the rotor shaft fully retracted). The main visible difference from a conventional car is that it has a pair of contrarotating rotor wheels, whose diameter is about the width of the car, located on the roof of the vehicle. The rotor wheels are attached via a constant velocity joint to a pole of extendable rotor shafts - two or more shafts, one inside the other. The bottom of this pole is attached to a shaft from the gearbox. The roof of the car, just under the rotor wheels, is made of a sheet of rubber (or any other suitable elastic material) attached to the sides of the roof metal frame and to the inner bearing of the bottom rotor wheel. Two rotor - dipping rods are attached to the metal bar linking the inner and outer bearing of the bottom rotor wheel. A rotor -dipping stick is attached as shown and can be moved up, down, left and right Fig 2 (page 6) shows the front view of a helicar with the rotor shafts fully retracted.

Fig 3 (page 7) shows the top view of a helicar.

Fig 4 (page7) shows a layout of a helicar Fig 5 (page 8) shows the inside of a typical helicar gearbox. It is different from conventional gearboxes in that it has a fly-drive gear selector which switches transmission from the road wheels to the rotor wheels and vice versa. It also has gears to greatly magnify the speed of the rotor wheels Fig 6a (page 9) shows the contra-rotating mechanism of a helicar's rotor wheels. It shows how the rotor wheels are attached to a single rotating shaft and how the wheels are made to rotate in opposite direction.

Fig 6b (page 10) is section A-A' of fig 6a. It shows the rotor wheel attached to the shaft via two bearings. Fig 6c (page 1 1) is section B-B' of fig 6a. It shows how the rotor wheel is made to rotate in same direction of the shaft. Fig 6d (page 12) is section C-C' of fig 6a.

It shows how the other rotor wheel is made to rotate in the opposite direction as the shaft.

Although the rotor wheel does not rotate as fast as the shaft, very fast rotor wheel speeds are achieved because the gearbox greatly magnify the rotor shaft speed.

OPERATION

ON THE GROUND: A helicar can be driven on the ground like any other conventional car- the only slight modification being an extra gear selector to be set in the "DRIVE" mode to enable the ground wheels to rotate.

IN THE AIR: The gear selector is set in the "FLY" mode and the engine started. A set of gears in the gearbox makes the rotor shaft to rotate at several times the engine speed. As the contra- rotating rotor wheels rotate the rotor wheels begin to rise pulling the central bit of the rubber roof as it rises. The rubber roof will now be shaped like a pyramid with a square base and a circular top. See fig 7a and 7c (pages 13 and 14). When the extendable rotor shaft or the extendable dipping rod is fully extended the helicar will be lifted off the ground if the rotor wheels rotate fast enough. The sheet of rubber roof helps to deflect the air from the rotor wheels off the body of the helicar thereby providing a lifting effect instead of the tearing effect that would have happened otherwise. Although the rotor wheel diameter is only about the width of the car the rotor wheel can be made to rotate very fast with the help of the gearbox to ensure lift off. So there is no need for long rotor blades like in helicopters. Fig 7a and 7c (pages 13 and 14) shows a helicar flying upwards. 3l

To fly forwards the rotor-dipping stick is pulled downward thereby dipping the rotor wheels forwards as shown in figs 7b and 7d (pages 13 and] 5). The rotor-dipping stick is pulled upwards to fly backwards (to brake).

When in forward motion directions can be changed using the steering wheel just like driving the car on the ground. The airflow on a steered road wheel steers a helicar in the air also. The car exhaust can be made to be directed left or right using the steering wheel to steer a helicar when flying on the spot. The rotor dipping stick can also be used to steer a helicar.

Soft landing is achieved by applying gentle brakes on the rotor shaft. The rotor shaft rotates,say, ten times for one rotation of the rotor wheel so reducing the speed of the rotor shaft slightly by applying the brakes will reduce the speed of the rotor wheel very slightly. This comes in handy for soft landing.

The description of the helicar above has been done using a simple, manually operated version for clarity. In automatic or hydraulic operated version the rotor-dipping stick may be replaced by a push button on, say, the dashboard to steer the rotor wheels in very much the same way. The rotor shaft can also be extended hydraulically.

The sheet of rubber (or any other elastic material) roof has three main functions: 1 It deflects the air from the car body to enable lift off.

2 It helps ensure the load of the helicar is more evenly distributed on the whole roof and not just at the rotor shaft pole.

3 It helps to absorb the vibration of the rotor.

Fig 9a on page 16 (not to scale) is a sketch showing the key features of a helicar with the rotor shaft fully extended. They include: 1 A pair of contra-rotating rotor wheels located on the roof of the car.

2 A sheet of rubber roof (or a sheet of rubber on the roof) for deflecting rotor wind from the car body.

3 Extendable rotor shafts 4 A gearbox which can be switched from rotating the ground wheels to rotating the rotor wheels and vice versa.

A gearbox used to magnify the speed of the rotor wheels.

Fig 9b (page 17) is section AA' of fig 9a.

Fig 9c (page l 7) is section BB' of fig 9a.

Fig 9d (page 18) is section CC' of fig 9a.

ADVANTAGES OF A HELICAR

1 The rotor blades are short and it does not need a runway so it can fly from one front door directly to another front door- something which can not be done by conventional helicopters and aeroplanes.

2 It can be parked in places where conventional cars can not, such as a flat roof and a rear garden, and so drastically reducing parking congestion.

3 It will drastically reduce the cost of construction and maintenance of roads and bridges because it can fly.

4 Journey times will be quicker because it flies using the shortest routes and does not have to follow long winding roads as is the case with driving.

It is safer than conventional planes and helicopters because its short rotor wheels allow for a parachute to be located in the ceiling of the car which can be released in case of emergency to bring the helicar safely to the ground with little chance of the parachute getting tangled.

6 Will help unite mankind and the economies of the world.

Claims

1 A vehicle which can be driven on the road as well as flown in the air.the flying being made possible by, among other things, a pair of contrarotating rotor wheels (whose diameters are approximately the width of the vehicle body) located just above the vehicle's elastic sheet roof (which extends to deflect the rotor wind off the main body of the vehicle) and is connected via a constant velocity joint to a vertical extendable rotor shaft (consisting of two or more shafts -one inside the other) which is in turn connected to the gearbox (which is used to greatly magnify the rotor speed).

2 A vehicle as in claim 1 which the steering wheel is used to steer the road wheels and / or the exhaust pipe in order to steer the vehicle in the air.

3 A vehicle as in claim I which uses an elastic roof to deflect the wind from the rotor away from the body of the vehicle to enable lift-off.

4 A vehicle as in claim 1 which the contra -rotating rotor wheels are held in position and rotated by the same rotating shaft - the rotor wheel being mounted on an outer bearing which is linked by a metal bar to an inner bearing on the shaft.

A vehicle as in claim 1 which the gearbox is used to magnify the rotor speed.

6 A vehicle as in claim 1 whose gearbox is used to switch from the rotation of the road wheels to the rotation of the rotor wheels and vice versa.

7 A vehicle as in claim 1 with a parachute facility for emergency use.

8 A vehicle as in claim 1 which is operated by hydraulic or automatic means.

9 A vehicle as in claim I which the contra rotating rotor wheels are held in position and rotated by the same rotating shaft - the rotor wheels being mounted on the outer bearing which is linked by a metal bar to the inner bearing on the shaft.

Any vehicle as described or operated like the one In this patent application.

9 Any vehicle with a pair of contra rotating rotor wheels above a pyramid or cone shaped roof.

Any vehicle with a pair of contra rotating rotor wheel above an elastic roof which when extended is shaped like a pyramid or a cone.

11 Any vehicle as described or operated like the one in this patent application.

G

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows:

1 A lightweight vehicle eg a car having a fitment comprising of the following four main parts to enable it fly in the air: a) A pair of contra-rotating rotor wheels located on the roof of the vehicle and having a diameter of about the width of the vehicle with the rotor shaft linked via a constant velocity joint to: b) A pole of extendable rotor shaft ( a set of two or more shafts one inside the other) extending from the constant velocity joint on the roof of the vehicle to the shaft from the gearbox at the floor of the vehicle, c) A sheet of elastic material, such as rubber. about the size of the vehicle roof, located just below the pair of rotor wheels and fastened at the edges to the sides of the vehicle roof and to the centre on a bearing on the rotor shaft just below the rotor wheels in such a way that when the rotor shaft extends the sheet of elastic is pulled upwards in the centre while the edges remain fixed at the sides of the vehicle roof d) A tilting mechanism for the rotor wheels.

2 A vehicle as in claim 1 having a gearbox which switches transmission from the rotor wheels to the road wheels and vice versa.

3 A vehicle as in claim 1 having a gearbox which magnifies the speed of the rotor wheels.

4 A vehicle as in claim 1 which uses the exhaust to steer the vehicle in the air A vehicle as in claim 1 which uses the road wheels to steer the vehicle in the air.

6 A vehicle as in claim 1 which uses the rotor wheels to steer the vehicle in the air.

7 A vehicle as in claim 1 which uses the rotation of one of the rotor wheels and a set of gears to make the other rotor to rotate in the opposite direction.

A vehicle as in claim 1 which uses an elastic sheet on the roof to deflect the wind of the rotors away from the body of the vehicle to enable lift off.