RU2735442C1 - Aircraft single-wing propulsor - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: machine building.

SUBSTANCE: single aeronautical propulsor comprises a wheel made of a cyclocopter rotor, independent suspension of the chassis frame - an outer grate tire, which provides adhesion when driving on the ground and access to the air mass through the grate during flight, shock absorbers inside the wheel, swash plate from materials with shape memory, sensors for measuring distances and height lidar/radar, electric motors of rotors, electronic stroke controllers (ESC), made with possibility to control electric motor rotations and smooth variation of electric power supplied to electric motor, proportional-integral-differentiating regulators (PID-regulators), battery controllers, on-board flight computer.

EFFECT: higher safety of flight, take-off and landing, including using inclined surfaces and with possibility of berthing to vertical surfaces, increased duration and range of flight, possibility to control thrust vector in range 360°, reduced weight, increased collision safety at low speeds.

1 cl, 2 dwg

Description

The invention relates to aviation and can be used in vertical take-off and landing aircraft (LA), in particular, in flying motorcycles, cars, cargo drones, in manned and unmanned vehicles.

The urban landscape makes special requirements for the safety of aircraft approach and mooring to buildings and other vertical objects, which is not satisfied in the case of helicopters and multicopters with horizontal rotors.

Also, modern aircraft lack effective shock absorption in collisions and falls.

A wing in the form of a paddle wheel is known from the prior art (see patent US 5265827 for invention, publ. 30.11.1993).

The wing-blades of this wheel change their angle of attack from positive to negative at each revolution, creating lift, and their controlled eccentricity creates any combination of horizontal and vertical forces.

At the Langley Laboratory in 1933, John B. Wheatley theoretically tested aerodynamic principles and performed numerical calculations for a rotor with four blades, a radius of 1.8 meters, a blade span of 7.3 m, a chord of 144 mm and a peripheral speed of 91 m / s, and a cyclogiro with two similar rotors ( takeoff weight 1362 kg with an engine of 300 hp).

In the course of the analysis, the scheme was found to be operational, while hanging flight, vertical ascent and level flight at a reasonable speed are feasible without excessively high engine power.

However, it has been found that the cyclogyr is capable of autorotation during glide flight.

In 1935, John B. Wheatley and Ray Windler blew a 4-blade cyclogyr rotor, span and diameter 2.4 m each, chord 95 mm, in a 6-meter NACA wind tunnel.

It is known that the cyclogiro is capable of vertical takeoff, horizontal flight and non-motorized gliding.

The weight efficiency of the cyclogyr seems to be very low, and the maximum speed of 100 mph is achievable only with a specific power load of no more than 3.2 kg / hp.

The dependence of the required power on the drag and lift coefficients from the 1933 theory was confirmed.

The aerodynamic quality increases rapidly with increasing blade speed / airspeed ratio.

In 1933, Professor Adolph Rohrbach designed a cyclogyr with three-bladed rotors 4.4 m long. The device with a maximum take-off weight of 950 kg. Vertical takeoff, high maneuverability.

Estimated characteristics of the known technical solution:

Overall dimensions: length - 8.6 m, height - 4.3 m, span - 10 m.

Rotors: diameter - 3.6 m, three blades, blade length - 4.4 m, chord - 0.315 m, maximum rotation speed - 420 rpm.

Engine power - 240 hp, possibly from two motors.

Empty weight - 680 kg, payload - 270 kg, takeoff weight - 950 kg.

Speeds: maximum - 200 km / h, cruising (at 75% rpm) - 170 km / h, minimum - 0 km / h, maximum when flying backwards - 30 km / h.

The ceiling is 4500 m for horizontal flight and 500 m for vertical climb. The flight range is 400 km with three passengers and 700 km without passengers.

With an overload of 250 kg (that is, with a takeoff weight of 1200 kg), the minimum speed is 21 km / h, the maximum speed is 190 km / h, the ceiling is 2700 m.

Flight range - 1050 km with two passengers and 1550 km without passengers.

Then NASA carried out additional calculations using modern computers and is seriously considering a rotoplan development project, but there were not enough funds.

In 1976-1980s, Marcel Chabone patented traction-bearing rotors (French patent No. 76.39820, 1976; US patent No. 4210299, 1977-1980). When the blade moves downward, a lifting force is created, while moving upward, a pushing force, the angle of attack is controlled "programmatically" by means of profiled cams. Different sets of cams for different flight modes (takeoff, climb, cruise, descent, landing)

American Heinz Gerhardt in 1992-1993 patented (US patent No. 5265827) a new aircraft with paddle wheels, which is a conventional cyclogyr according to the aerodynamic design. Longitudinal balancing is provided either by a vertical propeller on the keel or by a second pair of cyclo-fat rotors.

The peculiarity of the apparatus is the absence of kinematics for controlling the cyclic setting angle of the blades. Instead, a hydraulic cylinder is installed on each blade, constantly controlled by a computer according to a selected law.

Currently, Seoul State University (South Korea), the National University of Singapore, the Bosch Aerospace group and several other organizations have taken up the idea. The first model took off in 2007.

The main features of vertical take-off and landing aircraft with cyclic propellers in comparison with helicopter technology are the ability to work in limited conditions due to the protection of the propellers from collisions with obstacles, the ability to dock to vertical surfaces, take off and land from inclined surfaces and higher maneuverability. As shown by mathematical modeling, the cyclolet in a number of key parameters also surpasses multicopters similar in layout. In particular, with the same dimensions and take-off weight, the cyclolet requires much less engine power with almost twice the payload mass.

The advantage of the cyclogyra is the possibility of practically inertial control of the thrust vector in the range of 360 °.

In the prior art, a separate and unrelated invention to the cyclocopter / cyclolette is a wheel with a vertically variable damping hub.

In contrast to the known technical solutions, the claimed system combines 2 separate inventions: Gerhardt's cyclocopter (see patent US 5265827, publ. 30.11.1993) and a shock-absorbing Soft Wheel, they are combined into a single aircraft unit: landing gear + rotor, so a new propeller appears for urban aero transport: shock-absorbing wheel - cyclocopter.

The modification of Gerhardt's cyclocopter is that the angle of attack of each blade is changed programmatically in such a way that the resulting thrust vector can be directed in any direction in the plane of rotation of the rotor. In a particular case, when the apparatus moves above the ground at a fixed height, when the blade moves downward, a lifting force is created, when moving upwards, a pushing force, when moving along the motion vector and against it, a lifting force is generated (in this case, the lifting force holds the apparatus without reducing, and the pushing one provides straight-line movement).

The rotation of aircraft with N propellers in the form of a cyclocopter along Yaw (Yaw, or rotation around the vertical axis) can be carried out both by changing the angle of the frame itself (rotation M, where M <N and M from 2x to 20 front propellers, similar to an ATV), and by changing the horizontal thrust of the rotors corresponding to the turn (on the side to which the turn is made, the pushing force increases, on the opposite side it weakens).

The technical results of the claimed invention are:

- the use of a shock-absorbing structure of vertical rotors and shock absorbers in the impeller, which increases and preserves the life and health of the pilot and aircraft passengers during an emergency landing;

- the transition of energy into motion on the chassis, as well as the impulse of rotating blades to damp the energy of impact on the ground / obstacle;

- the possibility of safe evacuation / selection of people;

- an increase in the duration and range of aircraft flight due to a decrease in weight and dimensions and an improvement in aerodynamics;

- no need for a transitional mode between movement on the ground and in the air;

- the possibility of vertical takeoff and landing with a takeoff run in any direction;

- the ability to safely take off and land on inclined surfaces;

- the possibility of using some engines to continue effective movement on the ground after flight and vice versa;

- weight reduction due to the absence of separate landing gear, since each rotor of the cyclocopter type performs the functions of the chassis;

- the possibility of practically inertialess control of the thrust vector in the range of 360 °;

- the possibility of safe approach and "mooring" to vertical objects such as buildings (safe evacuation / picking up people from balconies / loggias / windows)

- an increase in the duration and range of the multicopter flight due to a decrease in weight and dimensions and an improvement in aerodynamics;

- no need for a transitional mode between movement on the ground and in the air;

- weight reduction due to the absence of separate chassis (each rotor of the cyclocopter type performs the functions of the chassis);

- collision safety at low speeds with similar aircraft and vertical obstacles in the air due to the protection of the propeller-motor group.

The technical results are achieved by the fact that the system for combining the rotor and the shock-absorbing landing gear of the aircraft into a single airborne propulsion device includes:

- cyclocopter wheel with paddles;

- onboard flight computer with a processor with the ability to interact with the rotor motor and servo drives to change the angles of attack and blade profiles, as well as active damping;

- independent suspension of the chassis frame - an external lattice tire with an internal fluoroplastic coating, which provides traction when driving on the ground and access to the air mass through the grill - during flight;

- sensors for taking all information and data;

- rotor motors;

- electronic speed controllers (ESC);

- proportional-integral-differentiating controllers (PID controllers);

- battery controllers.

At the same time, N cyclocopter rotors are used (from 2 to 200), which perform the function of shock-absorbing landing gear with a rotating surface of contact with the ground, regardless of the rotation of the blades.

In this case, the outer trellis tire rotates independently due to the inner fluoroplastic coating.

"Shock-absorbing wheel - cyclocopter" can be used both in flying motorcycles and in cars, cargo drones, in manned and unmanned vehicles.

The features and essence of the claimed invention are illustrated in the following detailed description, illustrated by the drawings, which shows the following.

Figure 1 shows the rotor chassis in profile (view from the outside of the apparatus body). Clockwise rotation of the shoulder blades.

Figure 1 indicates the following:

1 - a wheel made of a cyclocopter rotor;

2 - variable angle of attack of each blade due to the swashplate;

3 - lattice frame, playing the role of a tire on an independent suspension in the wheel (internal fluoroplastic coating);

4 - shock absorbers inside the wheel;

5 - swash plate made of materials with shape memory.

Figure 2 shows the external view of the rotor chassis in profile (view from the side of the apparatus body). Counterclockwise rotation.

Swashplate in operation: the shift of the inner ring ensures the setting of a cyclic pitch (changing the angles of attack of the blades).

Like most modern multicopters, an on-board computer and lidar (or radar) are used to measure distances and altitudes.

The rotor-wheel is made according to the cyclocopter scheme. The blades have a variable angle of attack (servo drives, or a swash plate) and a variable profile (a membrane with a reaction to the swash plate, or a system of tubes with electric valves), which are set, depending on the required thrust vector, by commands of the on-board computer.

The rotor-wheel is equipped with shock-absorbing spokes that absorb the energy of impacts both by bending and by a pneumatic shock absorber.

The on-board flight computer is capable of:

- control of the rotor motors and setting the angles / profiles of the blades by direct communication of the computer with the servo drives and the electric valves of the blades to change the thrust vector of each cyclocopter wheel;

- on the received signal of a fall / collision, in the event of an emergency or abnormal situation or indications from controllers and / or highly sensitive sensors (radar / lidar), turn on the "active damping" system, in which the shock absorbers cyclically increase their shoulder in the direction of meeting an obstacle.

Electronic Stroke Control (ESC) - to control the speed of the electric motor, it allows you to smoothly vary the electric power supplied to the electric motor.

To change the thrust vector, the on-board flight computer directly sets the required angle of attack and the blade profile to each of the N-rotors of cyclocopters.

After the angle is set (respectively, the vector is set), the on-board computer sends data on the required thrust and the required electricity to the controller, which processes this request, and in accordance with this request sets the operating mode of the cyclocopter electric motor (blade rotation speed).

At the same time, first, the cyclic rotation of the angle of attack and the profile of each blade of each of the N cyclocopter wheels are established for setting the thrust vector. The data is then sent to the electronic controllers (ESC). Immediately after that, the data is sent to the proportional-integral-derivative controller (RP-controller). As a result, the motor current and the speed of rotation of the blades change, the electronic stroke control (ESC) determines this and sends data about the current, speed, and other parameters of the propeller group to the controller, which checks compliance with the requested parameters, if the result is achieved, we do nothing, if not, repeat the procedure.

One of the main advantages of the invention is that. that the main parameter is the thrust of the propeller group, which is set immediately after turning and setting the blade profile, which shows excellent dynamic characteristics.

The analysis of the state of the art made it possible to establish: analogs with a set of essential features that are identical and identical to the essential features of the claimed system for combining the rotor and the shock-absorbing landing gear of an aircraft into a single air-ground propulsion device to increase active and passive protection against crashes in a fall and collisions in the air and to move along land and air, are absent, which indicates the compliance of the declared system with the "novelty" condition of patentability.

The results of the search for known solutions in order to identify essential features that coincide with the essential features of the claimed system that are distinctive from analogues showed that they do not follow explicitly from the prior art, and the influence of distinctive essential features on the technical result indicated by the authors has not been established.

Therefore, the claimed invention meets the "inventive step" requirement of patentability.

Although the claimed invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes in form and content may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims taking into account the description and drawings.

Claims (14)

A single airborne propulsion device containing: - a wheel made of a cyclocopter rotor; - independent suspension of the chassis frame - an external lattice tire that provides traction when driving on the ground and access to air mass through the grid during flight; - shock absorbers inside the wheel; - swash plate made of materials with shape memory; - sensors for measuring distances and heights of the lidar / radar; - rotor motors; - electronic speed controllers (ESC), made with the ability to control the speed of the electric motor and smoothly vary the electric power supplied to the electric motor; - proportional-integral-differentiating controllers (PID controllers); - battery controllers; - an onboard flight computer capable of: - control of the rotor motors and setting the angles / profiles of the blades by direct communication of the computer with the servos and electrovalves of the blades to change the thrust vector of each wheel; - activation of the "active damping" system on the received signal of a fall / collision in the event of an emergency abnormal situation or indications from controllers and / or highly sensitive radar / lidar sensors, in which the shock absorbers cyclically increase the shoulder in the direction of meeting an obstacle; - interactions with the rotor motor and servo drives, as well as changes in the angles of attack and blade profiles and active damping.

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