JPS587519B2 - The introduction of the first-stage clinical trial - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention is installed away from the center of gravity in the longitudinal direction of the aircraft body,
This invention relates to a vertical take-off and landing aircraft equipped with one or more lift engines and one or more engines with thrust vectoring devices, which are mounted symmetrically on the left and right sides of a vertical plane including the longitudinal axis, and aims to facilitate control of the thrust and thrust vectoring angles of the engines during take-off and landing by one-handed operation.

In a vertical take-off and landing aircraft equipped with a lift engine and an engine with thrust vectoring, thrust control of the lift engine, thrust control of the engine with thrust vectoring and control of the thrust vectoring angle must be performed simultaneously during take-off and landing. In this case, one hand is holding the control stick and it is very difficult to perform the above multiple controls with the other hand, so there was a demand for a control device that was easy to operate and safe.

Prior to the filing of the present invention, the concept of a vertical take-off and landing aircraft had already been announced, but there had been no publications or literature on a practical control device for the aircraft, and all that was known was of little practical use.

The present invention provides a device that simplifies and facilitates control operations. In a vertical take-off and landing aircraft equipped with one or more lift engines and one or more engines with thrust vectoring devices, which are mounted away from the center of gravity in the fore-aft direction of the aircraft and symmetrically mounted on the left and right sides of a vertical plane including the fore-aft axis, attitude control during normal flight is performed by normal operation using the control stick, but the present invention proposes a control device that can be easily operated with one hand to counteract the unbalanced moment of pitching about the center of gravity that occurs due to the thrust changes of the lift engines and the thrust changes of the engines with thrust vectoring devices and changes in the deflection angle, which are necessary to manage various flight conditions during take-off and landing (take-off-hovering-acceleration, climb and approach, transition-hovering-landing).

The pilot's other hand holds the control stick to perform auxiliary operations for takeoff and landing, or, if necessary, to control the aircraft's attitude by operating the control stick in the conventional manner when the aircraft's attitude tilts forward, backward, left or right due to, for example, gusts of wind or lateral force.

In other words, in the present invention, the onboard engines are positioned so that the moment around the center of gravity is balanced when the thrust and deflection angle are at their maximum.

This balance is generally achieved by design taking into account all circumstances, but can be achieved by making appropriate adjustments to meet specific aircraft loading conditions.

The side wall of the thrust vectoring chamber is provided with a throttle lever for controlling the thrust of the engine with thrust vectoring device, a collective lever for simultaneously controlling the thrust of both the lift engine and the engine with thrust vectoring device, and a deflection angle lever for controlling the deflection angle of the engine with thrust vectoring device. A trim switch for controlling the thrust, start and stop of the lift engine is provided at the top of the deflection angle lever. The thrust of the lift engine is controlled by the lower reading of the collective lever and the trim switch, and the thrust of the engine with thrust vectoring device is controlled by the lower reading of the throttle lever and the collective lever.

The output of each engine can be controlled in accordance with the output characteristics of the engine by adjusting the fuel injection valve opening, the throttle valve opening, or the like in accordance with the conventional methods.

In addition to connecting the usual control surfaces to the control stick, a device is also used in which compressed gas extracted from the onboard engine is guided via a separate duct to jet nozzles attached to the nose, tail, and left and right wing tips, and the opening and closing mechanism of these nozzles is connected to the control stick, so that by operating the control stick during hovering or low-speed flight, the jet thrust can be increased or decreased, making it possible to control the aircraft's attitude in the fore-aft and left-right directions.

As a result, takeoff-hovering and approach, and transition-hover-landing control can be achieved by first setting the collective lever to its lowest setting while the onboard engine is at its lowest rotation speed before takeoff (before transition during landing), and setting the throttle lever, deflection angle lever, and trim switch to their highest positions, in conjunction with the control stick, and mainly by raising the collective lever (when landing, the collective lever is lowered after that).Since the collective lever and throttle lever are in their highest positions prior to this, control of acceleration and ascent can be achieved by sequentially lowering the deflection angle lever and trim switch in conjunction with the control stick.

Therefore, it is possible to provide a control system that can eliminate the unbalanced moment of pitching about the center of gravity caused by increasing or decreasing the thrust of the onboard engine and changing the deflection angle with one hand of the pilot, and also smoothly transitions between various flight conditions during takeoff and landing.

Next, the above description will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings and tables.

In FIG. 1, the lift engines LE are fixedly arranged symmetrically at positions off the center of gravity of the aircraft, and their 100% thrust is represented by AB.

The propulsion engine PE shown in dashed lines has a vector nozzle VN with a variable inclination angle, and the jet jet can be changed in angle from the dashed line position (normal flight position) to the solid line position (hovering position).

100% thrust at the hover position is represented by vector AD.

In Figure 1, the resultant force of vectors AB and AD is AC and passes through the center of gravity G, so the airplane is in a balanced state where it can hover with AC vertical.

In addition, the collective lever CL is configured to be able to control the thrust of both the lift engine LE and the propulsion engine PE at 11% so that the resultant thrust of both the lift engine LE and the propulsion engine PE is always on a line passing through the center of gravity G of the aircraft at the maximum deflection angle.

That is, the thrust is 1 at each position of the collective lever CL.
Even if it is not 00% (for example, even if it is 80%), in either case, the resultant force of the thrusts of both engines (which coincides with the direction of vector AC) passes through the center of gravity G.

Therefore, with the deflection angle at its maximum, the thrust of the lift engine LE and the thrust engine PE are gradually increased by the collective lever CL, and when the total thrust represented by AC reaches the flying weight, the aircraft enters a hovering state.

By moving each lever in Figure 2 in the order listed below, you can go from hovering through a transition state and into normal wingbone flight, and also from transition back to hovering and then to a vertical landing.

More specifically, FIG. 2 explains the various levers installed in the cockpit, and shows an example of the arrangement of the collective lever CL on the side of the cockpit S, the throttle lever TL that controls the thrust of the propulsion engine PK, and the deflection angle lever VL that controls the deflection angle of the vector nozzle VN. At the top of the deflection angle lever VL is mounted a trim switch TS that controls the thrust and start/stop of the lift engine LE.

The thrust of the lift engine LE is controlled by the lower of the indications of the collective lever CL and the trim switch TS, and the thrust of the propulsion engine PE is controlled by the collective lever C.
L and the throttle bar TL, whichever is lower.

Various devices for switching a plurality of control systems to the low level side in response to the high or low control indications obtained by operating each leg system have been in common use in the past, and any conventionally known device of any configuration can be employed in the present invention. FIG. 3 shows one specific example.

In FIG. 3, COMP1 is a collective lever C.
COMP1 is a ratio switching rotation which compares the thrust control indication of the lift engine LE by operation of the collective lever CL with the thrust control indication of the propulsion engine PE by operation of the throttle lever TL and switches to the lower indication, and COMP2 indicates a comparison switching rotation which compares the thrust control indication of the propulsion engine PE by operation of the collective lever CL with the thrust control indication of the propulsion engine PE by operation of the throttle lever TL and switches to the lower indication, and by operation of these two comparison switching rotations COMP and COMP2, the thrust of both the lift engine IE and the propulsion engine PE are controlled by operation of the collective lever CL, trim switch TS, or throttle lever TL, whichever gives the lower indication.

First, the deflection angle lever VL, the throttle lever TL and the pilot switch TS are all set to their maximum indications, and the collective lever CL is raised from the low position. This causes the AC in FIG. 1 to become vertical by operating the collective lever CL, that is, the nose to point slightly upward, resulting in a hovering state.

Next, while operating the collective lever CL to its maximum position, operate the control stick to make the aircraft level, which generates a forward force component and causes the aircraft to start moving forward, entering the transition state.

As the aircraft begins to move forward, the wings generate lift and the aircraft ascends while accelerating.

Next, release the collective lever CL and move the deflection angle lever VL
The lift engine L is adjusted by operating (for example, by using a thumb) the trim switch at the top of the deflection angle lever VL.
As the thrust of the lift engine LE is gradually reduced, the lever VL is simultaneously operated to gradually make the vector nozzle VN horizontal in proportion to the reduction in the thrust of the lift engine LE, thereby eliminating the unbalanced moment around the center of gravity.

Finally, the vector nozzle VN is horizontal and the lift engine LE is stopped.

During this time the aircraft continues to accelerate until it reaches its wingbone climb speed and enters normal climb.

Then, with the vector nozzle VN horizontal and the lift engine LE stopped, the deflection angle lever VL is turned on to turn the throttle bar T.
L, and then normal flight can be performed while controlling the output of the propulsion engine PE by operating the throttle lever TL.

In the above operation, the lift engine LE is controlled by the lower of the collective lever CL and the trim switch TS, and the thrust of the propulsion engine PE is controlled by the lower of the collective lever CL and the throttle lever TL. By configuring the control so that the thrust of the propulsion engine PE is controlled by the lower of the collective lever CL and the throttle lever TL, the control is performed in each case by the collective lever CL, the deflection angle lever VL, and the throttle lever TL.
This can be achieved by operating either the trim switch TS or the throttle lever TL, making the operation extremely easy.

That is, during takeoff and landing, first the collective lever CL, then the deflection angle lever VL equipped with the trim switch TS, and finally the throttle lever TL are operated, and each purpose is achieved by operating them with one hand.

The crawl from normal flight to landing is performed by a series of operations almost the opposite of the above, as shown in the table below.

Z

[Brief description of the drawings]

The accompanying drawings are diagrams of an embodiment for explaining the principles of the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a side view of the aircraft, FIG. 2 is an example of the layout of the control devices in the cockpit, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a switching device for the engine thrust control system. PE: propulsion engine, LE: lift engine,
VN: Vector nozzle, G: Center of gravity, CL:
Collector lever, TL...Throttle lever, vL
...Deflection angle lever, TS...Trim switch.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An aircraft is equipped with one or more lift engines and one or more thrust vectoring engines symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides away from the center of gravity in the longitudinal direction, and the engines are arranged so that the moment around the center of gravity of the aircraft is balanced when the engines have maximum thrust and maximum deflection angle. In the cockpit, there are provided a throttle lever that controls the thrust of the thrust vectoring engine, a collective lever that simultaneously controls the thrust of both the lift engine and the thrust vectoring engine with the same mechanism, and a deflection angle lever that controls the deflection angle of the thrust vectoring engine, and the deflection angle lever is connected to a power steering mechanism that controls the thrust, start, and stop of the lift engine. A control system for a vertical take-off and landing aircraft, characterized in that the control of the deflection angle of the engine with thrust vectoring and the control of the thrust of the lift engine are performed with one hand by providing a trim switch for controlling the deflection angle of the engine with thrust vectoring and the thrust of the lift engine, the thrust of the engine with thrust vectoring being controlled by the lower reading of the collective lever and the trim switch, and the thrust of the engine with thrust vectoring being controlled by the lower reading of the throttle lever and the collective lever, and by controlling the thrust percentages of both the lift engine and the engine with thrust vectoring to be the same by operating the collective lever at the maximum deflection angle, and by controlling the deflection angle lever at the intermediate deflection angle, the moment of balance of both thrusts around the center of gravity can be adjusted by simultaneously operating the trim switch provided thereon, thereby enabling the pilot to increase or decrease the engine thrust and eliminate the unbalanced moment of pitching around the center of gravity caused by changing the deflection angle, all with one hand.