Patent ID: 11958593
Assignee: AURORA FLIGHT SCIENCES CORPORATION, A SUBSIDIARY OF THE BOEING COMPANY
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 13:
14. A propeller assembly, comprising:
a rotating assembly comprising a propeller, the rotating assembly rotatably connected to a non-rotating member so as to rotate about a rotational axis relative to the non-rotating member;
a first magnet attached to the rotating assembly;
a second magnet mounted or connected to the non-rotating member; and
a mechanism connected to the rotating assembly and comprising the first magnet, the mechanism configured to:
move the first magnet away from the second magnet into a first configuration in response to a centrifugal force acting on the mechanism, the centrifugal force generated by the rotating assembly rotating about the rotational axis so that the propeller has an angular velocity greater than a predetermined value,
position the first magnet closer to the second magnet in a second configuration when the angular velocity is smaller than the predetermined value, wherein:
an attractive magnetic interaction between the first magnet and the second magnet in the second configuration induces an alignment of the propeller in a stowed configuration when the angular velocity is reduced below the predetermined value,
the attractive magnetic interaction between the first magnet and the second magnet in the first configuration is less than a propeller torque outputted from a motor driving the propeller at the angular velocity greater than the predetermined value, and
the mechanism moves the first magnet through an angle of 90 degrees from the second configuration into the first configuration.