Multi-Propulsion Design for Unmanned Aerial Systems

Abstract

A propulsion system for a ducted fan vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (VTOL) powered by multiple electric motors with two, counter rotating electric motors comprising the primary thrust generation within a ducted fan component and 3 or more external electric motors providing lift, stability and directional control of the aircraft. Through the use of counter rotating ducted fans, the aircraft does not require the need for internal statorseither fixed or adjustable angle. Power to the electric motors is sourced by either onboard batteries, a ground based power source via a ground to aircraft tether, or an on board fuel cell or combustion engine driving an alternator.

Claims

1. An unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising: a central ducted fan; three or more external rotors located peripherally around said central ducted fan.

2. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1, wherein the central ducted fan comprises two or more counter rotating rotors with the same axis of rotation.

3. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 2, wherein the central ducted fan rotors are stacked at a distance from each other that allows for maximum thrust efficiency.

4. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 2, wherein the central ducted fan rotors each have their own motor.

5. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 4, wherein the motors for each rotor of the central ducted fan are electric.

6. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1, wherein the external rotors are ducted.

7. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1, further comprising an alternator.

8. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a reciprocating gas engine

9. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 8, wherein the engine is located axially to the central ducted fan.

10. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 8, wherein the engine is located in the bottom half of the vehicle.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] Various embodiments are described herein with reference to the following Drawings. Certain aspects of the Drawings are depicted in a simplified way for reason of clarity. Not all alternatives and options are shown in the Drawings and, therefore, the Claims are not limited in scope to the content of the Drawings.

Figures

[0018] FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a dual mode propulsion system for a ducted fan aerial vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0019] FIG. 2 illustrates a cut-away view of a dual mode propulsion system for a ducted fan aerial vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0020] FIG. 3 illustrates an exploded view of a dual mode propulsion system for a ducted fan aerial vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 4 illustrates an exploded view of a dual mode propulsion system for a ducted fan aerial vehicle with ducted peripheral motors, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0022] Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding components throughout the several figures of the Drawings. Elements in the several figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be emphasized relative to other elements for facilitating understanding of the various presently disclosed embodiments. Also, common, but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present disclosure.

REFERENCES

[0023] 100 Dual Propulsion Mode Ducted Fan Unmanned Aerial Vehicle [0024] 101 Alternator [0025] 102 Reciprocating Gas Engine [0026] 105 Upper Ducted Fan Rotor Assembly [0027] 106 Lower Ducted Fan Rotor Assembly [0028] 107 External Electric Propeller [0029] 110 External Electric Motor [0030] 112 Voltage Regulator [0031] 118 Central Duct [0032] 122 Ducted External Electric Motor and propeller

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] The following description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of describing the general principles of exemplary embodiments, many additional embodiments of this invention are possible. It is understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended. The scope of the disclosure should be determined with reference to the Claims. Reference throughout this specification to one embodiment, an embodiment, or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic that is described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thus, appearances of the phrases in one embodiment, in an embodiment, and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.

[0034] Further, the described features, structures, or characteristics of the present disclosure may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the Detailed Description, numerous specific details are provided for a thorough understanding of embodiments of the disclosure. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the embodiments of the present disclosure can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the present disclosure. Any alterations and further modifications in the illustrated devices, and such further application of the principles of the invention as illustrated herein are contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

[0035] Unless otherwise indicated, the drawings are intended to be read (e.g., arrangement of parts, proportion, degree, etc.) together with the specification, and are to be considered a portion of the entire written description of this invention. As used in the following description, the terms horizontal, vertical, left, right, up and down, as well as adjectival and adverbial derivatives thereof (e.g., horizontally, rightwardly, upwardly, etc.), simply refer to the orientation of the illustrated structure as the particular drawing figure faces the reader. Similarly, the terms inwardly and outwardly generally refer to the orientation of a surface relative to its axis of elongation, or axis of rotation, as appropriate. Also, as used herein, terms such as positioned on or supported on mean positioned or supported on but not necessarily in direct contact with the surface.

[0036] The phrases at least one, one or more, and and/or are open-ended expressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive in operation. For example, each of the expressions at least one of A, B and C, at least one of A, B, or C, one or more of A, B, and C, one or more of A, B, or C and A, B, and/or C means A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, or A, B and C together. The terms a or an entity refers to one or more of that entity. As such, the terms a (or an), one or more and at least one can be used interchangeably herein. It is also to be noted that the terms comprising, including, and having can be used interchangeably.

[0037] For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the present invention, reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same.

[0038] Generally, FIGS. 1 through 4 illustrate embodiments of dual propulsion mode ducted fan unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) 100 with vertical take off and landing capabilities (VTOL). The dual propulsion modes are a combination of two or more counter-rotating centrally ducted fans in combination with radially arranged open or ducted rotors. This dual arrangement of propulsion captures the advantage of the high thrust of a ducted fan while maintaining the stability and controllability of a multirotor configuration.

[0039] Ducted fans are a common design solution for a VTOL UAV. The present embodiments of a VTOL UAV 100, illustrated in FIG. 1, include a centralized ducted fan to provide heavy lift capability. The lift contribution of the ducted fan is expected to offset the weight of the cargo and part of the airframe. Ducted fans provide greater trust performance for a smaller volume when compared to open rotor aircraft. The ducting structure provides the additional benefits of blade noise reduction and convenient aircraft systems and payload mounting locations.

[0040] As illustrated in FIG. 2, a major improvement of this new design over prior central ducted fan UAV designs is that the present design uses two or more counter rotating rotors within the aircraft's central duct 118 to reduce unwanted yawing due to rotor torque. By spinning two propellers in opposite directions, the applied yawing force on the aircraft generated by an upper ducted fan rotor assembly 105 counteracts the opposite force generated by a second lower ducted fan rotor assembly 106. If these two forces are the same magnitude, the net yaw force on the vehicle caused by rotor torque equals zero. Ideally, the two electric fan motors may be stacked at a calculated distance from the inlet and outlet of the duct and are mounted in specific proximity to one another, allowing for maximum thrust efficiency.

[0041] Conventional helicopters solve the issue of rotor torque with an anti-torque tail rotor. VTOL ducted fans UAVs such as the RQ-16 T-Hawk MAV developed by Honeywell, counteract rotor torque by directing the flow exiting the duct using actuating stators. Actuating stators require heavy and complex stator control systems and the many moving parts dramatically increase the likelihood of loss of control and malfunction.

[0042] Another important improvement is the use of two electric motors in each of the internal rotor assemblies 105 and 106. Firstly, twin electric motor configuration eliminates the need for a heavy gearbox. Secondly, a rotor driven by a mechanical motor would need a gearbox attached axially in the duct 118 which would further obstruct the flow of air and decrease power. Additionally, due to the high rotational speed the gearbox would have to accommodate, it would need to be manufactured from heavy metallic materials and would be prone to failure. If you choose two identical electric motors it allows you to modularize the design, facilitating easy repair and replacement.

[0043] Each electric motor can also be controlled separately, allowing for differential torque on the rotors and therefore an additional way of controlling aircraft yaw allowing you to gently turn the aircraft one way or the other. The use of electrical motors also eliminates the need for a mechanical drive from the reciprocating engine as the engine 102 only powers the alternator 101 that then supplies the power to the electrical motors.

[0044] In another embodiment you can power the two rotors though a single electric motor connected to a gearbox. In this embodiment the engine could turn the alternator 101 at a fixed speed, allowing for a decrease in the weight of the voltage regulator 112. In another embodiment an all-electric battery powered version of the aircraft would be possible with little modification to the vehicle.

[0045] As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, another important advancement in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles is the addition of external rotors to the central ducted fan design. Multirotor aircraft have long been used for VTOL UAS applications because of their stability and ability to adapt to quickly changing weather conditions. The present design can have 3 or more external rotors 107 driven by independent external electric motors 110. The lift contribution of these outboard motors may offset the remainder of the aircraft weight not propelled by the central ducted fan as well as provide for dramatically increased control and stability. FIG. 4 shows an embodiment where the external electric motors and propellers are also ducted 122. Ducted external propellers protect the rotors from being damaged should the vehicle bump into something.

[0046] One embodiment of a dual propulsion mode ducted fan unmanned aerial vehicle 100 may generate electrical power with a small reciprocating engine 102 with a high efficiency alternator 101. Power is delivered to the onboard electronic components and may be used to charge onboard batteries. The motor 102 and alternator 101 are ideally located coaxially to the central duct 118 primarily to maintain symmetric weight distribution and therefore stability. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the motor is located above the fan assemblies; however, balance is optimized when the motor 102 located below the fan assemblies. As an additional benefit, duct flow may provide cooling for the engine 102 when the aircraft is stationary or airflow is otherwise insufficient.

[0047] Information as herein shown and described in detail is fully capable of attaining the above-described object of the present disclosure, the presently preferred embodiment of the present disclosure; and is, thus, representative of the subject matter, which is broadly contemplated by the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure fully encompasses other embodiments which may become obvious to those skilled in the art, and is to be limited, accordingly, by nothing other than the appended claims, wherein any reference to an element being made in the singular is not intended to mean one and only one unless explicitly so stated, but rather one or more. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the above described preferred embodiment and additional embodiments as regarded by those of ordinary skill in the art are hereby expressly incorporated by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the present claims.

[0048] Moreover, no requirement exists for a system or method to address each and every problem sought to be resolved by the present disclosure, for such to be encompassed by the present claims. Furthermore, no element, component, or method step in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element, component, or method step is explicitly recited in the claims. However, that various changes and modifications in form, material, work-piece, and fabrication material detail may be made, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, as set forth in the appended claims, as may be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, are also encompassed by the present disclosure.