Vertical take-off and landing aircraft

Abstract

The invention discloses a vertical take-off and landing aircraft, and relates to the technical field of aircrafts. The vertical take-off and landing aircraft comprises an aircraft main body, at least two battery modules, at least four tilting rotor units and at least two fixed rotor units, one tilting rotor unit which is close to the head of the fuselage and is positioned on any side of the aircraft main body and one tilting rotor unit which is close to the tail of the fuselage and is positioned on the other side of the aircraft main body are in central symmetry and are connected with the same battery module; and the fixed rotor units positioned on any side of the aircraft main body are connected with the battery modules positioned on the same side of the aircraft main body. According to the method, multiple design objectives such as the weight, the economical efficiency and the safety of the aircraft can be balanced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of aircraft, and particularly to a vertical take-off and landing aircraft. Background Art

[0002] In an eVTOL (electric Vertical Take-off and Landing aircraft), for an eVTOL that combines a fixed rotor unit and a tilt rotor unit, both the fixed rotor unit and the tilt rotor unit need to be supplied with the required electrical energy by battery modules. Considering flight safety, different motor windings in each fixed rotor unit or tilt rotor unit are connected to different battery modules through a power distribution module. After one motor winding fails, the other motor winding system can still maintain power output.

[0003] In the related art, the connection relationship between the fixed rotor unit or the tilt rotor unit and the battery module focuses on the consideration of safety objectives, but fails to balance multiple design objectives such as cable weight, economy, and safety, thus not achieving the purpose of multi-objective optimization of the system. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The main object of the present invention is to propose a vertical take-off and landing aircraft, aiming to solve the technical problem of heavy cable weight caused by the priority of safety in the aircraft design in the related art.

[0005] To achieve the above object, a vertical take-off and landing aircraft proposed by the present invention includes: An aircraft body; At least two battery modules, which are symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides of the aircraft body; At least four tilt rotor units, at least two tilt rotor units are symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides of the aircraft body and close to the head of the fuselage, and at least two tilt rotor units are symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides of the aircraft body and close to the tail of the fuselage. The tilt rotor unit is configured to rotate between a cruise position and a vertical take-off and landing position, and a tilt rotor unit close to the head of the fuselage and on one side of the aircraft body and a tilt rotor unit close to the tail of the fuselage and on the other side of the aircraft body are centrosymmetric in the horizontal plane projection and are both connected to the same battery module; and At least two fixed rotor units, at least two fixed rotor units are symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides of the aircraft body. On either side of the left and right sides of the aircraft body, any fixed rotor unit is located on the side away from the central axis of the aircraft body of any tilt rotor unit. The fixed rotor unit stops or enters a low-power mode when the tilt rotor unit is in the cruise position, and the fixed rotor unit on either side of the aircraft body is connected to the battery module on the same side of the aircraft body.

[0006] One or more technical solutions proposed by the present invention have at least the following technical effects: Since the fixed rotor unit has a relatively simple mechanical structure and a lower system complexity compared to the tilt-rotor unit, its failure probability is lower than that of the tilt-rotor unit. And during the flight mission, the fixed rotor unit operates in the vertical stage and the transition stage, and stops or enters the low-power mode during the cruise stage, with a shorter working time. Compared with the tilt-rotor unit, its fault exposure time is short. Therefore, in the present invention, the connection relationship between the tilt-rotor unit located inside and the battery module is an oblique symmetric connection relationship, so as to consider more from the perspective of safety and reduce the impact on the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft due to the battery module, that is, the power supply side fault, in the case of abnormal power supply of the battery module. While the fixed rotor unit located outside considers more from the aspects of weight and economy, and adopts the method of taking power from the same-side battery module, thereby reducing the weight of the power distribution cable and balancing multiple design objectives such as the weight, economy, and safety of the aircraft. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the following drawings are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, without creative efforts, other drawings can be obtained based on the structures shown in these drawings.

[0008] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the grouping of the propulsion components in the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft provided by the present invention; Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the internal and external grouping of the propulsion components in the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft provided by the present invention; Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the power supply of the battery module and the propulsion components in the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft provided by the present invention; Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the power supply of the battery module and the motor winding in the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft provided by the present invention; Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the symmetry of the propulsion components in the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft provided by the present invention; Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of the layout of the power distribution module in the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft provided by the present invention; Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of the power distribution module of the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft provided by the present invention; where the independent buses are connected in parallel with each other through the switch unit; Figure 8 It is a schematic diagram of the power distribution module of the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft provided by the present invention; where the independent buses are connected end to end in sequence; Figure 9 Schematic diagram of the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft provided by the present invention; among them, a total of 4 independent buses of two power distribution modules are connected in parallel with each other through a switching unit; Figure 10 Schematic diagram of the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft provided by the present invention, in which a total of 4 independent buses of two power distribution modules are connected end to end in sequence.

[0009] Explanation of the reference numerals in the drawings: 1. First power group; 2. Second power group; 10. First propulsion component group; 20. Second propulsion component group; 30. Third propulsion component group; 40. Fourth propulsion component group; 100. Power distribution module; 110. Input interface; 120. Output interface; 130. Independent bus; 130a. First independent bus; 130b. Second independent bus; 130c. Third independent bus; 130d. Fourth independent bus; 140. First switching unit; 150. Connection unit; 101. Fuselage; 101a. Central axis; 102. Tail fin; 103. Left wing; 1031. Left arm; 104. Right wing; 1041. Right arm; 200. Battery module; 201. First battery module; 202. Second battery module; 203. Third battery module; 204. Fourth battery module; 300. Propulsion component; 310. Fixed rotor unit; 320. Tilt-rotor unit; 311. First fixed rotor unit; 312. Second fixed rotor unit; 313. Third fixed rotor unit; 314. Fourth fixed rotor unit; 320. Tilt-rotor unit; 321. First tilt-rotor unit; 322. Second tilt-rotor unit; 323. Third tilt-rotor unit; 324. Fourth tilt-rotor unit; 400. Jumper cable; 401. Second connecting wire; 402. First connecting wire; 611. First motor controller; 612. Second motor controller; 621. Third motor controller; 622. Fourth motor controller.

[0010] The realization, functional characteristics and advantages of the object of the present invention will be further described in conjunction with the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. Detailed implementation manners

[0011] Next, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all of the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0012] It should be noted that if there are directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, back...) involved in the embodiments of the present invention, the directional indications are only used to explain the relative positional relationship, movement conditions, etc. between components in a certain specific posture. If the specific posture changes, the directional indications will also change accordingly.

[0013] In addition, if there are descriptions such as "first", "second", etc. involved in the embodiments of the present invention, the descriptions of "first", "second", etc. are only for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying their relative importance or implicitly indicating the quantity of the indicated technical features. Thus, the features defined with "first", "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In addition, if "and / or" or "and / or" appears throughout the text, its meaning includes three parallel scenarios. Taking "A and / or B" as an example, it includes Scenario A, or Scenario B, or the scenario where both A and B are satisfied simultaneously. In addition, the technical solutions between various embodiments can be combined with each other, but it must be based on the fact that those of ordinary skill in the art can implement it. When the combination of technical solutions results in contradictions or cannot be implemented, it should be considered that such a combination of technical solutions does not exist and is not within the scope of protection required by the present invention.

[0014] The propulsion assembly of the eVTOL includes an electric motor, a propeller, and other accessories, which are used to provide the pull / thrust and / or at least part of the lift required by the eVTOL, and it uses a battery module to provide high-voltage electrical energy as the energy source. In the eVTOL design, in order to meet the flight safety standards, the battery module is generally configured to supply power to at least a set of propulsion assemblies that meet central symmetry, that is, the connection relationship between the propulsion assembly and the battery module generally adopts an oblique symmetric power supply design, so that when a battery module or circuit fails on one side of the fuselage, the eVTOL can still maintain partial thrust output. However, if all the propulsion assemblies on the eVTOL fuselage adopt this connection method with safety as the primary consideration, it will result in a large amount of power distribution cables being required for the outer propulsion assemblies far from the fuselage, resulting in a relatively high proportion of the weight of the power distribution cables of the eVTOL in the total weight of the whole machine, which needs to be optimized.

[0015] To this end, the present application provides a solution. All propulsion components are divided into a fixed rotor unit group located on the outer side away from the aircraft body and a tilt-rotor unit group located on the inner side close to the aircraft body. Since the failure probability of the fixed rotor units in the fixed rotor unit group is lower than that of the tilt-rotor units and their working time is short, the fault exposure time is also shorter compared to the tilt-rotor units. Thus, in the embodiments of the present invention, the connection relationship between the tilt-rotor units located on the inner side and the battery modules is an oblique symmetric connection relationship. Therefore, considering more from the perspective of safety, in the case of abnormal power supply of the battery modules, the impact on the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft caused by the battery modules, i.e., the power supply side faults, can be reduced. While for the fixed rotor units located on the outer side, considering more from the aspects of weight and economy, the power is taken from the battery modules on the same side, thereby reducing the weight of the power distribution cables and achieving the consideration of multiple design objectives such as balancing the weight, economy, and safety of the aircraft.

[0016] The technical concept of the present invention will be further elaborated below in conjunction with some specific embodiments.

[0017] Please refer to Figure 1 , this embodiment provides a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, including an aircraft body, at least two battery modules 200, at least four tilt-rotor units 320, and at least two fixed rotor units 310.

[0018] Among them, at least two battery modules 200 are symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides of the aircraft body; at least two tilt-rotor units 320 are symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides of the aircraft body and close to the head of the fuselage, and at least two tilt-rotor units 320 are symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides of the aircraft body and close to the tail of the fuselage. The tilt-rotor units 320 are configured to switch between the cruise position and the vertical takeoff and landing position, and the projection of a tilt-rotor unit 320 close to the head of the fuselage and located on one side of the aircraft body and a tilt-rotor unit 320 close to the tail of the fuselage and located on the other side of the aircraft body in the horizontal plane is centrosymmetric, and both are connected to the same battery module 200; at least two fixed rotor units 310 are symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides of the aircraft body. On either side of the left and right sides of the aircraft body, any fixed rotor unit 310 is located on the side away from the central axis 101a of the aircraft body of any tilt-rotor unit 320. The fixed rotor units 310 stop or enter the low-power mode when the tilt-rotor units 320 are in the cruise position, and the fixed rotor units 310 located on either side of the aircraft body are connected to the battery modules 200 on the same side of the aircraft body.

[0019] Specifically, the eVTOL provided in this embodiment includes not only pure electric eVTOL, but also hydrogen-electric hybrid and gasoline-electric hybrid eVTOL. Please refer to Figure 1, the aircraft body of the eVTOL refers to the main structure and support components for supporting and protecting various components of the eVTOL and the entire system, including but not limited to the fuselage 101, the tail wing 102, the left wing 103, and the right wing 104. Among them, the left wing 103 is connected to the left side of the fuselage 101, and the right wing 104 is connected to the right side of the fuselage 101. It can be understood that the left wing 103 and the right wing 104 can be connected to the fuselage 101 or integrally formed with the fuselage 101. Alternatively, the left wing 103 and the right wing 104 can also be the left and right halves of an integral wing that is connected to the fuselage 101 and runs across both the left and right sides of the fuselage 101. The tail wing 102 includes a left stabilizer and a right stabilizer, and the left stabilizer and the right stabilizer are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the fuselage 101. It can be understood that both the left stabilizer and the right stabilizer can be horizontal stabilizers, or when the tail wing 102 is a V-shaped tail wing, the left stabilizer and the right stabilizer can also be inclined stabilizers arranged obliquely.

[0020] The battery module 200 can be configured as the power battery of the eVTOL, which is used to provide electrical energy to the propulsion assembly 300 of the eVTOL. Of course, it is also configured to provide electrical energy to on-board systems such as the avionics system, the on-board environmental control system, and the on-board lighting system. It can be understood that the battery module 200 can be a rechargeable battery or a hydrogen fuel cell, and this embodiment does not limit this. Multiple battery modules 200 are arranged symmetrically left and right on the aircraft body, that is, a part of the battery modules 200 are arranged on the left side of the central axis 101a of the fuselage 101, and another part of the battery modules 200 are symmetrically arranged on the right side of the central axis 101a of the fuselage 101 to balance the weight distribution of the eVTOL. It can be understood that the battery module 200 arranged on one side of the aircraft body can be installed on that side of the fuselage 101 or on the wing on that side, and this embodiment does not limit this.

[0021] It can be understood that in order to achieve the redundant design required for flight and avoid the loss of power output of all propulsion assemblies 300 caused by the failure of a single battery module 200, the eVTOL is configured with multiple battery modules 200, and each battery module 200 is connected to a part of all propulsion assemblies 300.

[0022] The propulsion assembly 300 includes a fixed rotor unit 310 and a tilt-rotor unit 320, and a single propulsion assembly 300 is disposed on the left wing 103, the right wing 104 or the tail wing 102 to provide the pull / thrust and / or at least part of the lift required for eVTOL flight. It can be understood that the propulsion assembly 300 includes a propeller, an electric motor and other accessories. Among them, the electric motor is used to drive the propeller to rotate, and it includes a motor, a motor controller and other accessories. In addition, in order to provide sufficient pull / thrust and / or lift for the eVTOL, and to coordinate the dynamic matching of the pull / thrust vector direction and the center of gravity of the aircraft body, the number of the propulsion assemblies 300 on the eVTOL generally includes at least 4, and most are even numbers, such as 6 or 8, etc., to achieve a symmetrical layout of the propulsion assemblies 300 on the aircraft body: that is, half of the number of the propulsion assemblies 300 are distributed on the left side of the fuselage 101, and the other half of the number of the propulsion assemblies 300 are distributed on the right side of the fuselage 101. It can be understood that the symmetrical layout is beneficial to the control of the aircraft and maintains the flight stability of the aircraft. Of course, the symmetrical layout of the propulsion assemblies 300 also allows the remaining propulsion assemblies 300 to quickly adjust the pull / thrust / lift distribution when the power output of some of the propulsion assemblies 300 is reduced or lost, so as to maintain the overall balance of the eVTOL.

[0023] The tilt-rotor unit 320 is configured to switch between a cruise position and a vertical takeoff and landing position to adjust the flight attitude of the eVTOL. It can be understood that when the eVTOL is in the vertical takeoff and landing stage during flight, the tilt-rotor unit 320 is in the vertical takeoff and landing position, and the fixed rotor unit 310 and the tilt-rotor unit 320 rotate at high speed to generate upward lift, so that the eVTOL can overcome gravity to achieve takeoff and landing. In the cruise stage, the tilt-rotor unit 320 tilts to the cruise position. The wing undertakes the lift task, and the tilt-rotor unit 320 provides forward pull for the eVTOL, so that the eVTOL can fly long distances at a relatively high speed. It is worth mentioning that for the tilt-rotor unit 320 in this embodiment, it can be a full-tilt configuration, that is, the whole tilt-rotor unit 320 can rotate between the cruise position and the vertical takeoff and landing position. Alternatively, the tilt-rotor unit 320 can also be a partial-tilt configuration, that is, the tilt-rotor unit 320 is divided into a rotor part and a nacelle part, the rotor part can rotate between the cruise position and the vertical takeoff and landing position, and the nacelle part is fixed to the aircraft body. When the eVTOL is in the cruise stage, the fixed rotor unit 310 can stop, the propeller can be feathered or folded, or the blades can be retracted to reduce drag, or it can enter a low-power consumption mode.

[0024] It should be noted that among at least four tilt-rotor units 320 in this embodiment, at least two tilt-rotor units 320 are located on the fuselage head side of the wing. Specifically, they can be arranged at the leading edge of the wing, or on the boom extending forward from the leading edge of the wing, or on the boom extending forward from the fuselage 101 in front of the wing, so as to be arranged close to the fuselage head. In addition, at least two of the remaining at least four tilt-rotor units 320 can be located on the fuselage tail side of the wing. Specifically, they can be arranged at the trailing edge of the wing, or on the boom extending backward from the trailing edge of the wing, or on the boom extending backward from the fuselage 101 behind the wing, so as to be arranged close to the fuselage tail; alternatively, at least two of the remaining ones can also be arranged at the tail wing 102, so as to be arranged close to the fuselage tail as well.

[0025] Therefore, please refer to Figure 1 , all the propulsion assemblies 300 in this embodiment include the following groups: The first propulsion assembly group 10 includes at least one tilt-rotor unit 320, which is located in the front area of the left wing 103; the second propulsion assembly group 20 includes at least one tilt-rotor unit 320, which is located in the front area of the right wing 104; the third propulsion assembly group 30 includes at least one tilt-rotor unit 320, which is located in the rear area of the left wing 103; the fourth propulsion assembly group 40 includes at least one tilt-rotor unit 320, which is located in the rear area of the right wing 104.

[0026] Among them, the front is the fuselage head side direction, and the rear is the fuselage tail side direction. Please refer to Figure 1 , the projection of the second propulsion assembly group 20 on the horizontal plane is symmetric about the central axis 101a of the fuselage 101 with respect to the projection of the first propulsion assembly group 10. The projection of the third propulsion assembly group 30 on the horizontal plane is also symmetric about the central axis 101a of the fuselage 101 with respect to the projection of the fourth propulsion assembly group 40. In addition, the projection of a tilt-rotor unit 320 in the second propulsion assembly group 20 is centrosymmetric with the projection of a tilt-rotor unit 320 in the third propulsion assembly group 30 on the horizontal plane. The projection of a tilt-rotor unit 320 in the first propulsion assembly group 10 is also centrosymmetric with the projection of a tilt-rotor unit 320 in the fourth propulsion assembly group 40 on the horizontal plane. In this embodiment, the first propulsion assembly group 10, the second propulsion assembly group 20, the third propulsion assembly group 30, and the fourth propulsion assembly group 40 of the eVTOL all include tilt-rotor units 320. In this way, at least some of the tilt-rotor units 320 are arranged on the front side of the center of gravity of the aircraft body, and at least some of the tilt-rotor units 320 are arranged on the rear side of the center of gravity of the aircraft body, which is beneficial to achieving the balance of multiple force couples and can make the vertical takeoff and landing process of the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft more stable.

[0027] It is worth mentioning that at least some of the tilt-rotor units in the third propulsion component group 30 and the fourth propulsion component group 40 are arranged on the tail wing 102. That is, when both the third propulsion component group 30 and the fourth propulsion component group 40 include 1 tilt-rotor unit 320, the 2 tilt-rotor units 320 are both installed at the tail wing 102.

[0028] In addition, on either side of the left and right sides of the fuselage 101, any fixed rotor unit 310 is located on the side of any tilt-rotor unit 320 away from the central axis 101a of the aircraft body. Thus, referring to Figure 2 , all the fixed rotor units 310 form a first power group 1 outside and away from the fuselage 101, and all the tilt-rotor units 320 form a second power group 2 inside and close to the fuselage 101. The first power group 1 and the second power group 2 jointly maintain the aerodynamic balance of the whole aircraft inside and outside. Compared with the layout where the tilt-rotor units 320 are arranged outside and the fixed rotor units 310 are arranged inside, the layout form adopted in this embodiment can also reduce the yaw moment generated after some of the tilt-rotor units 320 fail. Since one of the core functions of the tail wing 102 in the vertical takeoff and landing stage is to balance the yaw moment, naturally, when the yaw moment is greatly reduced, the requirement for the capacity of the tail wing (vertical tail area × vertical tail moment arm) can be reduced, and the safe flight envelope after some of the tilt-rotor units 320 fail can be expanded.

[0029] It should be noted that referring to Figure 3 , in this embodiment, the tilt-rotor units 320 that are centrosymmetric in the same group are connected to the same battery module 200, so that the tilt-rotor units 320 draw power in an obliquely symmetric manner. In the tilt transition stage and the vertical landing stage, when a single battery module 200 fails, the tilt-rotor units 320 always lose some of their power output symmetrically in pairs, and the eVTOL can still maintain the balance of the whole aircraft, and the whole aircraft has sufficient lift. It can be understood that after the battery module 200 fails, the flight control system needs a response time to reallocate power. Thus, within the response time, the pull / lift / thrust provided by the faulty side of the fuselage is still less than that of the normal side of the fuselage, resulting in flight instability. By supplying power to the battery module 200 in an obliquely symmetric manner, when the battery module 200 fails, the two tilt-rotor units 320 that are centrosymmetric lose power at the same time, so that the power balance of the fuselage 101 can be ensured without the need for the flight control system to respond, or the complexity of the fault tolerance control algorithm of the flight control system can be reduced.

[0030] Compared with the tilt-rotor units 320, the mechanical structure of the fixed rotor units 310 is relatively simple and the system complexity is relatively low. Therefore, the failure probability is lower than that of the tilt-rotor units 320. And during the flight mission, the fixed rotor units 310 work in the vertical stage and the transition stage, and stop or enter the low power consumption mode in the cruise stage, and their working time is short. Compared with the tilt-rotor units 320, the fault exposure time is short. Therefore, referring toFigure 3 In this embodiment, the fixed rotor unit 310 adopts the method of taking power from the same side, that is, the fixed rotor unit 310 on the left side of the fuselage is connected to the battery module 200 on the left side of the fuselage 101, and the fixed rotor unit 310 on the right side of the fuselage 101 is connected to the battery module 200 on the right side of the fuselage 101. In this way, compared with the tilting rotor unit 320 on the inner side that takes power in an inclined symmetric manner, the method of taking power from the same side by the fixed rotor unit 310 can significantly reduce the length of the power distribution cable, thereby greatly reducing the weight in the field of power distribution cables, even reaching several kilograms. And in the eVTOL field, because of the extremely high sensitivity to the conversion of electric energy, the optimization of the overall system weight is the key lever for the commercialization of urban air transportation. Therefore, the value of weight reduction far exceeds that of traditional civil aviation aircraft. It is easy to understand that through the above method, the relationship between multiple design objectives such as safety, weight, and economy in the eVTOL design can be better balanced, so as to achieve the optimal multi-objective design.

[0031] For the propulsion component 300 that uses electric energy, the motor controller uses a three-phase full-bridge inverter circuit to convert the high-voltage direct current provided by the battery module 200 into three-phase alternating current, generates alternating current with variable frequency and variable amplitude through pulse width modulation technology, and precisely adjusts the motor speed and torque with the help of control algorithms. To meet the safety requirements of eVTOL, the propulsion component 300 generally has a redundant design. For example, in one embodiment, both the fixed rotor unit 310 and the tilting rotor unit 320 include at least two motor controllers. When the propulsion component 300 includes at least two motor controllers, there are at least two power supply channels in the propulsion component 300. In this way, when a power supply abnormality occurs in one of the battery modules 200, at least part of the required electric energy can still be provided by other battery modules 200, thereby improving the reliability and fault tolerance of the eVTOL system architecture.

[0032] As an option of this embodiment, both the tilting rotor unit 320 and the fixed rotor unit 310 include at least two single-winding motors, and each single-winding motor is respectively connected to a motor controller. Or, as another option of this embodiment, both the tilting rotor unit 320 and the fixed rotor unit 310 include a motor, the motor includes at least two motor windings, and each motor winding is respectively connected to a motor controller. Hereinafter, the motor is taken as a double-winding motor as an example for elaboration.

[0033] To improve redundancy, there are at least two battery modules 200 on the same side of the fuselage 101, so that the whole machine includes at least 4 battery modules 200. In addition, in this embodiment, different motor controllers of each fixed rotor unit 310 are respectively connected to different battery modules 200 on the same side of the aircraft body as the fixed rotor unit 310; and different motor controllers of each tilting rotor unit 320 are respectively connected to different battery modules 200. Such as please refer to Figure 3With Figure 4 Two motor controllers of the first fixed rotor unit 311 are respectively connected to the first battery module 201 and the second battery module 202. Obviously, the first fixed rotor unit 311, the first battery module 201 and the second battery module 202 are all located on the left side of the fuselage 101.

[0034] For any propulsion assembly 300, redundancy design is achieved in the above manner. Since it is connected to multiple different battery modules 200, when the power supply of the battery module 200 connected to any single-winding motor, motor winding or motor controller is abnormal, other battery modules 200 can still supply electrical energy to the remaining single-winding motors, motor windings or motor controllers. Of course, when other battery modules 200 can still supply electrical energy to the remaining single-winding motors, motor windings or motor controllers, the flight control system can perform corresponding redistribution of thrust and / or lift to ensure the flight safety of the eVTOL.

[0035] As shown in Figure 4 , in an example, assume that each propulsion assembly 300 (tilt-rotor unit 320 or fixed rotor unit 310) provides 150 kW of power, and each propulsion assembly 300 is powered by 2 motor controllers, that is, each motor controller needs to provide 75 kW of electric power. Each battery module 200 needs to provide 300 kW of electric power. At this moment, the total propulsion power of the whole machine is 1200 kW. When a single battery module 200 (the first battery module 201) connected to the second motor controller 612 and the third motor controller 621 fails, both the second motor controller 612 and the third motor controller 621 fail, but the first motor controller 611 and the fourth motor controller 622 can still maintain an output of 75 kW, or further increase the output power on the basis of 75 kW, so that the eVTOL can still maintain power balance for a short time, leaving time for the pilot to make a decision.

[0036] In addition, in order to further improve redundancy, for the tilt-rotor unit, its different motor controllers are connected to different battery modules 200 on different sides of the aircraft body. As shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4 , two motor controllers of the first tilt-rotor unit 321 are respectively connected to the first battery module 201 and the fourth battery module 204. Obviously, the first battery module 201 and the fourth battery module 204 are respectively located on the left and right sides of the fuselage 101.

[0037] It should be noted that in this embodiment, each battery module 200 is not only connected to one type of propulsion component 300 among the fixed rotor units 310 and the tilt-rotor units 320, but is simultaneously connected to a part of the fixed rotor units 310 and a part of the tilt-rotor units 320. Thus, for any battery module 200, during the vertical takeoff and landing stage and the tilt transition stage in the eVTOL flight process, the battery module 200 not only supplies power to the tilt-rotor units 320 connected thereto, but also supplies power to the fixed rotor units 310 connected thereto. During the cruise stage of the eVTOL flight process, when the fixed rotor units 310 are shut down, the battery module 200 supplies power to the tilt-rotor units 320 connected thereto.

[0038] As described above, the fixed rotor units 310 are shut down or enter a low power consumption mode during the cruise stage, and during the vertical takeoff and landing stage and the tilt transition stage, normally the power between the tilt-rotor units 320 and the fixed rotor units 310 is not evenly distributed. For example, if the total power of the eVTOL is 1000 KW, all the tilt-rotor units 320 together bear 600 KW, and all the fixed rotor units 310 together bear 400 KW. Thus, the power consumption demands between the fixed rotor units 310 and the tilt-rotor units 320 are inconsistent. If any battery module 200 only supplies power to a part of the fixed rotor units 310 or only supplies power to a part of the tilt-rotor units 320 under normal conditions. Then there will be a discharge difference between different battery modules 200, resulting in a large difference in the remaining power of each battery module 200 after performing the flight mission, rather than the battery modules 200 on the eVTOL discharging evenly to synchronously reduce the power to the warning value for charging or battery swapping together, thus leading to inconsistent maintenance cycles of the battery modules 200 on the eVTOL, and further increasing the maintenance and operation costs of the eVTOL.

[0039] In this embodiment, since the power of all the tilt-rotor units 320 on the same eVTOL is generally close to being consistent, and the power of all the fixed-rotor units 310 on the same eVTOL is generally close to being consistent, and each battery module 200 is connected to not only a part of the fixed-rotor units 310 to supply power to them, but also a part of the tilt-rotor units 320 to supply power to them. In addition, the number of tilt-rotor units 320 connected by all the battery modules 200 is the same, and the number of fixed-rotor units 310 connected by all the battery modules 200 is the same. Thus, discharge balance can be approximately achieved among all the battery modules 200, ensuring that the power levels of different battery modules 200 can be synchronized approximately, or reduced to the same warning value within the allowable error range, so as to perform charging or battery replacement together within the same maintenance cycle. Of course, in this embodiment, the battery capacities of all the battery modules 200 are the same. For example, in some specific embodiments, the battery modules 200 all adopt the same configuration to achieve the same battery capacity, so that the number of tests in the R & D stage and the number of compliance verifications can be significantly reduced. Of course, in the subsequent operation stage, the battery modules with the same configuration are also beneficial for maintenance.

[0040] In addition, due to different performance requirements of eVTOLs, the fixed-rotor units 310 can adopt various layout modes. For example, as an option in this embodiment, the fixed-rotor units 310 are symmetrically distributed on the left and right sides of the fuselage 101, and are all arranged in the fuselage tail side area of the wing. Or, as another option in this embodiment, the fixed-rotor units 310 are also symmetrically distributed on the left and right sides of the fuselage 101 but are only located in the fuselage head side area.

[0041] Or, as yet another option in this embodiment, the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft includes at least four fixed-rotor units 310. Among the at least four fixed-rotor units 310, 2N fixed-rotor units 310 are symmetrically distributed on the left and right sides of the fuselage 101 of the aircraft body and are arranged close to the fuselage head, and 2N fixed-rotor units 310 are symmetrically distributed on the left and right sides of the fuselage 101 and are arranged close to the fuselage tail; N is a natural number greater than or equal to 1.

[0042] That is, the first propulsion component group 10 further includes at least one fixed rotor unit 310, the second propulsion component group 20 further includes at least one fixed rotor unit 310, the third propulsion component group 30 further includes at least one fixed rotor unit 310, and the fourth propulsion component group 40 further includes at least one fixed rotor unit 310. Thus, the first propulsion component group 10 of the eVTOL may include at least one tilt-rotor unit 320 and at least one fixed rotor unit 310. Correspondingly, since the projections of the first propulsion component group 10 and the second propulsion component group 20 on the horizontal plane are axially symmetrically arranged, the second propulsion component group 20 may also include at least one tilt-rotor unit 320 and at least one fixed rotor unit 310. And the projections of the tilt-rotor units 320 of the first propulsion component group 10 and the tilt-rotor units 320 of the second propulsion component group 20 on the horizontal plane are axially symmetrically arranged one by one with each other. At the same time, the projections of the fixed rotor units 310 of the first propulsion component group 10 and the fixed rotor units 310 of the second propulsion component group 20 on the horizontal plane are also axially symmetrically arranged one by one with each other. The third propulsion component group 30 of the eVTOL may include at least one tilt-rotor unit 320 and at least one fixed rotor unit 310. Correspondingly, since the projections of the third propulsion component group 30 and the fourth propulsion component group 40 on the horizontal plane are axially symmetrically arranged, the fourth propulsion component group 40 may also include at least one tilt-rotor unit 320 and at least one fixed rotor unit 310. And the projections of the tilt-rotor units 320 of the third propulsion component group 30 and the tilt-rotor units 320 of the fourth propulsion component group 40 on the horizontal plane are axially symmetrically arranged one by one with each other. At the same time, the projections of the fixed rotor units 310 of the third propulsion component group 30 and the fixed rotor units 310 of the fourth propulsion component group 40 on the horizontal plane are also axially symmetrically arranged one by one with each other. Of course, the projections of each fixed rotor unit 310 in the first propulsion component group 10 and a fixed rotor unit 310 in the fourth propulsion component group 40 on the horizontal plane are centrosymmetric with each other, and the projections of each fixed rotor unit 310 in the second propulsion component group 20 and a fixed rotor unit 310 in the third propulsion component group 30 on the horizontal plane are centrosymmetric with each other.

[0043] In this embodiment, the fixed rotor units 310 in the first propulsion component group 10, the second propulsion component group 20, the third propulsion component group 30, and the fourth propulsion component group 40 of the eVTOL may undertake the main lift generation task in this azimuth area during the vertical takeoff and landing stage. Or, when the lift provided by the tilt-rotor units 320 is insufficient, the fixed rotor units 310 may supplement the corresponding lift. This layout method can enable the eVTOL to have sufficient lift reserves in the aforementioned four azimuth areas of the fuselage, thereby improving the flight stability and safety of the eVTOL during vertical takeoff and landing.

[0044] In addition, the point of central symmetry between the first propulsion component group 10 and the third propulsion component group 30, or between the second propulsion component group 20 and the fourth propulsion component group 40, may be the center of gravity G point of the eVTOL. Or in one embodiment, all the tilt-rotor units 320 are grouped in pairs. When the eVTOL is in the vertical takeoff and landing phase, the projections of the propellers of the tilt-rotor units 320 within the same group are centrally symmetric about point B in the horizontal plane. Both point B and the center of gravity G point of the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft are located within the symmetry plane of the fuselage, and point B is located on the side closer to the tail wing of point G. During the eVTOL mode change process, both point G and point B move along the symmetry plane, and point B is always located on the side closer to the tail wing of point G.

[0045] Please refer to Figure 5 , with this layout, the center of gravity G point of the eVTOL and the symmetry center B point of the tilt-rotor unit 320 do not coincide. Particularly during the transition of the eVTOL from the vertical takeoff and landing phase to the cruise phase, both point G and point B move along the symmetry plane towards the side closer to the head of the fuselage. Therefore, the moment of the pulling force generated by the tilt-rotor unit 320 in front of the center of gravity on the center of gravity G point is smaller, and the moment of the pulling force generated by the tilt-rotor unit 320 behind the center of gravity on the center of gravity G point is larger. The moment difference between the front and rear tilt-rotor units 320 can resist part of the pitching moment generated by the action of the washout area of the tilt-rotor unit 320 on the tail wing 102. Therefore, the difficulty of pitch control can be reduced. Therefore, when the tilt-rotor units 320 on both sides of the center of gravity G point have the same rotational speed throttle, due to the difference in the lever arm lengths with respect to the center of gravity G point, a pitching-down moment will be generated, which can offset or partially offset the pitching-up moment generated by the action of the washout area of the tilt-rotor unit 320 on the tail wing 102. Therefore, the eVTOL can be better trimmed for the pitching moment when the throttles of the front and rear propulsion components are the same.

[0046] Of course, for the fixed rotor units 310, in one embodiment, all the fixed rotor units 310 are grouped in pairs. When the eVTOL is in the vertical takeoff and landing phase, the projections of the propellers of the fixed rotor units 310 within the same group are all centrally symmetric about point A in the horizontal plane. Point A is located within the symmetry plane of the fuselage. During the eVTOL mode change process, point G is located on the side closer to the head of the fuselage of point A or coincides with point A, and point B is always located on the side closer to the tail wing of point A.

[0047] Please refer to Figure 5, specifically, with the head of the eVTOL fuselage facing forward, the center B point of the 2M tilting rotor units 320 is located behind the center A point of the 2N fixed rotor units 310, and the distance from point A to point B is L2, where L2 > 0. As the 2M tilting rotor units 320 tilt forward, the center of gravity of the 2M tilting rotor units 320, the center of gravity G of the eVTOL, and the symmetry center B point will move towards the head of the fuselage. During the entire tilting process of the 2M tilting rotor units 320 from the preset vertical takeoff and landing position (e.g., 90° tilt angle) to the preset cruise position (e.g., 0° tilt angle), L2 > 0 always holds. At the same time, the center of gravity G of the eVTOL is located in front of the symmetry center B of the 2M tilting rotor units 320 and also in front of the symmetry center A point of the 2N fixed rotor units 310. The distance from point A to point G is L1, where L1 ≥ 0, and as the 2M tilting rotor units 320 tilt forward, the center of gravity G gradually moves forward, and the absolute value of L1 also becomes larger and larger. In this layout, the center of gravity of the eVTOL does not coincide with the symmetry center of the fixed rotor units 310 or the symmetry center of the tilting rotor units 320. During the transition of the eVTOL from the vertical takeoff and landing stage to the cruise stage, both point G and point B move along the symmetry plane towards the side closer to the head of the fuselage. Point G is located on the side closer to the head of the fuselage than point A or coincides with point A, and point B is always located on the side closer to the tail wing 102 than point A. Therefore, the moment of the pulling force generated by the tilting rotor units 320 and the fixed rotor units 310 in front of the center of gravity on the center of gravity G point is smaller, and the moment of the pulling force generated by the tilting rotor units 320 and the fixed rotor units 310 behind the center of gravity on the center of gravity G point is larger. The moment difference between the front and rear rotors can resist part of the nose-up moment generated by the action of the tilting rotor washout area on the tail wing, so the difficulty of pitch control can be reduced. Therefore, when the fixed rotor units 310 or the tilting rotor units 320 on both sides of the center of gravity G point have the same rotational speed throttle, due to the difference in the lever arm length with respect to the center of gravity G point, a nose-down moment will be generated, which can offset or partially offset the nose-up moment generated by the action of the tilting rotor units 320 washout area on the tail wing. Therefore, the eVTOL can be better trimmed for the pitch moment when the throttles of the front and rear propulsion components are the same. Among them, M is a natural number greater than or equal to 1. M can have the same or different values as N.

[0048] It can be understood that for the two propulsion components 300 (two fixed rotor units 310 or two tilting rotor units 320) with the aforementioned central symmetry layout, when one of the propulsion components 300 is in an abnormal state, the flight control system of the eVTOL reallocates power, including but not limited to: Shut down both the propulsion component with abnormal status and its symmetric propulsion component; at this time, the two symmetric propulsion components 300 in the eVTOL both lose pulling force / lifting force / thrust, thereby preventing the eVTOL from pitching / yawing / rolling to the side where any propulsion component has abnormal status.

[0049] Alternatively, shut down both the propulsion component with abnormal status and its symmetric propulsion component, and adjust the output power of the remaining propulsion components to obtain the desired pulling force / lifting force / thrust. That is, when the pulling force / lifting force / thrust currently provided by the remaining thrust components is difficult to meet the requirements, the flight control system of the eVTOL can control each of the remaining propulsion components to increase the power, so as to obtain a higher power output and obtain the desired pulling force / lifting force / thrust.

[0050] Alternatively, adjust the output power of the symmetric propulsion component of the propulsion component with abnormal status to match the pulling force / lifting force / thrust provided by the propulsion component with abnormal status. That is, although any propulsion component has abnormal status and has not completely lost power, or when other situations require it to provide corresponding pulling force / lifting force / thrust, the output power of the other symmetric propulsion component can be reduced, so as to ensure the aerodynamic balance of the eVTOL during flight.

[0051] Alternatively, adjust the output power of the symmetric propulsion component of the propulsion component with abnormal status and the remaining propulsion components to obtain the desired pulling force / lifting force / thrust. Since the eVTOL is used in a complex urban environment, in order to obtain a more ideal aerodynamic balance throughout the flight profile, when the flight control system of the eVTOL detects that the output power of a propulsion component decreases or even fails due to a battery module failure or other reasons, it will actively reduce the power of the propulsion component symmetric to the failed propulsion component, thereby ensuring the aerodynamic balance of the eVTOL on the symmetric side. In addition, the flight control system of the eVTOL will also control the remaining propulsion components to increase the power, so as to obtain a higher power output and obtain the desired pulling force / lifting force / thrust.

[0052] For ease of understanding, please refer to Figure 6 , and a specific example of a propulsion component layout is shown below: The eVTOL includes a first tilt-rotor unit 321, a second tilt-rotor unit 322, a third tilt-rotor unit 323, and a fourth tilt-rotor unit 324. The first tilt-rotor unit 321 is disposed on the left wing 103 and is located on the fuselage head side of the left wing 103. The second tilt-rotor unit 322 is disposed on the right wing 104 and is located on the fuselage head side of the right wing 104. The third tilt-rotor unit 323 is disposed at the wing tip of the left stabilizer of the tail wing, and the fourth tilt-rotor unit 324 is disposed at the wing tip of the right stabilizer. The eVTOL further includes a first fixed-rotor unit 311, a second fixed-rotor unit 312, a third fixed-rotor unit 313, and a fourth fixed-rotor unit 314. The first fixed-rotor unit 311 is disposed on the fuselage head side of the left wing 103, the second fixed-rotor unit 312 is disposed on the fuselage head side of the right wing 104, the third fixed-rotor unit 313 is disposed on the fuselage tail side of the left wing 103, and the fourth fixed-rotor unit 314 is disposed on the fuselage tail side of the right wing 104.

[0053] It can be seen that in this example, the eVTOL includes a total of 4 tilt-rotor units 320, where 2 of them are respectively located at the wing tips of the left and right stabilizers of the tail wing 102, and the other 2 tilt-rotor units 320 are respectively located on the fuselage head side of the left wing 103 and the fuselage head side of the right wing, and are substantially on the same straight line as the tilt-rotor units 320 on the corresponding side of the tail wing 102, so that the other 2 tilt-rotor units 320 are both arranged close to the fuselage 101. The eVTOL further includes 4 fixed-rotor units 310, where 2 fixed-rotor units 310 are respectively located on the fuselage head side and the fuselage tail side of the left wing 103, and are both arranged close to the wing tip of the left wing 103, and the other 2 fixed-rotor units 310 are respectively located on the fuselage head side and the fuselage tail side of the right wing 104, and are both arranged close to the wing tip of the right wing 104. Specifically, the first fixed-rotor unit 311 is disposed on the fuselage head side of the left wing 103, the third fixed-rotor unit 313 is disposed on the fuselage tail side of the left wing 103, and the first fixed-rotor unit 311 and the third fixed-rotor unit 313 are arranged on a straight line parallel to the central axis 101a of the fuselage 101. The second fixed-rotor unit 312 and the fourth fixed-rotor unit 314 are both arranged on the right side of the fuselage 101, and the second fixed-rotor unit 312 is symmetric with respect to the first fixed-rotor unit 311 about the symmetry plane of the fuselage 101, and the fourth fixed-rotor unit 314 is symmetric with respect to the third fixed-rotor unit 313 about the symmetry plane of the fuselage 101.

[0054] In some specific embodiments, the first tilt-rotor unit 321 is connected to the fuselage 101 through an arm and is located on the fuselage head side of the left wing; the second tilt-rotor unit 322 is connected to the fuselage 101 through an arm and is located on the fuselage head side of the right wing. Alternatively, it can be understood that when the fuselage size is sufficient, the tilt-rotor unit 320 or the fixed-rotor unit 310 can be directly installed on the wing. Alternatively, since eVTOL is often used in urban environments and its fuselage size is limited, for this, please refer to Figure 1 , Figure 5 and Figure 6 , in some embodiments, the first tilt-rotor unit 321 is connected to the left wing 103 through the left arm 1031; the second tilt-rotor unit 322 is connected to the right wing 104 through the right arm 1041.

[0055] Specifically, two arms are arranged at intervals in the left-right direction on the left wing 103. One of them is arranged close to the fuselage 101 to form the left arm 1031, and the left arm 1031 extends forward for the installation of the first tilt-rotor unit 321. The other is arranged close to the wing tip of the left wing 103, and one end of it extends forward for the installation of the first fixed-rotor unit 311, and the other end extends backward for the installation of the third fixed-rotor unit 313. Correspondingly, two arms are arranged at intervals in the left-right direction on the right wing 104. One of them is arranged close to the fuselage 101 to form the right arm 1041, and the right arm 1041 extends forward for the installation of the second tilt-rotor unit 322. The other is arranged close to the wing tip of the right wing 104, and one end of it extends forward for the installation of the second fixed-rotor unit 312, and the other end extends backward for the installation of the fourth fixed-rotor unit 314.

[0056] In this example, please refer to Figure 6 , the eVTOL includes a first battery module 201, a second battery module 202, a third battery module 203, and a fourth battery module 204. In order to improve the reliability and fault tolerance of the electrical system and meet the requirements of the aircraft weight distribution, the first battery module 201, the second battery module 202, the third battery module 203, and the fourth battery module 204 are symmetrically distributed on the left and right sides of the fuselage 101. Specifically, the first battery module 201 and the third battery module 203 are distributed on the left side of the aircraft body, and the second battery module 202 and the fourth battery module 204 are distributed on the right side of the aircraft body. In a specific embodiment, the first battery module 201 is arranged on a left arm 1031 connected to the first tilt-rotor unit 321, the second battery module 202 is arranged on a right arm 1041 connected to the second tilt-rotor unit 322, the third battery module 203 is arranged on the left wing 103, and the fourth battery module 204 is arranged on the right wing 104.

[0057] It is worth mentioning that the battery module 200 can be fixedly arranged in the aircraft body or movably arranged in the aircraft body, so that the weight balance of the aircraft can be adjusted according to the actual weight of the cockpit or cargo hold of the pilot / flying mission.

[0058] In this embodiment, the first battery module 201 is connected to the first fixed rotor unit 311, the first tilt-rotor unit 321, the third fixed rotor unit 313 and the fourth tilt-rotor unit 324, so as to supply power to one motor winding of each of the 4 propulsion assemblies 300. The second battery module 202 is connected to the second fixed rotor unit 312, the second tilt-rotor unit 322, the fourth fixed rotor unit 314 and the third tilt-rotor unit 323 for power supply connection, so as to supply power to one motor winding of each of the 4 propulsion assemblies 300. The third battery module 203 is connected to the first fixed rotor unit 311, the second tilt-rotor unit 322, the third fixed rotor unit 313 and the third tilt-rotor unit 323, so as to supply power to one motor winding of each of the 4 propulsion assemblies 300. The fourth battery module 204 is connected to the second fixed rotor unit 312, the first tilt-rotor unit 321, the fourth fixed rotor unit 314 and the fourth tilt-rotor unit 324, so as to supply power to one motor winding of each of the 4 propulsion assemblies 300.

[0059] In this specific embodiment, the purpose of adopting this connection method is as follows: (1) Discharge balance between the battery modules 200: As described above, the fixed rotor unit 310 shuts down or enters the low power consumption mode during the cruise phase. Moreover, during the vertical takeoff and landing phase and the tilt transition phase, normally the power between the tilt rotor unit 320 and the fixed rotor unit 310 is not evenly distributed. For example, if the total power of the eVTOL is 1000 KW, all the tilt rotor units 320 together bear 600 KW, and all the fixed rotor units 310 together bear 400 KW. Thus, the power consumption demands between the first power group 1 and the second power group 2 are inconsistent. If any one of the first battery module 201, the second battery module 202, the third battery module 203, and the fourth battery module 204 only supplies power to several propulsion components 300 in the first power group 1 or only supplies power to several propulsion components 300 in the second power group 2 under normal conditions. Then there will be a discharge difference between the first battery module 201, the second battery module 202, the third battery module 203, and the fourth battery module 204, resulting in a large difference in the remaining power of each battery module 200 after flight, rather than the battery modules 200 on the eVTOL discharging evenly and the power synchronously decreasing to the warning value for synchronous charging / replacement, thus leading to inconsistent maintenance cycles of the battery modules 200 on the eVTOL, further increasing the maintenance cost of the eVTOL, or affecting the operational economy of the eVTOL.

[0060] In this embodiment, the first battery module 201, the second battery module 202, the third battery module 203, and the fourth battery module 204 all supply power to 2 fixed rotor units 310 and all supply power to 2 tilt rotor units 320. In this way, the 4 battery modules 200 can achieve discharge balance with each other, ensuring that the power of the 4 battery modules 200 synchronously decreases to the warning value for synchronous charging or battery replacement.

[0061] (2)Symmetrical power supply of the tilt rotor unit 320 improves flight stability It can be understood that although the propulsion component 300 adopts a backup design such as a dual-winding motor, enabling the backup or the flight control system to reallocate power requires a response time. Thus, during the response time, the pull / lift / thrust provided by the faulty side of the fuselage is still less than that of the normal side of the fuselage, resulting in a flight instability phenomenon. By symmetrically powering the tilt rotor unit 320 with the battery module 200, when the battery module 200 fails, the two symmetrical propulsion components 300 lose power together, thus ensuring the power balance of the fuselage without the need for the flight control system to respond, or reducing the complexity of the fault tolerance control algorithm of the flight control system.

[0062] Of course, to meet the safety requirements of eVTOL, the motors in the electric engines of the propulsion assembly 300 described above are dual-winding motors. Each motor winding is respectively powered by one motor controller with the required power. The two motor windings of each motor are connected to motor controllers that are respectively powered by different battery modules 200. In this way, after a single motor winding fails, the remaining motor winding can still provide power. However, there are two problems in this regard: On the one hand, limited by factors such as the installation volume of the motors on the aircraft, device efficiency, and heat dissipation, if the motor backup design is not a fully redundant backup relationship, after one motor winding fails or loses power, the other motor winding cannot provide the rated power required to maintain the operation of the entire propulsion assembly 300. Only the performance of the entire propulsion assembly 300 can be degraded to provide the required power. And under such conditions, the working time that the motor winding can support is relatively short, making it difficult to support the aircraft to continue flying safely. To meet the flight performance requirements of eVTOL and ensure flight safety, it is necessary to restore power supply to the motor winding that has lost power due to power failure, so that the propulsion assembly 300 can maintain normal operation. On the other hand, if the motor can meet the requirements of maintaining safe flight by increasing the output power without performance degradation in the single-motor-winding working state, however, the battery module 200 is limited by factors such as energy density, grouping rate, installation space on the aircraft, and weight limit. The power of a single battery module 200 is fixed, which will lead to an increase in the discharge rate of the battery module 200 connected to the single motor winding, and at the same time, the voltage of this battery module 200 will drop rapidly. In the case of high-rate discharge for a long time, the safety issue of this battery module 200 becomes a challenge that needs to be solved urgently. The eVTOL at the whole aircraft level does not want a single battery module 200 to enter an unsafe state when there are multiple normally operating battery modules 200.

[0063] To this end, in one embodiment, the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft further includes a power distribution module 100. At least some of the battery modules 200 are connected to the corresponding tilt-rotor unit 320 or fixed-rotor unit 310, that is, the propulsion assembly 300, through the power distribution module 100. Among them, the power distribution module 100 is configured to have a multi-independent bus state and a common bus state.

[0064] Among them, when the power distribution module 100 is in the multi-independent bus state, the power distribution module 100 has multiple independent buses 130, and the number of the independent buses 130 is consistent with the number of the battery modules 200 connected to the power distribution module 100 and corresponds to each other one by one; among them, each battery module 200 is connected to the corresponding tilt-rotor unit 320 and / or the fixed-rotor unit 310 through the corresponding independent bus 130 respectively; when the power distribution module 100 is in the common bus state, the power distribution module 100 has a common bus, and at least a part of all the battery modules 200 connected to the power distribution module 100 are connected in parallel to the input side of the common bus, and all the fixed-rotor units 310 and / or tilt-rotor units 320 connected to the power distribution module 100 are connected to the output side of the common bus.

[0065] Specifically, in aircraft such as eVTOL, the battery module 200 is not directly connected to the propulsion assembly 300, but is connected through the power distribution module 100, so as to facilitate the power distribution module 100 to distribute the electric energy provided by the battery module 200, deliver the electric energy to different propulsion assemblies 300, and also facilitate the distribution of electric energy to other on-board loads.

[0066] The power distribution module 100 is an electric energy transmission system between each battery module 200 and each propulsion assembly 300. Therefore, please refer to Figure 7 and Figure 8 , the power distribution module 100 has an input interface 110 connected to each battery module 200 to receive the electric energy provided by the battery module 200 connected thereto. Each independent bus 130 of the power distribution module 100 corresponds to an output interface 120 connected to the motor winding, and the output interface 120 delivers the distributed electric energy to each motor winding connected thereto. It is worth mentioning that each output interface 120 may include a plurality of sub-interfaces, and each sub-interface is respectively connected to a motor winding. Of course, some sub-interfaces can also be connected to other on-board loads.

[0067] In this embodiment, the power distribution module 100 is configured to have a multi-independent bus state and a common bus state. It can be understood that when the power distribution module 100 is in the multi-independent bus state, it includes a plurality of independent buses 130, that is, the power distribution module 100 establishes a normal power supply channel between a battery module 200 and the corresponding propulsion assembly 300 (a part of the fixed-rotor units 310 and a part of the tilt-rotor units 320 connected to the battery module 200) through an independent bus 130 (the first independent bus 130a, the second independent bus 130b, the third independent bus 130c, and the fourth independent bus 130d), so as to deliver the electric energy provided by a battery module 200 to the corresponding propulsion assembly 300 through the independent bus.

[0068] When the power distribution module 100 is in the common bus state, it has a common bus. At this time, the power distribution module 100 reconnects at least part of the internal independent buses 130 into a common bus, so that all the input interfaces 110 corresponding to the reconnected independent buses are connected to the input side of the common bus, and all the output interfaces 120 corresponding to the reconnected independent buses 130 are connected to the output side of the common bus. As a result, at least part of the battery modules 200 supply power to the corresponding multiple output interfaces 120 together, that is, supply power to the propulsion components 300 corresponding to the at least part of the battery modules 200.

[0069] Thus, when a power supply anomaly occurs in any of the battery modules 200 connected to the power distribution module 100, the power distribution module 100 can, through state switching, distribute the electric energy provided by other battery modules 200 to the propulsion component 300 corresponding to the battery module 200 with abnormal power supply, thereby ensuring the continuous supply of electric energy to the corresponding propulsion component 300 and ensuring the stable electric power on the propulsion component 300. For eVTOL, it can ensure the continuous supply of electric energy to the on-board load of eVTOL, and further improve the safety margin of eVTOL.

[0070] In addition, it is not difficult to see that the parallel structure of the remaining battery modules 200 can force the voltages of the remaining battery modules to tend to be the same. Before actual parallel connection, the voltages of the remaining battery modules 200 are always inconsistent. During the parallel connection process, the load does not stop working. After parallel connection, the output current of the battery module 200 with a higher voltage is larger, and soon the voltages among the remaining multiple battery modules 200 tend to be the same. For the on-board electrical system, it can maintain voltage stability, with smaller voltage fluctuations and higher fault tolerance, thereby improving the stability of the whole machine system. That is, in this embodiment, since the capacity is larger after multiple battery modules 200 are connected in parallel and the tolerance for instantaneous response is greater, the overall safety of the aircraft can be guaranteed.

[0071] Of course, in a specific embodiment, when the power distribution module 100 is in the common bus state, there is only one common bus, that is, all the independent buses 130 are reconfigured into a common bus, so that all the battery modules 200 are connected to the input side of the common bus, and the motor windings of all the propulsion components 300 are connected to the output side of the common bus. At this time, all the battery modules 200 in the normal state supply electric energy to all the motor windings together. The following also takes the case where all the independent buses 130 are reconfigured into a common bus as an example for further elaboration.

[0072] It should be noted that the abnormal power supply of the battery module 200 can be a failure, such as the battery module 200 fails, is damaged by foreign objects, fails due to high temperature, fails due to low temperature, or other situations where it cannot supply electric energy to the outside normally or the power supply is unstable.

[0073] It is not difficult to see that in this embodiment, the power distribution module 100 can be switched to the common bus state to supply power to all the motor windings together, so that the powered-off motor windings can resume power supply, and further ensure that all the motor windings of the propulsion assembly can work normally without performance degradation.

[0074] It should be noted that in the normal working state, the power distribution module 100 is in the multi-independent bus state. It can be understood that since the normal power supply channels where each independent bus is located are independent of each other, there is a redundancy design in the multi-independent bus state, which can prevent the entire airborne electrical system from collapsing due to a single point of failure.

[0075] The power distribution module 100 is configured to switch to the common bus state when it detects that the state switching condition is met.

[0076] (1) At least one battery module has abnormal power supply; That is, when the battery module 200 fails, the corresponding multiple motor windings may face the risk of failure, that is, one or more propulsion assemblies 300 are also about to face the risk of performance degradation or loss of power, and the aircraft may fall into a dangerous state. Of course, in order to ensure the accuracy of state switching, in one embodiment, the power distribution module 100 is configured to switch to the common bus state when it detects that the circuit parameters of at least one independent bus are less than the warning value and it is not a short circuit fault.

[0077] Since the common bus will still be in the short circuit fault state when the independent bus 130 is connected to other independent buses 130 to form a common bus without eliminating the short circuit fault, which will lead to catastrophic consequences for the eVTOL. Therefore, when the independent bus 130 is in a short circuit fault, the power distribution module 100 is not allowed to perform state switching.

[0078] In the case of eliminating the short circuit fault, the circuit parameters include but are not limited to current value, voltage value, or insulation resistance value, etc. Taking the voltage value as an example, specifically, the power distribution module 100 can be configured with a voltage sampling circuit and other structures to monitor the real-time voltage value of each independent bus 130. When the voltage value of at least one independent bus 130 is less than the warning value, it indicates that the battery module 200 of at least one independent bus 130 may have abnormal power supply, and then the common bus state can be switched.

[0079] Since the power distribution module 100 may be involved in the normal power-off after the aircraft such as eVTOL lands, resulting in a decrease in voltage value, in order to further ensure the accuracy of state switching, in one embodiment, the power distribution module 100 is configured to switch to the common bus state when the aircraft is in a flight state and it detects that the voltage value of at least one independent bus is less than the warning value and it is not a short circuit fault.

[0080] (2) Propulsion component failure; The power distribution module 100 is configured to switch from the multi-independent bus state to the common bus state when it detects that all the motor windings of a propulsion component 300 fail to work properly, or when a failure occurs in the propeller part of the power component. Alternatively, the power distribution module 100 is configured to switch from the multi-independent bus state to the common bus state when it detects that a propeller of a propulsion component 300 fails and cannot work.

[0081] It is easy to understand that when all the motor windings of a certain propulsion component 300 fail or the propeller fails, in order to redistribute the thrust / lift, the flight control system of the eVTOL needs to reduce the power of the symmetric propulsion component of that certain thrust component, and even shut down the symmetric propulsion component. Please refer to Figure 3 , after the entire first fixed rotor unit 311 of the eVTOL fails, in order to maintain the required power for flight, the required power of the entire eVTOL remains unchanged. Thus, the flight control system will control the first tilting rotor unit 321, the third fixed rotor unit 313, the second fixed rotor unit 312, and the fourth tilting rotor unit 324 to increase the output power. In this way, it is inevitable that all the battery modules 200 connected to the propulsion component 300 with increased power will discharge at a high rate, resulting in some of the battery modules 200 discharging faster than the other battery modules 200, which is not conducive to maintaining all the battery modules 200 during the same maintenance period. In this embodiment, when a propulsion component failure occurs, the power distribution module 100 switches to the common bus state for power grid reorganization, so that all the battery modules 200 are connected in parallel and powered together to achieve discharge balance among the battery modules 200, thereby improving maintenance economy.

[0082] In addition, high-rate discharge of the battery modules 200 may also lead to thermal runaway of the battery modules 200, that is, there are safety hazards. In this embodiment, the power distribution module 100 switches to the common bus state for power grid reorganization, so that all the battery modules 200 are connected in parallel and evenly powered together, which can also improve the safety of the whole machine.

[0083] It is worth mentioning that in the related art, when a single motor winding of the propulsion component 300 fails, the flight control system needs to shut down the symmetric propulsion component or control the performance degradation of the symmetric propulsion component. In this embodiment, not only the power output of the symmetric propulsion component will be adjusted, but also the power grid will be reorganized by switching the state of the power distribution module 100.

[0084] (3) Receiving a state switching instruction That is, when the power distribution module 100 receives a status switching instruction, it performs a status switch, thus switching from the multi-independent bus status to the common bus status. It should be noted that the status switching instruction can be issued by the pilot according to the actual flight situation or flight mission. Alternatively, the status switching instruction can also be issued by an external device or a control center (such as a ground control center) to the aircraft, and this embodiment does not limit this.

[0085] Moreover, it is worth mentioning that the power distribution module 100 switches to the common bus status to solve the fault problems of the motor windings or the battery modules 200 faced by eVTOL, and it will not switch back to the multi-independent bus status during the current flight mission after switching to the common bus status.

[0086] It should be noted that in addition to the aforementioned reason for making the failed motor windings resume operation so that the propulsion assembly 300 can work properly, when the remaining single motor winding works, it will cause a significant increase in the power consumption of the battery module 200 connected to this motor winding, and higher requirements for its discharge rate are also needed. Especially for the transient response, it may cause the voltage of the battery module 200 to drop, thereby affecting the safety of the whole machine. In this embodiment, the remaining battery modules 200 are connected in parallel to the input side of the common bus, with a larger capacity and greater inclusiveness for the instantaneous response, so that the safety of the whole machine can be guaranteed.

[0087] In addition, the power distribution module 100 switches from the multi-independent bus status to the common bus status through the first switch unit 140, and the number of the first switch units 140 is the same as the number of the independent buses.

[0088] As an option of this embodiment, the first switch units 140 correspond to the independent buses 130 one by one, all the first switch units 140 are connected in parallel with each other, and each first switch unit is respectively connected in series with the corresponding independent bus 130. In the case where all the first switch units 140 are disconnected, the power distribution module 100 is in the multi-independent bus status. In the case where all the first switch units 140 are turned on, all the independent buses 130 are reconnected to form a common bus, so that the power distribution module 100 switches to the common bus status.

[0089] Please refer to Figure 7 , specifically, the power distribution module 100 is additionally provided with a plurality of first switch units 140 connected in parallel with each other. The number of the first switch units 140 is the same as and corresponds to the number of the independent buses 130 one by one, and one end of each first switch unit 140 is connected in series with the corresponding independent bus 130, and the other end of each first switch unit 140 is connected to the same line to achieve parallel connection with each other.

[0090] Thus, when all the first switch units 140 are turned off, a single battery module 200 corresponds to a single independent bus 130. The independent buses 130 corresponding to different battery modules 200 are electrically isolated from each other under normal operating conditions, so that the power distribution module 100 is in a multi-independent bus state. In the multi-independent bus state, any failure of a battery module 200 or a load circuit will not affect other independent buses 130 within the power distribution module 100, thereby improving the safety margin. When all the first switch units 140 are turned on, all the independent buses 130 will also be connected to each other, thus reconstructing a common bus.

[0091] Alternatively, as another option of this embodiment, all the independent buses 130 of the power distribution module 100 are connected end to end in sequence, and a first switch unit 140 is arranged between adjacent independent buses 130. In the case where all the first switch units 140 are disconnected, the power distribution module 100 is in a multi-independent bus state. In the case where all the first switch units 140 are turned on, all the independent buses 130 are connected and reconstructed into a common bus, so that the power distribution module 100 is switched to the common bus state.

[0092] Specifically, please refer to Figure 8 , all the shown first switch units 140 are connected between two independent buses 130. In this way, all the independent buses 130 of the power distribution module 100 are connected in series end to end through the first switch units 140. When all the first switch units 140 are switched to the on state, all the independent buses 130 form a loop, thus also reconstructing a common bus.

[0093] It can be understood that the independent bus 130 can be constructed as a bus bar or the like. The bus bar can be a single metal bar or a group of metal bars connected in parallel. Therefore, all the bus bars being connected in parallel or in series to form a loop will cause all the bus bars to be reconstructed into a bus bar, that is, all the independent buses are reconstructed into a common bus, thereby causing the power distribution module 100 to be switched to the common bus state. Of course, the independent bus 130 can also be configured as other bus bar devices such as a bus. The first switch unit 140 is configured as a bus bar connection contactor. Of course, the first switch unit 140 can also be configured as a controllable switch or the like. This embodiment does not limit this.

[0094] In addition, since at least two battery modules 200 are respectively located on both sides of the fuselage 101, for the convenience of arranging the power distribution system, they can respectively belong to two power distribution modules 100. Thus, in one embodiment, at least two battery modules 200 include multiple battery groups. For example, the battery module 200 in the left area of the aircraft body belongs to one battery group, while the battery module in the right area belongs to another battery group. Of course, when the number of propulsion components 300 on one side of the fuselage is large, multiple battery modules 200 on one side of the fuselage can also belong to multiple battery groups.

[0095] The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft further includes at least two power distribution modules 100 and at least two second switch units. The number of the power distribution modules 100 is the same as and corresponds one by one to the number of the battery packs. The battery modules 200 within the same battery pack are connected to the corresponding tilt-rotor units 320 and the fixed-rotor units 310 through the corresponding power distribution modules 100. Each power distribution module 100 is configured to have a multi-independent bus state and an overall machine common bus state. When the power distribution module 100 is in the multi-independent bus state, the power distribution module 100 has a plurality of independent buses 130. The number of the independent buses 130 is the same as and corresponds one by one to the number of the battery modules 200 connected to the power distribution module 100. Each battery module 200 is respectively connected to the corresponding fixed-rotor unit 310 and / or tilt-rotor unit 320 through the corresponding independent bus 130. The number of the second switch units is the same as the number of the independent buses 130. The independent buses 130 of all the power distribution modules 100 are connected in a switchable manner through the second switch units. When all the second switch units are disconnected, each power distribution module 100 is in the multi-independent bus state. When all the second switch units are turned on, each power distribution module 100 is in the overall machine common bus state, so that the independent buses 130 of all the power distribution modules 100 are connected to each other to reconstruct the overall machine common bus. At least part of all the battery modules 200 are connected in parallel to the input side of the overall machine common bus, and all the tilt-rotor units 320 and all the fixed-rotor units 310 are connected to the output side of the overall machine common bus Specifically, please refer to Figure 6 , the eVTOL includes a left power distribution module 100a disposed on the left wing 103 and a right power distribution module 100b disposed on the right wing 104. The left power distribution module 100a and the right power distribution module 100b are connected through a cross cable 400

[0096] Please refer to Figure 9 and Figure 10 , each independent bus 130 in each power distribution module 100 is adapted to be connected to one of the negative electrode and the positive electrode of the corresponding motor winding. Each power distribution module 100 further includes a connection unit 150. The connection unit 150 is connected to the connection unit 150 of other power distribution modules 100, and the connection unit 150 is adapted to be connected to the other of the negative electrode and the positive electrode of each motor winding corresponding to the power distribution module 100. Hereinafter, the case where the independent bus 130 is connected to the positive electrode of the load (motor winding) is taken as an example for description. Of course, the independent bus 130 can also be connected to the negative electrode of the load, which will not be elaborated here

[0097] The independent buses 130 of all the power distribution modules 100 are connected in a switchable manner through the second switch units, so as to realize the connection reconstruction of all the independent buses 130 through the conduction of the second switch units

[0098] As an option of this embodiment, a second switch unit is serially connected to each independent bus 130 of each power distribution module 100, and all the second switch units are serially connected to each other.

[0099] Please refer to Figure 9 , the left power distribution module 100a includes a first independent bus 130a and a third independent bus 130c, while the right power distribution module 100b includes a second independent bus 130b and a fourth independent bus 130d. The positive interfaces of each input interface 110 are connected to the corresponding independent bus 130. Each independent bus 130 is then connected to the positive interface of the corresponding output interface 120. The first independent bus 130a, the third independent bus through the switch unit BTC3, the second independent bus 130b through the switch unit BTC2, and the fourth independent bus 130d through the switch unit BTC4 are all connected to the second connection line 401 of the cross-over cable 400.

[0100] Moreover, a connection unit 150 is further included in the left power distribution module 100a. The connection unit 150 is connected to the negative interfaces of each input interface 110 and is also connected to the negative interfaces of each output interface 120. In addition, the connection unit 150 further includes an external interface adapted to be connected to the external interface of the connection unit of the right power distribution module 100b through the first connection line 402 of the cross-over cable 400. Of course, in some specific embodiments, the connection unit 150 of the left power distribution module 100a and the connection unit of the right power distribution module 100b are different parts of the same connection unit, so as to save the number of components and weight.

[0101] When all the second switch units of all the power distribution modules 100 are connected in parallel with each other, all the independent buses 130 of the multiple power distribution modules 100 are reconfigured into a whole-machine common bus. It can be understood that after being reconfigured into a whole-machine common bus, the input interfaces 110 of each battery module 200 of each power distribution module 100 are respectively connected to the input side of the whole-machine common bus, that is, the normally powered battery modules 200 are all connected to the whole-machine common bus, while the battery modules 200 with abnormal power supply are not connected. At the same time, all the motor windings connected by the multiple power distribution modules 100 are connected to the output side of the whole-machine common bus. Similarly, here the motor windings are the motor windings that can work normally, and the faulty motor windings are not connected to the whole-machine common bus.

[0102] As another option of this embodiment, two adjacent independent buses 130 within the same power distribution module 100 are connected to each other in a switchable manner through a second switch unit. Among two adjacent power distribution modules 100, the last independent bus 130 of one power distribution module 100 is connected to the first independent bus 130 of the other power distribution module 100 in a switchable manner through a second switch unit, and the first independent bus 130 of the first power distribution module 100 and the last independent bus 130 of the last power distribution module 100 are connected to each other in a switchable manner through a second switch unit.

[0103] Please refer to Figure 10 , the first independent bus 130a is connected to the third independent bus 130c through the switch unit BTC1, the second independent bus 130b is connected to the fourth independent bus 130d through the switch unit BTC2, the third independent bus 130c is connected to the second independent bus 130b through the switch unit BTC4, and the first independent bus 130a is connected to the fourth independent bus 130d through the switch unit BTC3, so that the 4 independent buses 130 are connected end to end in sequence to form a loop. Thus, when any one of the battery modules 200 in the fuselage 101 has abnormal power supply, grid reorganization can be carried out through the synchronous state switching of the left power distribution module 100a and the right power distribution module 100, so that the other 3 battery modules 200 in the fuselage 101 can supply power to loads such as all motor windings on the eVTOL.

[0104] Thus, in this embodiment, when the second switch units of all the power distribution modules 100 on the eVTOL are turned on, all the independent buses 130 on the eVTOL can be connected to each other to be reconfigured into a whole-aircraft common bus. After being reconfigured into a whole-aircraft common bus, all the normally operating battery modules 200 on the eVTOL are respectively connected to the input side of the whole-aircraft common bus through their respective input interfaces 110, and all the normally operating airborne loads such as the propulsion assemblies 300 are connected to the output side of the whole-aircraft common bus through the output interfaces 120.

[0105] It is not difficult to see that in this embodiment, it is not limited to grid reorganization within a single power distribution module 100, but also includes grid reorganization among multiple power distribution modules 100 on the eVTOL. It can be understood that for the eVTOL, the battery modules 200 can include multiple ones and are distributed at different positions of the fuselage 101, such as symmetrically arranged on different sides of the fuselage 101 and cooperating with different power distribution modules 100. When the power supply of any one side of the battery modules 200 is abnormal, such as when a battery module 200 on one side of the fuselage fails due to an accident such as a collision on one side of the fuselage, multiple or all the power distribution modules 100 on the fuselage can be reconfigured into a whole-aircraft common bus, and the power distribution modules 100 arranged at other positions on the fuselage can be used for power supply, thereby further improving the safety redundancy.

[0106] It is easy to understand that when any battery module 200 fails, if the eVTOL is in the vertical takeoff and landing phase at this time, all 8 propulsion components 300 are working. The 4 motor windings connected to the failed battery module 200 stop operating, and the remaining motor windings need to increase their power to maintain the lift required for the entire eVTOL. This leads to uneven discharge among the remaining 3 battery modules. If it continues to operate in this state, the power of one of the battery modules 200 will rapidly decrease and the voltage will continue to drop. In the worst case, it may discharge to the cut-off voltage, or the battery may experience thermal runaway due to long-term high-rate discharge.

[0107] After the power grid is reconfigured, the remaining 3 battery modules 200 are connected in parallel to the input side of the overall aircraft's common bus for combined power supply, with the following advantages: 1. Balance the current burden of the remaining battery modules 200 and extend the power supply time: With the overall aircraft weight remaining unchanged, the required electrical power for the overall aircraft to fly is constant. Assume the total current required at this time is I. Previously, due to the diagonal symmetric connection, ignoring minor differences, the output current of each battery module was I / 4. If the first battery module 201 fails, the output current required by the fourth battery module 204 increases from I / 4 to I / 2. If the rated current upper limit of each battery module 200 is Imax, it may exceed its safe range at this time, leading to overheating or damage. By connecting the remaining second battery module 202, third battery module 203, and fourth battery module 204 in parallel, the output current required by each battery module 200 is I / 3, which can reduce the current burden on the fourth battery module 204 and avoid the risk of overload.

[0108] 2. Maintain voltage stability: Before parallel connection, the remaining 3 battery modules 200 independently output different currents. With the original battery levels being the same, the voltage of one of the battery modules 200 will drop faster than the other two battery modules 200. After the remaining battery modules 200 are connected in parallel, it can force the voltages of the remaining 3 battery modules 200 to tend to be the same. In fact, the voltages of the remaining 3 battery modules 200 are always inconsistent before parallel connection, and the rear-end load does not stop working during the parallel connection process. After parallel connection, the battery module 200 with a higher voltage will output a larger current (the batteries do not balance each other here because the power required by the rear-end load is much greater than the differential power between the battery modules 200, so the general trend is to output power outward). Soon, the voltages among the 3 battery modules 200 will tend to be the same. For the overall aircraft system, it can maintain voltage stability, with smaller voltage fluctuations and higher fault tolerance, thus improving the stability of the overall aircraft system.

[0109] 3. Improvement of system stability, system redundancy and fault tolerance: For the whole machine system, it can maintain voltage stability, with smaller voltage fluctuations and higher fault tolerance, thus improving the stability of the whole machine system. Additionally, after the remaining battery modules 200 are paralleled due to power grid reorganization, if one of the three remaining battery modules 200 fails due to a fault, the remaining two battery modules 200 can still continue to supply power by sharing the load. Compared with the situation where a single propulsion component 300 may completely lose power and stop working during independent power supply, the control difficulty is reduced at the whole machine control level, and the design parameter requirements for the battery modules 200 and the propulsion components 300 are also reduced. Furthermore, during the power grid reorganization, that is, during the process of switching the power distribution module 100, the battery modules 200 are connected in parallel while being charged one by one. When the consistency of multiple battery modules 200 is relatively good, the voltage difference between multiple battery modules 200 is relatively low. During the connection process of the parallel contactor, the voltage difference across the main contacts of the contactor is low (a high voltage difference and high voltage will generate an arc), which can effectively reduce the secondary safety risk brought by the power grid reorganization after a fault.

[0110] 4. Optimization of energy utilization efficiency: After the battery modules 200 are paralleled, the equivalent total internal resistance of the system decreases, power loss reduces, and more energy is used for the propulsion components 300 instead of generating heat. The battery modules 200 can work in a more relaxed state, avoiding shortened lifespan caused by large currents.

[0111] The above are only exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and do not limit the protection scope of the present invention accordingly. Any equivalent structural transformation made under the technical concept of the present invention by using the content of the specification and drawings of the present invention, or any direct / indirect application in other related technical fields is included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, characterized in that, Comprising: An aircraft body, the aircraft body including a fuselage and a tail; At least two battery modules, at least two of the battery modules being symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides of the aircraft body; At least four tilt-rotor units, at least two of the tilt-rotor units being symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides of the aircraft body and near the head of the fuselage, at least two of the tilt-rotor units being symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides of the aircraft body and near the tail of the fuselage, the tilt-rotor units being configured to rotate between a cruising position and a vertical takeoff and landing position, and a tilt-rotor unit near the head of the fuselage and on either side of the aircraft body and a tilt-rotor unit near the tail of the fuselage and on the other side of the aircraft body being centrosymmetric in projection on a horizontal plane and both being connected to the same battery module; and At least two fixed-rotor units, at least two of the fixed-rotor units being symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides of the aircraft body, on either side of the left and right sides of the aircraft body, any one of the fixed-rotor units being located on the side of any one of the tilt-rotor units away from the central axis of the aircraft body, the fixed-rotor units stopping or entering a low-power mode when the tilt-rotor units are in the cruising position, and the fixed-rotor units on either side of the aircraft body being connected to the battery module on the same side of the aircraft body.

2. The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft according to claim 1, characterized in that, Each of the fixed-rotor units and the tilt-rotor units includes at least two motor controllers, and the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft includes at least four of the battery modules; Wherein, different motor controllers of each of the fixed-rotor units are respectively connected to different battery modules on the same side of the aircraft body as the fixed-rotor units; different motor controllers of each of the tilt-rotor units are respectively connected to different battery modules.

3. The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft according to claim 1, wherein Each of the battery modules is respectively connected to a part of the fixed-rotor units and a part of the tilt-rotor units, the number of the fixed-rotor units connected by all the battery modules is the same, and the number of the tilt-rotor units connected by all the battery modules is the same.

4. The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft according to claim 1, characterized in that, The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft includes at least four of the fixed-rotor units; among at least four of the fixed-rotor units, 2N fixed-rotor units are symmetrically distributed on the left and right sides of the aircraft body and near the head of the fuselage, 2N fixed-rotor units are symmetrically distributed on the left and right sides of the aircraft body and near the tail of the fuselage, N being a natural number greater than or equal to 1; Wherein, the fixed-rotor units are in pairs, and when the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft is in the vertical takeoff and landing stage, the propellers of the fixed-rotor units in the same group are centrosymmetric in projection on a horizontal plane; and / or, the tilt-rotor units are in pairs, and when the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft is in the vertical takeoff and landing stage, the propellers of the tilt-rotor units in the same group are centrosymmetric in projection on a horizontal plane.

5. The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft according to claim 1, characterized in that, The at least four tilt-rotor units include a first tilt-rotor unit, a second tilt-rotor unit, a third tilt-rotor unit, and a fourth tilt-rotor unit. The first tilt-rotor unit is disposed on the left wing of the aircraft body and is located on the fuselage head side of the left wing. The second tilt-rotor unit is disposed on the right wing of the aircraft body and is located on the fuselage head side of the right wing. The third tilt-rotor unit is disposed at the wing tip of the left stabilizer of the tail of the aircraft body. The fourth tilt-rotor unit is disposed at the wing tip of the right stabilizer of the tail; The at least two fixed-rotor units include a first fixed-rotor unit, a second fixed-rotor unit, a third fixed-rotor unit, and a fourth fixed-rotor unit. The first fixed-rotor unit is disposed on the fuselage head side of the left wing. The second fixed-rotor unit is disposed on the fuselage head side of the right wing. The third fixed-rotor unit is disposed on the fuselage tail side of the left wing. The fourth fixed-rotor unit is disposed on the fuselage tail side of the right wing.

6. The vertical take-off and landing aircraft according to claim 5, characterized in that, The at least two battery modules include: A first battery module, which is connected to the first fixed-rotor unit, the first tilt-rotor unit, the third fixed-rotor unit, and the fourth tilt-rotor unit; A second battery module, which is connected to the second fixed-rotor unit, the second tilt-rotor unit, the fourth fixed-rotor unit, and the third tilt-rotor unit; A third battery module, which is connected to the first fixed-rotor unit, the second tilt-rotor unit, the third fixed-rotor unit, and the third tilt-rotor unit; A fourth battery module, which is connected to the first tilt-rotor unit, the second fixed-rotor unit, the fourth fixed-rotor unit, and the fourth tilt-rotor unit.

7. The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft according to claim 6, wherein The left wing is provided with a left arm, and the first tilt-rotor unit is connected to the left wing through the left arm; the right wing is provided with a right arm, and the second tilt-rotor unit is connected to the right wing through the right arm; Wherein, the first battery module is disposed on the left arm, and the second battery module is symmetrically disposed on the right arm; the third battery module is disposed on the left wing, and the fourth battery module is symmetrically disposed on the right wing.

8. The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft further includes a power distribution module. At least part of the battery modules are connected to the corresponding tilt-rotor units or fixed-rotor units through the power distribution module. The power distribution module is configured to have a multi-independent bus state and a common bus state; In the case where the power distribution module is in the multi-independent bus state, the power distribution module has a plurality of independent buses. The number of the independent buses is the same as the number of the battery modules connected to the power distribution module and they correspond to each other one by one; wherein, each battery module is respectively connected to the corresponding fixed-rotor unit and / or tilt-rotor unit through the corresponding independent bus; When the power distribution module is in the common bus state, the power distribution module has a common bus, and at least part of all the battery modules connected to the power distribution module are connected in parallel to the input side of the common bus, and all the fixed rotor units and / or the tilt rotor units connected to the power distribution module are connected to the output side of the common bus.

9. The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft according to claim 8, characterized in that, The power distribution module is configured to switch from the multi-independent bus state to the common bus state when it is detected that the circuit parameters of at least one of the independent buses are less than the warning value and it is not a short-circuit fault.

10. The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, At least two of the battery modules include a plurality of battery packs; The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft further includes: At least two power distribution modules, the number of the power distribution modules is the same as the number of the battery packs and they correspond to each other one by one, and the battery modules in the same battery pack are connected to the corresponding tilt rotor unit and the fixed rotor unit through the corresponding power distribution module. Each power distribution module is configured to have a multi-independent bus state and an overall machine common bus state. When the power distribution module is in the multi-independent bus state, the power distribution module has a plurality of independent buses, the number of the independent buses is the same as the number of the battery modules connected to the power distribution module and they correspond to each other one by one, and each battery module is respectively connected to the corresponding fixed rotor unit and / or the tilt rotor unit through the corresponding independent bus; At least two second switch units, the number of the second switch units is the same as the number of the independent buses, and the independent buses of all the power distribution modules are connected through the second switch units in a switchable manner. When all the second switch units are disconnected, each power distribution module is in the multi-independent bus state. When all the second switch units are turned on, each power distribution module is in the overall machine common bus state, so that the independent buses of all the power distribution modules are connected to each other to form an overall machine common bus, at least part of all the battery modules are connected in parallel to the input side of the overall machine common bus, and all the tilt rotor units and all the fixed rotor units are connected to the output side of the overall machine common bus.

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