An aircraft includes a fuselage; a propulsion system including a power source and a vertical thrust propulsor driven by the power source; and a wing extending from the fuselage, the vertical thrust propulsor positioned on or at least partially within the wing, the wing including a diffusion assembly, the diffusion assembly including at least one diffusion member fixed in position and located downstream of the vertical thrust propulsor for diffusing an airflow from the vertical thrust propulsor.

An aircraft includes a fuselage; a wing coupled to, and extending from, the fuselage; and a propulsion system. The propulsion system includes a plurality of electric fans integrated into the wing and oriented to generate thrust along a vertical direction, the plurality of electric fans arranged along a length of the wing and including an outer-most electric fan along a transverse direction relative to the fuselage. The outer-most electric fan is at least one of a variable pitch fan or a variable speed fan to provide increased stability to the aircraft.

A method for operating a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft includes modifying a first variable component of a wing associated with a first portion of the plurality of vertical thrust electric fans relative to a second variable component of the wing associated with a second portion of the plurality of vertical thrust electric fans to adjust an exposure ratio of the first portion of the plurality of vertical thrust electric fans relative to the second portion of the plurality of vertical thrust electric fans.

An aircraft defining a vertical direction and a transverse direction. The aircraft may include a fuselage, a wing extending from the fuselage, and a hybrid-electric propulsion system. The hybrid-electric propulsion system may include a power source, a plurality of vertical thrust electric fans arranged along the wing and driven by the power source, and a forward thrust propulsor. The power source may include a combustion engine and an electric generator. The combustion engine may also define a flowpath for exhausting combustion gases. The forward thrust propulsor may be selectively or permanently mechanically coupled to the combustion engine. The forward thrust propulsor may include a propulsor fan having a plurality of fan blades arranged outside of the flowpath of the combustion engine for exhausting combustion gases.

An aircraft includes a fuselage; a wing coupled to, and extending from, the fuselage; and a hybrid-electric propulsion system. The hybrid-electric propulsion system includes a power source including a combustion engine and an electric generator; a plurality of vertical thrust electric fans integrated into the wing and oriented to generate thrust along the vertical direction, the plurality of vertical thrust electric fans arranged along a length of the wing and driven by the power source; and a forward thrust propulsor. The forward thrust propulsor it is selectively or permanently mechanically coupled to the combustion engine.

An aircraft includes at least two propulsion units being pivotable and arranged adjacent to each other along an arrangement direction. The propulsion units include a propulsion rotor and a duct for guiding air to the rotor. The duct has a non-circular inlet portion, a circular downstream portion located downstream of the inlet portion along the airflow direction, and an air guiding portion guiding air from the non-circular inlet portion to the circular downstream portion and establishing the transition therebetween. The air guiding portion has upper and lower portions. The aircraft further includes at least one septum interposed between rotation axes of two adjacent propulsion rotors. The septum extends on the upstream side along the airflow direction with respect to the circular downstream portion and between the upper and lower air guiding portions and has a guiding surface having at least one tangential plane parallel to the rotation axis.

A method of and system for operating a hybrid electric propulsion system for an aircraft in a start sequence is provided. The hybrid electric propulsion system includes a thermal engine, an electric motor, a gearbox, an electric power storage unit, and a propulsion unit having a propeller having propeller blades. The method includes: driving the propeller from a static state to a target rotational speed within a predetermined range of speeds using the electric motor; transitioning the propeller blades from a feathered mode to an unfeathered mode while the propeller is being driven at the target rotational speed solely by the electric motor; starting the thermal engine; and transitioning the driving of the propeller using the electric motor to driving the propeller using the thermal engine.

A method of modeling a turbine mounted behind an aircraft wing for providing a specified proportion of a propulsive force in the aircraft flight direction to an amount of power generated by the turbine when driven by the airflow trailing the wings. The turbine converts a portion of the otherwise wasted energy in the rotational vortices trailing the aircraft wings into thrust that reduces aircraft drag while also providing electricity to power electrical systems on the aircraft. The method is also capable of modeling a turbine construction that will use the energy in the wake solely to generate electricity without increasing drag on the aircraft or solely to reduce drag without generating electricity. In one embodiment, the method saves computation time by using a recursive routine to define a preliminary turbine configuration based on an idealized vortex model and then matches it to the flow trailing an actual aircraft wing.

An aircraft propulsion module comprising a hydrogen storage system (9), at least one electrochemical converter (7) connected to the hydrogen storage system, wherein the at least one electrochemical converter is adapted to convert hydrogen supplied from the hydrogen storage system into electric energy, and at least one electric motor (5) electrically connected to the at least one electrochemical converter, wherein the electric motor is adapted to generate thrust: wherein the propulsion module comprises a first part (1) and a second part (2), each of which comprise a respective fairing (4, 10); the first part and the second part are separable from each other; the first part comprises the at least one electrochemical converter and the at least one electric motor; and the second part comprises a hydrogen storage housing of the hydrogen storage system for storing a reusable hydrogen storage unit. An aircraft comprising at least one such aircraft propulsion module.

An aircraft propulsion module comprising a hydrogen storage system (9), at least one electrochemical converter (7) connected to the hydrogen storage system, wherein the at least one electrochemical converter is adapted to convert hydrogen supplied from the hydrogen storage system into electric energy, and at least one electric motor (5) electrically connected to the at least one electrochemical converter, wherein the electric motor is adapted to generate thrust: wherein the propulsion module comprises a first part (1) and a second part (2), each of which comprise a respective fairing (4, 10); the first part and the second part are separable from each other; the first part comprises the at least one electrochemical converter and the at least one electric motor; and the second part comprises a hydrogen storage housing of the hydrogen storage system for storing a reusable hydrogen storage unit. An aircraft comprising at least one such aircraft propulsion module.