A power plant for a small aircraft with a gas turbine engine that drives a number of electric generators, where a gear box transmit power from the engine shaft to the number of generators, the gear box having a single input shaft that drives a number of driven gears with each driven gear having a generator drive shaft that extends out both sides, and an electric generator connected to each side of the drive shaft. A compact arrangement of generators are formed where each generator can be disengaged from the drive shaft to regulate total electrical output or to prevent a damaged generator from causing damage to other parts of the system or aircraft.

An aircraft includes a fuselage having a tapered rear shape, a landing gear for moving the aircraft on a runway, a wing attached to the fuselage, at least a main engine for providing a main thrust and a rear fan, wherein the rear fan is attached to a tail section of the fuselage, wherein the aircraft is designed for conducting a take-off rotation around the landing gear during take-off from the runway, such that the tail section of the fuselage approaches the runway, wherein the rear fan is an open fan having fan blades extending in a radial direction to a longitudinal axis of the fuselage, wherein the fan blades are dimensioned to equal at least a boundary layer thickness of the flow along the fuselage and to be smaller than the gap between the runway and the tail section of the fuselage during the take-off rotation.

A hybrid electric aircraft propulsion system at least includes a motor with induction effect to drive a propeller or propulsion fan. The motor is directly supplied from the electrical output of a generator. The generator is driven by a variable speed engine and as such the generator has a output frequency proportional to the speed of the engine. A controller is operatively coupled to the motor, the generator and the engine. The controller is operable to control a speed of the engine and the excitation of the generator to provide an output at a target voltage and frequency to drive the motor at a desired torque and speed.

A passenger-carrying rotorcraft with fixed-wings for generating lift utilizes an occupiable structural body, a control unit, a plurality of lift-generating rotors, a portable power source, and a bi-wing structure. The rotorcraft configured with fixed-wings results in an energy-efficient aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing. The occupiable structural body is designed to carry a pilot and one or more passengers. The control unit is wired to flight instruments controlled by the pilot, allowing the pilot to maneuver the rotorcraft. The plurality of lift-generating rotors provides upward thrust for vertical takeoff and landing of the rotorcraft. The portable power source is charged by a hybrid power generation system running on both renewable solar energy and a non-renewable chemical fuel source. The bi-wing structure employs two airfoils positioned on top of each other to maximize the lift without significantly increasing the effective wingspan.

An electric machine is provided which includes a rotor disk extending along a radial direction and having a rotor flange attached to or formed integrally with the rotor disk and extending substantially along the axial direction. A plurality of rotor magnets are mounted on the rotor disk and supported by the rotor flange such that the rotor flange absorbs centrifugal loads exerted on the magnets and enables high speeds of operation.

A power source for an aircraft including a solid oxide fuel cell and a solid oxide fuel cell along with a solid oxide fuel cell multi-power source. At least one battery is electrically coupled to the solid oxide fuel cell, the solid oxide fuel cell, and an aircraft distribution network to supply electricity to the aircraft and also for becoming recharged by the solid oxide fuel cell and the solid oxide fuel cell.

An electricity generating apparatus capable of efficiently and safely charging a storage battery in an unmanned aerial vehicle during its flight and an unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with such apparatus. The apparatus is mounted in the vehicle, including a fuel tank which is a container body to reserve fuel, an electric generator unit connected to the fuel tank, tilt measurement means capable of measuring a tilt of the fuel tank, and electricity generation control means for controlling operation of generating electricity by the electric generator unit, wherein the electric generator unit is capable of charging a storage battery in the vehicle during flight, and the electricity generation control means drives the electric generator unit when a tilt angle of the fuel tank indicated by the tilt measurement means is within a safe angle which is a predetermined threshold angle, as well as an unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with such apparatus.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for overcoming the disadvantages of current air transportation systems that might be used for regional travel by providing a more cost effective and convenient regional air transport system. In some embodiments, the inventive air transport system, operational methods, and associated aircraft include a highly efficient plug-in series hybrid-electric powertrain (specifically optimized for aircraft operating in regional ranges), a forward compatible, range-optimized aircraft design, enabling an earlier impact of electric-based air travel services as the overall transportation system and associated technologies are developed, and platforms for the semi-automated optimization and control of the powertrain, and for the semi-automated optimization of determining the flight path for a regional distance hybrid-electric aircraft flight.

Disclosed is a high-power electric motor and its fabrication technology. The motor and its distributed power electronics are all being fully integrated in a conventional turbofan engine. The rotor drives directly (with no gears) the LP shaft of the jet engine while requiring minimal modification to a basic jet engine and without distortion to the nacelle geometry. In principle such a configuration should be suitable for a power level of 10 to 50 MW, which makes it fully capable of providing a standard flight envelope by only using electric energy.

A turboelectric vehicle may include a fuselage and a wing coupled to the fuselage. A wing propulsor may be coupled to the wing. A rear propulsor may be positioned at a rear portion of the fuselage and may be electrically coupled to the wing propulsor. The rear propulsor may be configured to receive power extracted from the wing propulsor.