VEHICLE HAVING MULTIPLE CONFIGURATIONS INCLUDING ROAD CONFIGURATION AND FLYING CONFIGURATION BASED UPON ROTOR POSITION
20230144699 · 2023-05-11
Inventors
Cpc classification
H01M10/46
ELECTRICITY
B60L53/00
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B60L50/60
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B64C11/46
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B64C29/0025
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B64D17/80
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B64C11/28
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
H01M2220/20
ELECTRICITY
B64D35/04
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B64C27/50
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
International classification
B64C29/00
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B64C11/28
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B64D35/04
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B64D17/80
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B60L50/60
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B60L53/00
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
Abstract
A roadable VTOL flying vehicle having a road-configuration and a flight-configuration. The roadable VTOL flying vehicle includes a roadable vehicle; at least one rotor having at least one blade, the rotor is rotatably attached to an upper section of the roadable vehicle of the flying vehicle; at least one motor configured to operatively rotate the least at least one rotor; at least one angular position sensor configured to detect the angular position of each of the at least one rotor; and a vehicle control sub-system configured to affect automatic transformation of the flying vehicle from the road-configuration to the flight-configuration and from the flight-configuration to the road-configuration, wherein the vehicle control sub-system is configured bring the at least one rotor into a parking state, when in road-configuration.
Claims
1.-28. (canceled)
29. A vehicle having a road-configuration and a flight-configuration, comprising: a roadable vehicle having a width, a length, a front end and a rear end; at least two rotors, each rotor having at least one blade, wherein said at least two rotors are rotatably attached to an upper section of the roadable vehicle; at least one motor configured to operatively rotate said at least two rotors; at least one angular position sensor configured to detect an angular position of each of said at least two rotors; and a vehicle control sub-system configured to affect automatic transformation from said road-configuration to said flight-configuration and from said flight-configuration to said road-configuration, wherein said vehicle control sub-system is configured bring said at least two rotors into a parking state, when in said road-configuration; wherein when said at least two rotors are in said parking state, said vehicle control sub-system is configured to position the respective at least one blade within a vertical space situated above the roadable vehicle of said flying vehicle, and within an area defined by said width and said length of the roadable vehicle; wherein each of said at least two rotors includes a front rotor and a rear rotor positioned in a tandem configuration; and wherein said blades, in said flight-configuration, are operatively positioned in an overlapping configuration, controlled by said least one angular position sensor.
30. The vehicle of claim 29, wherein when said at least two rotors are in said parking state, said at least two rotors are locked in position.
31. The vehicle of claim 29, wherein said at least one blade is balanced by a respective counter-weight being one of a second blade or pair of blades, each being substantially identical to said at least one blade.
32. The vehicle of claim 29, wherein each of said at least two rotors comprises multiple foldable blades.
33. The vehicle of claim 32, wherein when in a flight-configuration said blades are unfolded, and when in road-configuration said blades are folded.
34. The vehicle of claim 32, wherein said blades unfold automatically by centrifugal force, when changing from road-configuration to flight-configuration and said blades fold automatically by a biassing force when changing from flight-configuration to road-configuration.
35. The vehicle of claim 32, wherein said vehicle control sub-system is configured fold said at least one blade when changing from flight-configuration to road-configuration and unfold said at least one blade when changing from road-configuration to flight-configuration.
36. The vehicle of claim 29, wherein said control sub-system determines that said at least one rotor is in said parking state position using said least one angular position sensor.
37. The vehicle of claim 29, wherein said at least two rotors are matching rotors and counterrotating rotors.
38. The vehicle of claim 29, wherein said front rotor is positioned at or proximal to said front end of said roadable vehicle, and said rear rotor is positioned at or proximal to said rear end of said roadable vehicle; a wingspan of each of said rotors is equal or proximal to the length of the roadable vehicle; and the wingspan of each of said rotors is equal or proximal to the diagonal dimension of the roadable vehicle, and the diagonal dimension is greater than the length of the roadable vehicle.
39. The vehicle of claim 29, wherein said at least two rotors are coupled to a single rotating-motor configured to operatively rotate the at least two rotors, wherein said single rotating-motor is coupled to said angular position sensor and a power source selected from one or more of: a fuel motor, electric power source, and/or hybrid power source, and wherein said at least two rotors are synchronous.
40. The vehicle of claim 29, wherein each of said at least two rotors is coupled to a respective motor configured to operatively rotate the respective rotor, wherein each of said motors is coupled by a respective angular position sensor, and wherein said at least two rotors are either synchronous or asynchronous.
41. The vehicle of claim 40, wherein said at least two rotating-motors are driven by a controlled power source, and wherein said controlled power source includes: a power control unit configured to monitor and coordinate electric power within the roadable VTOL flying vehicle; a rechargeable battery; a power electric motor configured to supply electric power to the roadable VTOL flying vehicle; and, an additional power source configured to drive said power electric motor, wherein when in a road-configuration, said additional power source is configured to drive wheels of said roadable vehicle; and wherein when in a flight-configuration, said power control unit is configured to direct electric power from said power electric motor to said rotating-motors that are configured to respectively operate the rotors.
42. The vehicle of claim 41, wherein said additional power source is configured to activate said power electric motor to thereby recharge said rechargeable battery.
43. The vehicle of claim 41, wherein when said additional power source is silent, said power control unit directs rechargeable battery to providing electric power.
44. The vehicle of claim 41, wherein when in flight-configuration, said additional power source is configured to activate said power electric motor to thereby recharge said rechargeable battery and said additional power source is configured generate mechanical energy to drive said power electric motor.
45. The vehicle of claim 41, wherein said additional power source, said power electric motor and said rechargeable battery are configured to operate in a hybrid configuration.
46. The vehicle of claim 41 wherein said at least two rotors are configured to operate as intermeshing rotors.
47. The vehicle of claim 29, further comprising a parachute operable to be deployed in an emergency.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0066] The present invention will become fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of illustration and example only and thus not limitative of the present disclosure, and wherein:
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0087] The present disclosure will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the disclosure are shown. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided, so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.
[0088] An embodiment is an example or implementation of the disclosures. The various appearances of “one embodiment,” “an embodiment” or “some embodiments” do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment. Although various features of the disclosure may be described in the context of a single embodiment, the features may also be provided separately or in any suitable combination. Conversely, although the disclosure may be described herein in the context of separate embodiments for clarity, the disclosure may also be implemented in a single embodiment.
[0089] Reference in the specification to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, “some embodiments” or “other embodiments” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiments is included in at least one embodiment, but not necessarily all embodiments, of the disclosures. It is understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are not to be construed as limiting and are for descriptive purpose only.
[0090] Meanings of technical and scientific terms used herein are to be commonly understood as to which the disclosure belongs, unless otherwise defined. The present disclosure can be implemented in the testing or practice with methods and materials equivalent or similar to those described herein.
[0091] It should be noted that orientation related descriptions such as “bottom”, “up”, “upper”, “down”, “lower”, “top” and the like, assumes that the associated item, such as the flying car or a portion thereof, is in a road-configuration.
[0092] Reference is made back to the drawings.
[0093] Roadable VTOL flying vehicle 100 has a length L.sub.V, wherein, preferably, the wingspan L.sub.R of the two-blades (112a, 112b) of rotor 110 does not exceed length L.sub.V of the roadable vehicle 50 of flying vehicle 100. Hence, flying vehicle 100 may behave on the road, while in a roadable-configuration, like any other ordinary vehicle.
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[0095] Roadable VTOL flying vehicle 101 has a length L.sub.V, wherein, preferably, the diameter (between positions 113 and 113′) of the imaginary circle drawn by the tip 113 of blade 112a of rotor 111 does not longer than the length L.sub.V of the roadable vehicle 50 of flying vehicle 101. Hence, flying vehicle 101 may behave on the road, while in a road-configuration, like any other ordinary vehicle.
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[0097] It should be appreciated that for a common roadable vehicle 50 having a length L.sub.V≈4 meters, the length of a blade is about 2 meters see
S=π*(vehicle.sub.length/2).sup.2=π*4≈12.5m.sup.2.
It should be further appreciated that a surface area (S) of 100 m.sup.2 that is covered by the twin rotating rotors (see, for example blades 310,
S.sub.TWIN=2*(π*vehicle_length.sup.2)=2*(π*16)≈100m.sup.2,
and thereby provide enough lifting power for an efficient helicopter/gyrocopter flight.
[0098] It should be further appreciated that for a common roadable vehicle 50 having a length the wingspan L.sub.R can be further expanded by parking rotating rotor 110 at the diagonal dimension L.sub.D of roadable vehicle 50. If the width of the vehicle is 1.8 meters, then
L.sub.D=√{square root over ((4.sup.2)}+1.8.sup.2)≈4.9m, and thereby
S.sub.DIAG=2π*19.24≈120m.sup.2.
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[0100] It should be appreciated that the flight control and steering, while in air-born mode, is achieved by using any method or technique, known in the art, for controlling the air-born vehicle, using either variable or fixed pitch rotors. The flight control methods may include, without limitations, the following methods: (1) using swashplate for variable pitch rotors; (2) using rotor tilt control for fixed pitch rotors by implementing any known on the art technique of rotors tilting, including, without limitations, bi-copter scheme, wherein the rotors can be tilted separately or both; and (3) by adding additional maneuvering motors and/or any controllable aerodynamical surfaces.
[0101] In variations of the present disclosure, single-blade rotors 301, such as schematically shown by way of example in
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[0106] It should be appreciated that roadable VTOL flying vehicle 300, may include a vehicle control sub-system 390 configured to affect folding of one or both foldable blades 312fa, 312th, 312ra, 312rb of each rotor (310f, 310r), when changing from flight-configuration to road-configuration. Similarly, control sub-system 390 is configured to unfold one or both foldable blades 312fa, 312th, 312ra, 312rb of each rotor (310f, 310r), when changing from road-configuration to flight-configuration.
[0107] It should be further appreciated that one or both foldable blades 312fa, 312fb, 312ra, 312rb of each rotor (310f, 310r) may fold automatically by a predesigned biassing force when changing from flight-configuration to road-configuration. The biassing may be formed by at least one spring and/or at least one piston and/or any other form of biassing force known in the art. Similarly, control sub-system 390 is configured to unfold one or both foldable blades 312fa, 312fb, 312ra, 312rb of each rotor (310f, 310r), when changing from road-configuration to flight-configuration. Similarly, may unfold automatically by a predesigned centrifugal force, when changing from road-configuration to flight-configuration.
[0108] It should be further appreciated that one or both foldable blades 312fa, 312fb, 312ra, 312rb of each rotor (310f, 310r) may fold/unfold automatically by any other mechanism known in the art.
[0109] It should be appreciated that roadable VTOL flying vehicle 300, may include a vehicle control sub-system 290 configured similar to vehicle control sub-system 390.
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[0112] It should be appreciated that each motor (414f, 414r) can be powered by an electric power source (battery or fuel-cell), gasoline or any other fuel, or any other power source known in the art, and/or a hybrid power source combination.
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[0115] The fuel engine 624 may be configured to provide the main propulsion thrust to facilitate flying of the flying vehicle, wherein the electric motor 614/generator along with angular position sensor 613 may be configured to enable rotor (210f, 210r) to unfold and park the blades (212f, 212r), when switching the flying vehicle from flight configuration to road-configuration. Electric motor/generator 614 may also be used as the fuel engine 624 starter; as secondary backup system to continue the flight should the fuel engine 624 fail; and as an alternator.
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[0117] When in flying mode, fuel engine 624 may generate mechanical energy that is used drive electric motor 724 that in turn supplies electric power to power control unit 710. Power control unit 710 then provides electric power to the motor units (such as 414f, 414r) of the respective rotors (such as 210f, 210r). Power control unit 710 provides electric power to the angular position sensor (such as 413f, 413r) and/or to any other electric unit of propulsion system 700.
[0118] Reference is now made to
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[0120] It should be appreciated that any roadable VTOL flying vehicle (100,101,200,202,300,400,500,600,700,800,900) may include a vehicle control sub-system configured similar to vehicle control sub-system 390.
[0121] The invention being thus described in terms of several embodiments and examples, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art.