559results about "Seaplanes" patented technology

An aircraft including an airframe having a fuselage which extends longitudinally, and having fixed wings including a main wing, a horizontal tail wing and a vertical tail wing. A propeller-rotor torque transmission has a bevel gear which transmits the rotation of an input shaft simultaneously to a propeller shaft and to a rotor shaft. An engine gearbox supplies the above-mentioned input shaft with rotationalal motive power. The aircraft further includes a propeller collective pitch controller, a rotor collective pitch controller, an engine power controller which controls the output of the above-mentioned engine gearbox for the purpose of changing the rotational speed of the input shaft, and a flight control system having a directional (yaw) control system which controls the flight direction of the aircraft by controlling the positions of the above-mentioned control surfaces.

An unmanned vehicle may include a vehicle body that comprises an enclosed hull. The unmanned vehicle may include a propulsion, a ballast control system, a center of gravity system, a pressurization system, a control surface system, a navigation control system, and an on board master control system. The on board master control system may execute local control over operation of the various systems of the unmanned vehicle. The unmanned vehicle may also include a power supply carried by a portion of the vehicle body to provide power to the various systems. The various systems of the unmanned vehicle may be independently operable to support selective operation of the unmanned vehicle in the air, on the surface of the water, and below the surface of the water.

Systems and associated methods for planning and control of a fleet of unmanned vehicles in missions that are coordinated temporally and spatially by geo-location, direction, vehicle orientation, altitude above sea level, and depth below sea level. The unmanned vehicles' transit routes may be fully autonomous, semi-autonomous, or under direct operator control using off board control systems. Means are provided for intervention and transit changes during mission execution. Means are provided to collect, centralize and analyze mission data collected on the set of participating unmanned vehicles.

A robust amphibious air vehicle incorporates a fuselage with buoyant stabilizers and wings extending from the fuselage. At least one lift fan is mounted in the fuselage. Movable propulsion units carried by the wings are rotatable through a range of angles adapted for vertical and horizontal flight operations.

A sea-launched and recovered unmanned aircraft is disclosed. The aircraft is jet-powered and has features and systems to maintain watertight integrity such that it may be released from a submerged submarine or dropped into a body of water by a ship or an aircraft. The aircraft is buoyant and remains at or near the water surface before its rockets are ignited. The rockets propel the air vehicle out of the sea and accelerate it to flying speed at which time a jet engine is started and the rockets are jettisoned. The air vehicle performs its mission independently or in conjunction with other ones of the air vehicles. The air vehicle then returns to an assigned splashdown point at sea via, for example, an engine-off “whip-stall” maneuver. A submarine or ship may retrieve the air vehicle and readies it for another mission.

The invention relates to an unmanned underwater aircraft which comprises an aircraft body, retractable aircraft wings, an engine, an advancing propeller, an underwater power motor, an energy storage system, an underwater rudder and a retractable water filling and draining buoy. The unmanned underwater aircraft has the beneficial effects that lift force is provided for flying by unfolding the aircraft wings, the aircraft wings are arranged on the two sides of the aircraft body in a folded mode, the unfolding direction of the aircraft wings is parallel to the axis of the aircraft body, and the sailing resistance is reduced; the buoy is used for water filling and draining so as to adjust the density of the aircraft, so that the aircraft is made to enter or emerge from the water; the water resistance of the aircraft when sliding on the water can be improved by unfolding the buoy, and the resistance can be reduced by folding the buoy; the engine is used for providing power for aerial propelling and charging a storage battery, and the storage battery is used for supplying power to a motor during underwater sailing and driving the underwater advancing propeller; and when the aircraft passes through the water and air media, the engine and the motor are switched accordingly. The unmanned underwater aircraft can meet application requirements in water and air and can be switched repeatedly between the underwater sailing mode and the aerial flying mode.

A vehicle that is convertible in its operation between flying as an autogiro and driving as a motorcycle, in which the propeller rotates around a section of the fuselage. The propeller span can be as large as the space between the autogiro lifting rotor blade and the ground. The landing gear can be selectively extended and the rotor blade raised to allow use of a larger propeller

A control apparatus, such as a hydrofoil, for general aviation class amphibious aircraft which include at least one fuselage having a hydrodynamic surface, the fuselage including a primary flight surface and a ducted power plant located aft and above the fuselage. The power plant location removes the fan/propeller arc from water and spray during water-borne taxiing, takeoff and landing. The combination of the hydrofoil, fuselage, lifting surface and ducting provides an aerodynamically efficient design with a lower center of gravity and protected powerplant for yielding improved performance including increased range and airspeed, together with favorable maneuverability, stability and control characteristics both aerodynamically and hydrodynamically.

A multi-wing, multi-engine, multi-hull amphibious aircraft is disclosed. In the illustrative embodiment, the aircraft has an open frame structure without a fuselage.

A buoyancy system for an aircraft, the buoyancy system being provided with at least two floats, said buoyancy system including a connection device for each float, each connection device attaching each float to a structure of an aircraft. Each connection device includes at least one stretchable connection and at least one non-stretch connection that are fastened to the float and that are suitable for being fastened to said structure, each non-stretch connection being folded while the float is against the fuselage so as to enable it to be lengthened, each non-stretch connection limiting the amplitude of the movement of the float under the effect of buoyancy thrust, and each stretchable connection exerting a return force on the float.

The invention provides a novel coaxial double-rotary double-degree-of-freedom eight-rotor-wing amphibious aircraft. The novel coaxial double-rotary double-degree-of-freedom eight-rotor-wing amphibious aircraft is characterized in that four supporting arms are vertical to one another on the same plane; one ends of the four supporting arms are connected with the periphery of an aircraft body and the other ends of the four supporting arms are provided with coaxial double-rotary rotors by double-degree-of-freedom gyro mechanisms; an undercarriage is connected to the aircraft body; an electric control system is arranged in the aircraft body and is used for controlling a double-degree-of-freedom rack and the four coaxial double-rotary rotors According to the novel coaxial double-rotary double-degree-of-freedom eight-rotor-wing amphibious aircraft, a complicated flight task can be finished in a manner of keeping a posture of the aircraft body unchanged; on the basis of improving an onboard load, the flight is very free; various complicated flight tasks can be finished in a severe outer environment; the aircraft directly has a navigation function and supports waterborne and aerial amphibious utilization.

The invention discloses a cross-type coaxial tilting rotor amphibious drone which comprises a drone body, a tilting-type coaxial multi-rotor mechanism and a waterproof sealed cabin, wherein the tilting-type coaxial multi-rotor mechanism and the waterproof sealed cabin are arranged on the drone body; a power module and a flight control module are mounted in the waterproof sealed cabin; the flight control module is electrically connected with the tilting-type coaxial multi-rotor mechanism and the power module; and the tilting-type coaxial multi-rotor mechanism is designed to be a tilting-type coaxial eight-rotor mechanism composed of a fixed rotor structure and a tilting-type rotor mechanism. The cross-type coaxial tilting rotor amphibious drone disclosed by the invention is equipped with the tilting-type coaxial eight-rotor mechanism; through the tilting control of rotors, the circumstance that the counter torsion moment is changed through the acceleration and deceleration of motors, and then the yaw angle of the drone body is changed can be replaced; during the underwater operation, the motors on two sides can be tilted forward, the drone body can be kept horizontal so as to reduce the resistance, and the utilization efficiency of the maximum lift force of the motors can be improved; and the own rotation and work of the cross-type coaxial tilting rotor amphibious drone under the air and underwater high-resistance conditions can be achieved.

A thrust reverser system actuator assembly is provided that includes a torque limiter to limit the amount of torque that may be applied to the actuator assembly. The actuator assembly includes an actuator and a torque limiter assembly. The actuator is adapted to receive a drive force and is configured, in response to receipt of the drive force, to move between a stowed position and a deployed position. The torque limiter assembly is coupled to an end of the actuator and is configured to limit torque applied to the actuator assembly upon a torque magnitude being reached in at least the actuator.

An airplane, which includes an airframe and a full-segregated thrust hybrid propulsion system mounted on the airframe. The propulsion system includes: one or more sustainer thrust producers; a plurality of electrically powered thrust producers disposed in predetermined positions as a means for providing additional thrust to the airplane, and to supplement airflow over the wings, flaps, and roll control devices of said airplane; whereby increasing the lift of the wing surfaces and providing enhanced control in the roll axis. The trust producers operate independently from one another, with no aerodynamic, electrical or mechanical inter-connection. Safety is enhanced by the ability of either the sustainer thrust producer(s), or the electrically powered augmentation thrust producers to sustain flight to a suitable landing area, should the other system fail.

An aircraft which includes a float-wing having a leading edge, a trailing edge, and an airfoil shape to produce aerodynamic lift when the float-wing flows through air at a lift-producing angle of attack in a forward flight mode of operation. The float-wing further includes a submersible portion that includes at least the trailing edge and which is constructed of materials and in a shape selected to produce a buoyancy force sufficient to prevent at least a non-submersible portion of the aircraft from being submersed under conditions in which the aircraft is in a waterborne non-flight position in which at least the trailing edge of the float-wing is submersed but at least the non-submersible portion of the aircraft is not submersed.

An unmanned aerial vehicle includes a fuselage, a power device connected to the fuselage, and a control device disposed at the fuselage and electrically connected with the power device. The control device is configured to control the power device to switch an operating mode of the power device to cause the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly in air or navigate on a water surface.

The invention provides a water-air amphibious unmanned rescue platform which can sail on the water surface and can also fly in the air. Two sailing modes can be rapidly and freely switched, water surface sailing depends on two small water plane streamline ship bodies and marine propellers installed behind the ship bodies, and the propelling mode adopts double-propeller differential propelling; andfour four-rotor propellers and matched brushless motors are used for sailing in the air, and are fixed right over the rescue platform in a square shape. According to the invention, the remote rescuematerial throwing device provided by the invention adopts a simple and reliable door type structure, so autonomous tracking and autonomous obstacle avoidance functions can be realized. According to the unmanned rescue platform, the advantages of a small waterplane catamaran and a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle are combined, rapid crossing of a discontinuous water area can be achieved through the flight function of the unmanned rescue platform, the unmanned rescue platform can reach the water area without the launching condition of a conventional rescue ship in a flight mode, the environmental adaptability of the unmanned rescue platform is enhanced, and the working range of the unmanned rescue platform is enlarged.