658results about How to "Improve aerodynamic efficiency" patented technology

The disclosed invention consists of several improvements to well known Quad Tilt-Rotor (QTR) aircraft. The first is that during a wing-borne flight, one pair of tilt-rotors, which can be substantially larger than the other pair, is feathered and stopped. This can promote vehicle aerodynamic efficiency and can be utilized to increase vehicle speed. Second is that the wings are not attached to the fuselage at a fixed angle of incidence like on conventional QTR aircraft, but can also be tilted in respect to the fuselage independently of the tilt-rotors. Furthermore, each rotor and each wing can be tilted with respect to fuselage to any tilt-angle without limit, which gives the vehicle unprecedented ability to position the fuselage in any attitude in respect to the vehicle direction of flight.

A midframe portion (313) of a gas turbine engine (310) is presented and includes a compressor section with a last stage blade to orient an air flow (311) at a first angle (372). The midframe portion (313) further includes a turbine section with a first stage blade to receive the air flow (311) oriented at a second angle (374). The midframe portion (313) further includes a manifold (314) to directly couple the air flow (311) from the compressor section to a combustor head (318) upstream of the turbine section. The combustor head (318) introduces an offset angle in the air flow (311) from the first angle (372) to the second angle (374) to discharge the air flow (311) from the combustor head (318) at the second angle (374). While introducing the offset angle, the combustor head (318) at least maintains or augments the first angle (372).

First stage turbine buckets have airfoil profiles substantially in accordance with Cartesian coordinate values of X, Y and Z set forth Table I wherein X and Y values are in inches and the Z values are non-dimensional values from 0 to 1 convertible to Z distances in inches by multiplying the Z values by the height of the airfoil in inches. The X and Y values are distances which, when connected by smooth continuing arcs, define airfoil profile sections at each distance Z. The profile sections at each distance Z are joined smoothly to one another to form a complete airfoil shape. The X, Y and Z distances may be scalable as a function of the same constant or number to provide a scaled up or scaled down airfoil section for the bucket. The nominal airfoil given by the X, Y and Z distances lies within an envelop of ±0.055 inches in directions normal to the surface of the airfoil.

In a first aspect, the present invention provides a motor, fan and filter arrangement for a vacuum cleaner, comprising: a motor (10); a fan (20) connected to an output shaft (12) of the motor and having an axial intake; and a filter (30, 230, 330); wherein the fan (20) is arranged with its axial intake facing the motor (10); and the motor (10) is housed within the filter (30, 230, 330). Such an arrangement makes much more efficient use of space than a conventional arrangement and allows the motor to be positioned within the filter in a reversed direction in comparison to conventional arrangements, so that clear air from the filter can be drawn over the motor before encountering the fan. This also has the beneficial side-effect of cooling the motor with the filtered air.; In a second aspect, the present invention also provides vacuum cleaners (100, 200, 300) comprising such a motor, fan and filter arrangement. Preferred embodiments of such vacuum cleaners are described, including a pivotable stick vac and different hand-holdable vacuum cleaners.

This invention provides a foldable/retractable and unfoldable/deployable, rearwardly tapered aerodynamic assembly for use on the rear trailer bodies and other vehicles that accommodate dual swing-out doors. The aerodynamic assembly includes a right half mounted on the right hand door and a left half mounted on a left hand door. Each half is constructed with a side panel, top panel and bottom panel, which each form half of an overall tapered box when deployed on the rear of the vehicle, the bottom panels and top panels being sealed together at a pair of overlapping weather seals along the centerline. The panels are relatively thin, but durable, and are joined to each other by resilient strip hinges. The top and bottom panels are also hinged to form two sections along diagonal lines to facilitate folding of all panels in a relatively low-profile stacked orientation. This low profile allows the doors to be swung through approximately 270 degrees to be secured to the sides of the body in a manner that does not interfere with adjacent doors or bodies in, for example a multi-bay loading dock. A swing arm assembly and gas spring biases the panels into a deployed position that can be refolded by grasping the side panel and rotating it inward toward the door surface. The top and bottom panels are partly inwardly folded when deployed to define external valleys using a stop assembly. This ensures that the panels fold readily when desired without the two sections of the panels “locking up”.

An aerodynamic structure attached to the sides and top of a truck cargo body (either a stand-alone trailer or a “straight truck” with the cab and cargo area as a fixed vehicle) at the aftmost region, which rear typically contains a rolling door assembly, which rolls upwardly. An aerodynamic structure is permanently attached to the sides and top of the trailer in a manner that extend past the aftmost plane of the truck cargo body and retract to the aftmost plane of the truck cargo body when subjected to a force, allowing this device to be backed into structures. The retracted orientation allows for the rear of the trailer to be fully accessible for loading and unloading, and does not reduce the size of the opening of the trailer. The various embodiments of the invention allow for automated deployment once the force used to compress the structure is removed.

A golf ball is provided that has improved aerodynamic efficiency, resulting in increased flight distance for golfers of all swing speeds, and more particularly for golfers possessing very high swing speeds, such as those who can launch the balls at an initial speed greater than 160 miles per hour and more particularly at initial ball speed of about 170 miles per hour or higher. The golf ball of the present invention combines lower dimple count with multiple dimple sizes to provide higher dimple coverage and improved aerodynamic characteristics.

A variable axis turbine may include multiple nested rotatable rotor assemblies. The turbine may be self-starting in slow fluid conditions while simultaneously self-limiting in fast fluid conditions. The turbine may provide omni-directional energy recovery and be self-balancing. The nested rotatable rotor assemblies may be configured to rotate independently of each other, but along the same rotational axis. Each outer nested rotor blade set may direct fluid onto the inner rotor blade sets in an aerodynamically beneficial manner. Each rotor blade set may be interconnected with a rotating generator hub that encloses a rotating generator element that rotates along with a corresponding rotor blade set for electric power generation. The blades may be “smart blades” that are sufficiently flexible to be self-configuring during rotation and soft enough to partially absorb sound. The blades may have a variable hardness and a two or more dimensional twist.

An aerodynamic control apparatus for an air vehicle improves various aerodynamic performance metrics by employing multiple spanwise flap segments that jointly form a continuous or a piecewise continuous trailing edge to minimize drag induced by lift or vortices. At least one of the multiple spanwise flap segments includes a variable camber flap subsystem having multiple chordwise flap segments that may be independently actuated. Some embodiments also employ a continuous leading edge slat system that includes multiple spanwise slat segments, each of which has one or more chordwise slat segment. A method and an apparatus for implementing active control of a wing shape are also described and include the determination of desired lift distribution to determine the improved aerodynamic deflection of the wings. Flap deflections are determined and control signals are generated to actively control the wing shape to approximate the desired deflection.

The invention relates to the field of air-ground dual-dwelling vehicle technology, in particular to a longitudinal-line-type dual-culvert vertical-lifting air-ground vehicle. The vehicle comprises a vehicle body, a driving cabin and vehicle wheels that are arranged on the vehicle body; the front end and the rear end of the vehicle body are respectively provided with a ducted propeller; each ducted propeller comprises a culvert, an airscrew and a bracket; the rotation shaft of the airscrew is arranged vertically; the airscrew is provided with an automatic inclining device; two airscrews are driven to rotate reversely by an engine of the vehicle body; the vehicle can be driven on road by the vehicle wheels and can realize vertical lifting and flying by the lifting force provided by the rotation of two vertical ducted propellers; the flying, landing, suspending, heading, withdrawing and rotating are realized by adjusting the rotation speed difference of the two ducted propellers and/or the elevation of the oars; the controllability is good and the structure is simple; the culverts protect the airscrews and the passerby simultaneously and avoid the passerby from being harmed by the airscrews, thus having high safety performance.

Swept-wing box-type aircraft comprising a fuselage and a lifting system formed by two substantially horizontal wings. One of the wings has a positive sweep angle, while the other has a negative sweep angle, the wings lying in planes spaced apart from one another and joined by two vertical wings extending from their ends. The positively swept wing is the front wing and extends from the bottom of the fuselage, whereas the negatively swept wing is the rear wing and extends generally continuously above the fuselage, the fuselage being provided with a pair of fins at its tail section. The fins are joined at their ends to the rear wing, the fins, the rear wing and the fuselage defining an aerodynamic channel along which the surface of the fuselage is substantially flat.

The invention discloses a pneumatic layout of a vertical taking-off and landing aircraft with a tilted duct. The pneumatic layout is characterized in that front duct fans are symmetrically arranged at the outer sides of the head parts of all the aircraft bodies; rear duct fans are symmetrically arranged at the inner sides of the middle parts of all the aircraft bodies; and all the duct fans are respectively connected with transmission components in the aircraft bodies by duct rotating shafts in the transmission components. The axial distance between protection points of the axial lines of all the duct rotating shafts on the axial lines of the aircraft bodies and the center of gravity of the whole aircraft along the aircraft bodies is 1.125 times of the chord length of wings. In the pneumatic layout, the duct fans can rotate around the duct rotating shafts; when the aircraft takes off or lands vertically, the duct fans are positioned at the vertical 90-degree position, the thrust vector is upward; in the transition stage, the duct fans rotate forwards around the duct rotating shafts; and in the cruise stage, the duct fans are positioned at a horizontal 0-degree position, and the thrust vector is forward, so that vertical taking off and landing and high-speed cruise flying are realized. The pneumatic layout disclosed by the invention has the advantages of high pneumatic efficiency, compact structure, strong reliability, strong maneuverability, flexible operation, long voyage and low noise and the like.

The invention discloses a minitype ornithopter wing driving mechanism with changeable wing area, and belongs to the technical field of minitype ornithopters. The minitype ornithopter wing driving mechanism comprises a machine body frame, a driving motor, a follow-up gear, a synchronizing gear as well as a front crank, a rear crank, a front connecting rod, a rear connecting rod, a fixe rocking arm, a sliding block rocking arm, a humerus, an ulna, a middle finger bone, a little finger bone, an ulna muscle tendon and a radius which are symmetrically arranged on the two sides of the machine body frame, wherein modulus and tooth number of the follow-up gear and the synchronizing gear are same, the follow-up gear and the synchronizing gear can reversely and synchronously move, and the rear crank and the rear connecting rod can drive the sliding block rocking arm to simultaneously realize fore-and-back movement in upper-down waving manner, so that a wing is driven to transform. The minitype ornithopter wing driving mechanism provided by the invention has the advantages that the structure is simple, the cost is low, the complex movements of wing waving and wing area deformation are simultaneously realized; a wing skeleton drives a patagium to slack in upward waving, and the wing area is small; the patagium is tightened in downward waving, the wing area is enlarged, and the aerodynamic efficiency and flight efficiency are further improved.

The invention discloses a bionic aircraft which realizes the conversion of a flapping rotor and a flapping wing flight mode based on a deformable wing, and belongs to the technical field of bionic aircraft design. When it is in vertical take-off, landing and hovering, it is a flapping rotor flight mode, and its structure is characterized by that the flapping wings on both sides are mounted in an axisymmetric manner, that is, the airfoils on both sides are antisymmetrical; When in forward flight or gliding, the flapping wing or fixed wing flight mode is characterized by symmetrical mounting ofthe flapping wing on both sides in a fixed wing symmetrical manner, i.e., symmetrical wing profiles on both sides. At that same time, an elastic bow beam is adopt, In the structural design of deformable wing rib composed of chord and multi-bar mechanism, when the shape of deformable wing is changed, by rotating the tie rod installed at the root of wing and the cable connecting each wing rib, the multi-bar mechanism is pulled to force the connected bow beam to produce the elastic deformation required, that is, the overall structure of the airfoil is kept unchanged, but the leading edge and thetrailing edge of the deformable wing are interchanged. The invention simplifies the driving mechanism and the integral configuration of the aircraft, and remarkably improves the aerodynamic efficiencyand the lift coefficient.