Patent ID: 7857254
Filing Date: 2010-12-28
Classification: B64C

Abstract:
1. A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, comprising: a tiltable primary engine configured to produce thrust for forward flight and thrust for hovering, said tiltable primary engine being disposed on a center of gravity of said aircraft and vertically tiltable with respect to an aircraft center line; a plurality of electrically-driven fans arranged about a periphery of an airframe of the VTOL aircraft, said plurality of electrically-driven fans consisting of (i) a first fan disposed at a nose of the VTOL aircraft, (ii) a second fan disposed at a left wing tip of the VTOL aircraft, and (iii) a third fan disposed at a right wing tip of the VTOL aircraft, the second fan and the third fan each being disposed closer to a tip than a root of the respective wing, said plurality of electrically-driven fans being disposed equidistant from said aircraft center of gravity; wherein airflow provided by each of the electrically-driven fans is oriented substantially perpendicular to the fuselage of the VTOL aircraft for producing thrust for hovering; a thrust control circuit in communication with each of the plurality of electrically-driven fans, wherein the thrust control circuit is configured to independently control the thrust for hovering provided by each of the plurality of electrically-driven fans to alter a total thrust for hovering provided by the plurality of electrically-driven fans and to alter pitch and roll moments of the VTOL aircraft while hovering; a plurality of vanes located in a fan exhaust of each of the plurality of electrically-driven fans; and an attitude control circuit in communication with each of the plurality of vanes and the thrust control circuit, wherein the attitude control circuit is configured to independently control deflection of each of the plurality of vanes for re-directing the thrust for hovering provided by each of the plurality of electrically-driven fans to control a yaw moment of the VTOL aircraft while hovering.