A GROUND EFFECT FLIGHT VEHICLE

Abstract

A ground effect flight vehicle comprising, a fuselage (1), a wing assembly (4, 5), an engine assembly comprising one or more engines or engine sets (6, 7, 8), and a hull (2) for enabling floatation of the vehicle; wherein the wing assembly (4, 5) comprises stabilizer wings (4) and/or the one or more engines (6, 7, 8) are equipped to provide an airflow departing from the engines (6, 7, 8) which is positionable in one of multiple positions, a first position of the multiple positions which is arranged to generate lift for vertical take-off purpose, and a second position of the multiple positions which is for horizontal cruise flight.

Claims

1. A ground effect vehicle comprising a fuselage (1), a wing assembly (4, 5), an engine assembly comprising one or more engines or engine sets (6, 7, 8), and a hull (2) for enabling floatation of the vehicle; wherein the wing assembly (4, 5) comprises positionable stabilizer wings (4) and/or the one or more engines (6, 7, 6) are equipped to provide an airflow departing from the engines (6, 7, 8) which is directable in one of multiple directions, a first direction of the multiple directions which is arranged to generate lift for vertical take-off purpose, and a second direction of the multiple directions which is for horizontal cruise flight in and out of ground effect, wherein the vehicle has apertures (10) to enable passing of air propelled by the engine assembly when the airflow departing from one or more engines (6, 7) is directed in the first direction, characterized in that the apertures (10) are closable so as to prevent airflow from a lower side to an upper side of the vehicle and to optimize horizontal cruise flight of the vehicle.

2. The ground effect vehicle of claim 1, characterized in that the one or more engines (6, 7, 8) are equipped with a controllable thrust diversion mechanism.

3. The ground effect vehicle of claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the one or more engines (7) are rotatably mounted on one of the fuselage (1) and the wing assembly (4, 5).

4. The ground effect vehicle of any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that during cruise flight when the stabilizer wings (4) and/or the airflow departing from one or more engines (7) is directed in the second direction, said second direction of the airflow departing from one or more engines (7) is tuneable so as to arrange for controlling movement of the vehicle in roll/pitch and yaw directions.

5. The ground effect vehicle of any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that the engine assembly (6, 7, 8) comprises two or more engines (7, 8) that are distributed over the wing assembly (4, 5) to allow directional control by differential powering up of said engines.

6. The ground effect vehicle of any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that the engine assembly (6, 7, 8) comprises different types of engines, a first type to meet requirements both for loiter/hover conditions, a second type sized for forward flight, and a third type in the form of a booster to create an air cushion in an initial stage of take-off.

7. The ground effect vehicle of any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that the engine assembly (6, 7, 8) comprises a forward propulsion engine set (6) which is located inside the fuselage (1) or on forward wings/canards (4) of the wing assembly (4, 5), and an aft propulsion engine set (7) which is located on a main wing (5) of the wing assembly (4, 5), and a secondary thruster or thrusters (8) to control three-dimensional motions of the vehicle.

8. The ground effect vehicle of claim 7, characterized in that the forward propulsion engine set (6) is arranged for maneuvering (roll, pitch, yaw), for hover/VTOL/STOL support and as additional booster.

9. The ground effect vehicle of any one of claims 7-8, characterized in that the secondary thruster or thrusters (8) are placed on a selected one of a group comprising the canards (4), main wings (5), and side floats (3) to control the three-dimensional motion (yaw, pitch, roll) of the vehicle.

10. The ground effect vehicle of claim 9, characterized in that the secondary thruster or thrusters (3) are mounted on the forward wings/canards (4) which are tiltable.

11. The ground effect vehicle of any one of claims 7-10, characterized in that the aft propulsion engine set (7) comprises one or more tiltable propulsion engines.

12. The ground effect vehicle of any one of claims 1-11, characterized in that the engine assembly is electrically powered.

Description

[0039] In the drawing:

[0040] FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of an ground effect vehicle according to the invention in an isometric view in cruise control mode;

[0041] FIG. 2 shows an isometric view the ground effect vehicle of FIG. 1 in VTOL mode;

[0042] FIG. 3 shows the ground effect vehicle as shown in FIG. 2 with a view at the hull of the vehicle;

[0043] FIG. 4 shows an exploded view of the first embodiment of the ground effect vehicle shown in FIG. 1;

[0044] FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of an ground effect vehicle according to the invention in several views;

[0045] FIGS. 6.1-6.3 show schematically different options to provide the airflow departing from the engines to be positionable in one of multiple positions; and

[0046] FIGS. 6.4 and 6.5 show the closable apertures to prevent airflow from a lower side to an upper side of the vehicle and to optimize horizontal cruise flight of the vehicle.

[0047] Whenever in the figures the same reference numerals are applied, these numerals refer to the same parts.

[0048] With reference to the FIGS. 1-5 that are for a large par: self-explanatory, it is shown that the ground effect vehicle of the invention comprises a fuselage 1; a wing assembly 4, 5; an engine assembly 6, 7, 8 comprising one or more engines; and a hull 2 for enabling floatation of the vehicle. Further there is a float assembly 3 to provide stability during floatation on a water surface. Optionally the ground effect vehicle may also be provided with a wheelset to enable vehicle to land on and depart from solid ground. The wheelset may for instance be integrated with the float assembly 3.

[0049] According to the invention the wing assembly 4, 5 comprises stabilizer wings 4, wherein a comparison between FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 shows that the stabilizer wings 4 are positionable and/or the one or more engines 7 are positionable so as to arrange that the airflow departing from the engines is directable in one of multiple directions. A first position of the engines which results in a corresponding direction of the airflow departing from the engines is best shown in FIG. 2 which is arranged to generate lift for vertical take-off purpose. A second position of the engines and a corresponding direction of the airflow departing from the engines is shown in FIG. 1 which is arranged for horizontal cruise flight. The one or more engines are therefore rotatably mounted on one of the fuselage 1 and the wing assembly, in particular the main wings 5.

[0050] The rotatable mounting of the engines is schematically also shown in FIG. 6.1, depicting also another option to provide that the airflow departing from the engines can be selectively arranged to flow in a desired direction, to note that FIG. 6.2 and FIG. 6.3 show schematically that the one or more engines can be equipped with a controllable thrust diversion mechanism. By suitably controlling this thrust diversion mechanism it is possible to provide an airflow departing from the engines which is directable in one of multiple directions, a first direction of the multiple directions which is arranged to generate lift for vertical take-off purpose, and a second direction of the multiple directions which is for horizontal cruise flight.

[0051] FIG. 6.4 and FIG. 6.5 further show examples of closable apertures to prevent airflow from a lower side to an upper side of the vehicle and to optimize horizontal cruise flight of the vehicle.

[0052] Turning back to FIGS. 1-5, it is remarked that during cruise flight when the stabilizer wings 4 and/or the one or more engines 7 are in the second position according to FIG. 1, said second position of the one or more engines 7 is tuneable so as to arrange for controlling movement of the vehicle in roll/pitch and yaw directions.

[0053] In particular FIG. 3, which is a view from below at the vehicle shown in FIG. 2, clearly shows that the vehicle has apertures 10 to enable passing of air propelled by the engine assembly when the one or more engines 7 are in the first or VTOL position.

[0054] It is further desirable that the apertures 10 are closable to avoid undesirable turbulence during cruise flight.

[0055] Both FIG. 1 and FIG. 5 show that in both embodiments of the ground effect vehicle of the invention the engine assembly comprises two or more engines 6, 7, 8 that are distributed over the wing assembly 4, 5 to allow directional control by differential powering up of said engines 6, 7, 8.

[0056] It is further beneficial that the engine assembly 6, 7, 8 comprises different types of engines, a first type to meet requirements both for loiter/hover conditions, i.e. engine 6 and a second type sized for forward flight, i.e. engines 7, and a third type in the form of a booster to create an air cushion in an initial stage of take-off.

[0057] The respective figures further show an aerodynamic fuselage 1 for carrying cargo/passengers, a hull 2 and an engine assembly 6, 7, 8 which comprises a forward propulsion engine set 6 which is located inside the fuselage 1 and on forward wings/canards 4 of the wing assembly 4, 5; and an aft propulsion engine set 7 which is located on a main wing 5 of the wing assembly 4, 5, and a secondary thruster or thrusters 8 to control three-dimensional motions of the vehicle. Preferably the secondary thruster or thrusters 8 are mounted on the forward wings/canards 4 which are tiltable.

[0058] The hull 2 carries the fuselage 1 above the water surface/ground when stationary. The hull 2 shape can be a v-hull, stepped hull, catamaran, trimaran, multihull or comprising multiple separate floats. The hull 2 is designed in such a way that when the propulsion engine sets 6, 7 are blowing air under the vehicle, a complete or partial air cushion is created to hover the vehicle just above the sea surface/ground at zero forward speed or below take-off speed.

[0059] The forward propulsion engine set 6 is arranged for maneuvering (roll, pitch, yaw), for hover/VTOL/STOL support and as additional booster. The secondary thruster or thrusters 8 are placed on a selected one of a group comprising the canards 4, main wings 5, and side floats 3 to control the three-dimensional motion (yaw, pitch, roll) of the vehicle. The aft propulsion engine set 7 comprises one or more tiltable propulsion engines which act as main thruster and maneuver control. During VTOL, the aft propulsion engine set 7 is directed downwards for blowing air under the main wings 5. The aft propulsion engine set 7 can be directed with an angle to obtain both lift and forward thrust during STOL. The aft propulsion engine set 7 is set to horizontal during cruise where the lift is created by the wings 4, 5.

[0060] The applied propulsion units can be either ducted fan type, contra-rotating propellers, turbo fan or gas turbine. The propulsion units can be designed as tilted type or fixed type with an additional mechanism (i.e. thrust vectoring nozzle) for directing the thrust. The aft propulsion engine set 7 can also be used as ailerons by separate control of the thrust angle of each unit. The roll and yaw motions are preferably controlled by the aft propulsion engine set 7.

[0061] The secondary thruster or thrusters 8 can be placed anywhere and in any desired number on the vehicle (i.e. on the canards, main wings, side floats etc.) to control the three-dimensional motion (yaw, pitch, roll) of the vehicle. The secondary thrusters 8 can also be used for creating additional lift or thrust.

[0062] Finally it is remarked that the engine assembly 6, 7, 8 can be arranged to be electrically powered.

[0063] Although the invention has been discussed in the foregoing with reference to exemplary embodiments of an ground effect vehicle of the invention, the invention is not restricted to these particular embodiments which can be varied in many ways without departing from the invention. The discussed exemplary embodiments shall therefore not be used to construe the appended claims strictly in accordance therewith. On the contrary the embodiments are merely intended to explain the wording of the appended claims without intent to limit the claims to these exemplary embodiments. The scope of protection of the invention shall therefore be construed in accordance with the appended claims only, wherein a possible ambiguity in the wording of the claims shall be resolved using these exemplary embodiments.