Embodiments described herein relate to a vertical take-off and landing aircraft, specifically an electric or hybrid electric aircraft having a plurality of ducted fans. The aircraft includes a plurality of axially oriented fans, laterally oriented fans, forward air intakes, side exit ports and rear exhaust ports. The aircraft achieves flight by capturing air in the intakes and diverting the air through the axially oriented fans or the laterally oriented fans through the channels selectively.

A VTOL aircraft has fixed wings and a rotor blade system for providing lift in active and passive modes thereof. Operation of the rotor blade system may be switched between the active mode in which the rotor blade system is driven by a power system of the aircraft and the passive mode in which the rotor blade system is not driven by the power system, the rotor blade system being configurable to provide lift in the passive mode during forward flight of the aircraft. The rotor blade system provides lift in the passive mode, allowing the fixed wings to be shorter than in the case where the rotor system provides lift during vertical take-off and landing but otherwise has no function, thus providing aircraft which is lighter, more compact and more efficient than similar aircraft of the prior art.

A propulsor (101) for an aircraft is shown. The propulsor comprises a propulsive fan (106), and an electric machine (108) configured to drive the propulsive fan. The electric machine has a casing containing electrical and electromechanical components, a shaft which extends outside of the casing and which is connected to the propulsive fan, and a seal to seal the casing around the shaft. A depressurisation system depressurises the casing below an external pressure to prevent electrical breakdown within gas in the casing of the electric machine.

A fully compounding rotorcraft includes a fuselage having first and second wings extending therefrom and configured to provide lift compounding responsive to forward airspeed. A twin boom includes first and second tail boom members that extend aftward from the first and second wings. An empennage is coupled between the aft ends of the tail boom members. An anti-torque system includes a tail rotor that is rotatably coupled to the empennage. An engine is disposed within the fuselage and is configured to provide torque to a main rotor assembly via an output shaft and a main rotor gearbox. An auxiliary propulsive system is coupled to the fuselage and is configured to generate a propulsive thrust to offload at least a portion of a thrust requirement from the main rotor during forward flight, thereby providing propulsion compounding to increase the forward airspeed of the rotorcraft.

A fully compounding rotorcraft includes a fuselage having first and second wings extending therefrom and configured to provide lift compounding responsive to forward airspeed. A twin boom includes first and second tail boom members that extend aftward from the first and second wings. An empennage is coupled between the aft ends of the tail boom members. An anti-torque system includes a tail rotor that is rotatably coupled to the empennage. An engine is disposed within the fuselage and is configured to provide torque to a main rotor assembly via an output shaft and a main rotor gearbox. An auxiliary propulsive system is coupled to the fuselage and is configured to generate a propulsive thrust to offload at least a portion of a thrust requirement from the main rotor during forward flight, thereby providing propulsion compounding to increase the forward airspeed of the rotorcraft.

A propulsion assembly for an aircraft, the propulsion assembly having a pylon configured to be fastened beneath a wing of the aircraft, a turbomachine having a longitudinal direction, a median plane and a transverse plane, and a nacelle surrounding the turbomachine and having a load support disposed in the top part of the nacelle. The load support has a structural part fastened to the pylon and an aerodynamic part capping the structural part. The aerodynamic part has, at the front, a front part fastened to the structural part and, at the rear, a rear part fastened to the pylon. Separating the load support into two parts makes it possible to reduce the movements of the aerodynamic part capping the structural part of the load support.

A propulsion assembly for an aircraft, the propulsion assembly having a pylon configured to be fastened beneath a wing of the aircraft, a turbomachine having a longitudinal direction, a median plane and a transverse plane, and a nacelle surrounding the turbomachine and having a load support disposed in the top part of the nacelle. The load support has a structural part fastened to the pylon and an aerodynamic part capping the structural part. The aerodynamic part has, at the front, a front part fastened to the structural part and, at the rear, a rear part fastened to the pylon. Separating the load support into two parts makes it possible to reduce the movements of the aerodynamic part capping the structural part of the load support.

A technique for generating electrical power from an engine in an aerial vehicle includes providing an alternator disk structure (ADS) between the engine and a propeller of the vehicle. The ADS is disposed concentrically with an engine drive shaft that drives the propeller and includes at least two concentric regions, a first region having a stator and a second region having a rotor. The first region is rotationally fixed relative to the engine, and the second region is coupled to a drive shaft of the engine. As the engine rotates the drive shaft, the rotor disposed in the second region spins concentrically relative to the stator disposed in the first region, thereby inducing electrical current in windings of the stator. The rotor and the stator thus work together to generate electrical power, which may be conveyed from the stator to electrical subsystems and controls of the vehicle.

A technique for generating electrical power from an engine in an aerial vehicle includes providing an alternator disk structure (ADS) between the engine and a propeller of the vehicle. The ADS is disposed concentrically with an engine drive shaft that drives the propeller and includes at least two concentric regions, a first region having a stator and a second region having a rotor. The first region is rotationally fixed relative to the engine, and the second region is coupled to a drive shaft of the engine. As the engine rotates the drive shaft, the rotor disposed in the second region spins concentrically relative to the stator disposed in the first region, thereby inducing electrical current in windings of the stator. The rotor and the stator thus work together to generate electrical power, which may be conveyed from the stator to electrical subsystems and controls of the vehicle.

A method for controlling an overdetermined system with multiple power-restricted actuators that perform a primary task and non-primary tasks, including: a) determining a pseudo-control command based on a physical model of the system, which pseudo-control command represents the torques and a total thrust force acting on the system, b) determining a control matrix, c) dissociating the control matrix into sub control matrices, wherein the sub control matrices and the corresponding sub pseudo-control commands correspond to the primary task for i=1 and for i>1 correspond to the non-primary task(s) and a priority of the non-primary tasks decreases with increasing index i, d) determining actuator control commands for solving the primary task, e) projecting the non-primary tasks into the null space of the primary task, and into respective null spaces of all of the non-primary tasks of higher priority, if present, and f) providing the actuator control commands from d) and e) at the actuators.