Integrated tilting power system integrated with electric control of hydrogen fuel cell motor and aircraft

Abstract

The invention belongs to the technical field of aircraft design, and particularly relates to an integrated tilting power system integrated with hydrogen fuel cell motor electric control and an aircraft. Comprising a tilting mechanism connected with a machine body; the integrated motor and controller is fixedly connected with the tilting mechanism and located at the end, close to the upstream of the incoming flow, of the tilting mechanism; the tilting rotor wing is mounted at one end, close to the incoming flow upstream, of the integrated motor and controller; the hydrogen fuel cell is fixedly connected with the tilting mechanism and is positioned at one end, close to the downstream of the incoming flow, of the tilting mechanism; the nacelle shell wraps the tilting mechanism, the integrated motor, the controller and the hydrogen fuel cell; the nacelle outer heat dissipation fins wrap the nacelle in the circumferential direction; and the tilting mechanism, the integrated motor and controller and the liquid cooling radiating pipeline of the hydrogen fuel cell exchange heat with the radiating fins outside the nacelle.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The application belongs to the technical field of aircraft design, and particularly relates to an integrated tilting power system integrating a hydrogen fuel cell motor and an electric control and an aircraft. BACKGROUND

[0002] The electric tilting rotor aircraft generally has the shortcoming of short flight range and flight time. The use of hydrogen energy as power can greatly improve the flight time and flight range of the vertical take-off and landing aircraft, and the hydrogen energy is green and clean and friendly to the environment. The current hydrogen-powered tilting rotor aircraft is a modified tilting rotor aircraft based on lithium batteries, and has the shortcomings of poor safety and unstable tilting transition stage. The added hydrogen power is based on the hydrogen power for automobiles and is transplanted to the aircraft after a small modification, which conflicts with the space volume, weight and gravity center of the original aircraft, and the unique flight environment of the aircraft is not reasonably used to improve the efficiency of part of the system.

[0003] Patent WO2022212759A1 discloses a hybrid hydrogen electric and hydrogen turbine engine system, which integrates a hydrogen fuel cell, a heat exchanger, a motor and a hydrogen turbine system together to realize dynamic power regulation and high-efficiency power generation, reduce weight and environmental impact, and improve safety and reliability. However, the hybrid hydrogen electric and hydrogen turbine engine system is only suitable for fixed-wing aircraft, and has good heat dissipation conditions, and does not have the extremely high heat dissipation demand of the vertical take-off and landing aircraft in the hovering condition. Therefore, the heat dissipation of the system still relies on the heat dissipation of the internal components, and the system is not suitable for aircraft with hovering conditions. Therefore, a new hydrogen power system and aircraft design scheme are needed to simplify the structure, improve the efficiency, and meet the dual requirements of vertical take-off and landing and high-speed cruising. SUMMARY

[0004] The application aims to overcome the shortcomings in the prior art and provide an integrated tilting power system integrating a hydrogen fuel cell motor and an electric control and an aircraft.

[0005] The technical scheme is as follows. An integrated tilting power system integrating a hydrogen fuel cell motor and an electric control, comprising: a tilting mechanism connected with a machine body; an integrated motor and controller fixedly connected with the tilting mechanism and located at the front end of the tilting mechanism; a tilting rotor installed at the front end of the integrated motor and controller; a hydrogen fuel cell fixedly connected with the tilting mechanism and located at the rear end of the tilting mechanism; a nacelle shell wrapping the tilting mechanism, the integrated motor and controller and the hydrogen fuel cell, and the components wrapped by the nacelle shell and winglets rotate together with the tilting mechanism during tilting; The short-nacelle outer heat dissipation fin is wrapped around the outside of the short nacelle in the circumferential direction; The tilting mechanism, the integrated motor, the controller, and the liquid cooling heat dissipation pipeline (including but not limited to silicone grease contact conduction, liquid conduction, etc.) of the hydrogen fuel cell exchange heat with the short-nacelle outer heat dissipation fin through heat conduction.

[0006] Further, the upper surface of the short-nacelle outer shell is provided with a short-nacelle air inlet at the front end and an air outlet at the tail.

[0007] Further, the short-nacelle outer heat dissipation fin comprises fin plates perpendicular to the surface of the short-nacelle outer shell and a shell; the fin plates are arranged in the direction of the propeller slipstream, and the shell wrapping the fin plates can further increase the air flow speed through the heat dissipation fin and improve the heat dissipation effect due to the effect of the narrow tube.

[0008] The aircraft comprises at least two symmetrically arranged integrated hydrogen fuel cell motor electric control integrated tilting power systems.

[0009] Further, the aircraft further comprises a fuselage, a wing, a tail, a lift arm, and a landing gear. The lift arm is fixed on the wing, and at least two lift arms are symmetrically distributed in parallel to the heading direction, and each lift arm is provided with a lift rotor at the front end and the rear end.

[0010] Further, one lift motor is arranged at each end of the lift arm, and a hydrogen storage tank is arranged in the middle space of the lift arm, the hydrogen storage tank is used for supplying fuel for the integrated tilting power system, and the lift motor receives electric energy from the integrated tilting power system.

[0011] Further, the lift rotor adopts a stacked propeller or a coaxial counter-rotating propeller design.

[0012] Further, the wing is a seagull wing, which is divided into an inner wing segment and a middle wing segment, the inner wing segment has a positive dihedral angle and is smoothly connected to the fuselage, and the middle wing segment is a flat trapezoidal wing, the middle wing segment is provided with ailerons, and the inner wing segment and the fuselage are designed to be smoothly connected.

[0013] Further, the tail is a normal vertical tail, a V-tail or a T-tail, the tail is provided with rudders for controlling the heading and the pitch attitude, and the rear segment of the fuselage is smoothly connected to the tail.

[0014] Further, the short-nacelle outer side of the integrated tilting power system is provided with a winglet.

[0015] In summary, the beneficial effects of the present application are as follows: (1) The distributed hydrogen power design is adopted, one hydrogen fuel cell is configured for each tilting rotor motor, the problem of system heat dissipation difficulty caused by a single high-power hydrogen fuel cell can be solved, and the high-redundancy design of the hydrogen power system can significantly improve the safety of the hydrogen power aircraft.

[0016] (2) Hydrogen fuel cell and motor electronic control arrangement in wingtip nacelle can achieve high integration, use the downwash of propeller to improve heat dissipation efficiency and reduce the weight of heat dissipation accessories, significantly improve the overall performance and endurance of the aircraft. At the same time, make full use of the space containment of the rotor nacelle, greatly shorten the energy transmission path, reduce the redundant weight of pipeline and cable, and make the power response more efficient. In addition, the modular structure is convenient for maintenance, and the failure of a single nacelle does not need to disassemble the whole machine, which improves the operation and maintenance efficiency.

[0017] (3) The tilt rotor and fuel cell are arranged in the wingtip, and the high integration of fuel cell and motor electronic control fills the space behind the tilt axis of the nacelle, which makes the center of gravity of the nacelle coincide with the center of gravity of the whole machine in the longitudinal direction of the fuselage, so that the change of the center of gravity during the transition of tilt is smaller, and the stability of the transition state of tilt is enhanced.

[0018] (4) 2N lift rotors in front and back of the wing can realize the moment balance in hovering state, so the change of thrust during the tilt of the nacelle reduces the influence on stability.

[0019] (5) The addition of ailerons outside the tilt nacelle with the tilt of the nacelle increases the wing span, and the outside ailerons also do not block the downwash of the tilt rotor, thereby reducing the aerodynamic loss caused by blocking the downwash.

[0020] (6) The hydrogen storage system and the arm structure are designed in an integrated manner, which makes full use of the arm space, saves the space of the fuselage without increasing the resistance, and avoids occupying the internal payload area of the cabin or wing. At the same time, the hydrogen tank is far away from the core cabin section and high-temperature power components, which reduces the risk of contact between hydrogen fuel and heat source in physical space. The mechanical structure of the arm itself can protect the hydrogen tank, buffer external force and reduce the probability of damage. In addition, the distributed arrangement of hydrogen tanks around the center of gravity of the whole machine does not affect the center of gravity of the whole machine, and the liquid hydrogen tank far away from the cabin enhances the safety of passengers.

[0021] (7) The upwash angle design of the gull wing raises the ground clearance of the wing, increases the access space below the wing, reduces the obstruction of the wing to the airflow below the fuselage, reduces the ground effect during takeoff, ensures that the lift rotor obtains a relatively stable airflow environment during vertical takeoff and landing, and avoids the interference between the rotor downwash and the wing airflow. The gull wing also raises the rotor ground clearance, making the rotor farther away from the cabin and improving safety.

[0022] (8) The distributed rotor configuration can safely land by relying on the remaining rotors when a single rotor fails, improving flight safety.

[0023] (9) The aerodynamic layout of distributed tilt rotors and high-aspect-ratio wings makes the aircraft have both vertical takeoff and landing and high-efficiency flat flying capabilities.

[0024] (10) The lift rotor adopts a feathering design, which can obtain greater lift with smaller rotor diameter, reduce rotor dynamic load by about 50% in the transition state, and realize the same in-flow feathering function as the double-blade rotor, reducing the resistance in the forward flight state. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0025] Fig. 1 is an axonometric view of the aircraft in the forward flight state in an example of the present application; Fig. 2 is a front view of the aircraft in the forward flight state in an example of the present application; Fig. 3 is a rear view of the aircraft in the forward flight state in an example of the present application; Fig. 4 is a top view of the aircraft in the forward flight state in an example of the present application; Fig. 5 is a bottom view of the aircraft in the forward flight state in an example of the present application; Fig. 6 is a left view of the aircraft in the forward flight state in an example of the present application; Fig. 7 is an axonometric view of the aircraft in the vertical take-off and landing state in an example of the present application; Fig. 8 is a front view of the aircraft in the vertical take-off and landing state in an example of the present application; Fig. 9 is a rear view of the aircraft in the vertical take-off and landing state in an example of the present application; Fig. 10 is a top view of the aircraft in the vertical take-off and landing state in an example of the present application; Fig. 11 is a bottom view of the aircraft in the vertical take-off and landing state in an example of the present application; Fig. 12 is a left view of the aircraft in the vertical take-off and landing state in an example of the present application; Fig. 13 is an axonometric view of the aircraft in the transition state in an example of the present application; Fig. 14 is a partial front view of the wing in an example of the present application; Fig. 15 is a partial top view of the wing in an example of the present application; Fig. 16 is a partial view of the lift rotor in the hovering state in an example of the present application; Fig. 17 is a partial view of the lift rotor in the feathering state in an example of the present application; Fig. 18 is a sectional view of the first lift arm in an example of the present application; Fig. 19 is a partial view of the first nacelle in an example of the present application; Fig. 20 is a sectional view of the first nacelle in an example of the present application; Fig. 21 is a schematic diagram of the hydrogen fuel cell motor electric control integrated tilting power system in an example of the present application; Explanation of reference numerals: 1, fuselage; 2, wing; 21, right inner wing section; 22, right middle wing section; 24, left inner wing section; 25, left middle wing section; 3, V-tail; 41, first lift arm; 42, second lift arm; 411, first lift rotor; 412, second lift rotor; 413, third lift rotor; 414, fourth lift rotor; 415, first liquid hydrogen tank; 416, second liquid hydrogen tank; 51, first tilting nacelle; 511, first tilting rotor; 512, first tilting rotor fairing; 513, first nacelle air inlet; 514, first nacelle outer heat dissipation fin; 515, first nacelle winglet; 516, first integrated motor and controller; 517, tilting mechanism; 518, first hydrogen fuel cell; 519, tilting axis; 5110, tilting nacelle shell; 52, second tilting nacelle; 6, main landing gear; 7, front landing gear; 81, propeller downwash; 82, liquid cooling heat conduction line; 83, air inlet air flow line; 84, exhaust line; 85, full machine symmetry plane. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] An integrated hydrogen fuel cell motor and electric control integrated tilting power system is installed on the outer side of the middle wing section. The system has a motor, motor controller, tilting mechanism and hydrogen fuel cell, all of which are highly integrated in the nacelle. The motor and motor controller are on the side of the tilting mechanism away from the tail, and the hydrogen fuel cell is on the side of the tilting mechanism close to the tail, achieving weight balance on both sides. Heat dissipation fins are installed on the outside of the nacelle, and the heat of the motor, electric control and fuel cell inside the nacelle is transferred to the outside heat dissipation fins through heat conduction (including but not limited to silicone grease contact conduction, liquid conduction, etc.), and the heat is carried away by the high-speed propeller downwash, achieving efficient heat dissipation. The heat dissipation fins are in the shape of a fan and are wrapped in a thin skin, further accelerating the propeller downwash as it passes through the heat dissipation fins. The nacelle is also equipped with a thrust propeller and a winglet, the thrust propeller is connected to the motor or a reducer, and the winglet is installed on the outer side away from the middle wing section. The tilting nacelle can tilt at different angles during hovering and forward flight, and all components inside the nacelle, including the thrust propeller and the winglet, tilt together under the operation of the tilting mechanism.

[0027] The landing gear is a front three-point landing gear, which is installed on the fuselage. The landing gear wheels and rocker arms are wrapped in fairings, and the connections between the components use smooth fusion design to reduce drag.

[0028] An aircraft comprises a fuselage, a wing, a tail, a lift strut, a tilting nacelle, and a landing gear. The aircraft adopts a distributed 2N rotor + seagull wing aerodynamic layout, where N is a natural number greater than 1. The aircraft comprises 2 tilting rotors and 2N-2 lift rotors. The lift rotors adopt a braced or counter-rotating design (note that the braced design and the counter-rotating design are counted as one rotor). The 2 tilting rotors are arranged at the wing tips, the lift rotors are installed on the lift struts, and the 2N-2 lift rotors are arranged symmetrically around the fuselage. The fuselage is provided with the wing, the tail, and the landing gear. The tail can be a normal type of vertical tail, a V-tail, or a T-tail. The tail is provided with a control surface for controlling the heading and the pitch attitude. The rear section of the fuselage is smoothly connected to the tail.

[0029] The wing is a seagull type of single wing, which is divided into an inner wing and a middle wing. The inner wing has a positive dihedral angle and is smoothly connected to the fuselage. The middle wing is a flat trapezoidal wing, which is provided with ailerons. The inner wing is smoothly connected to the fuselage.

[0030] The lift strut is installed between the inner wing and the middle wing and is smoothly connected to the wings by a fusion design. The main body of the lift strut is a cylinder that penetrates the wing. The cylinder is provided with a parabolic guide opening at both ends to form a smooth closed curved surface. The lift strut extends to the front of the wing and the rear of the wing. Each lift strut is provided with one lift rotor at each end. The lift rotors can be locked in the direction of the airflow during the forward flight. The lift strut is provided with a cylindrical hydrogen storage tank that is integrated with the structure of the lift strut. The hydrogen storage tank is used to store hydrogen for the fuel cell combustion. Embodiment one: The principle of the tilting nacelle using the downwash of the propeller to improve the heat dissipation efficiency will be described below in conjunction with a specific implementation case. Please refer to Figures 19-21 The tilting nacelle is integrated with an integrated motor and controller 516, a tilting mechanism 517, and a hydrogen fuel cell 518. The heat of the three is transferred to the heat dissipation fins 514 outside the nacelle through the liquid cooling heat conduction line 82. The high-speed downwash of the propeller and the far-field flow passing through the heat dissipation fins carry away the heat. The hydrogen fuel cell needs air and hydrogen. The hydrogen is provided by the hydrogen pipe connected to the hydrogen storage tank, and the external air enters the nacelle through the nacelle air inlet to supply the hydrogen fuel cell. The design of the air inlet can additionally improve the air inlet efficiency. The water generated by the operation of the hydrogen fuel cell and the residual hydrogen due to incomplete reaction are discharged to the external environment along the exhaust line 84 through the opening at the tail of the nacelle.

[0031] Embodiment two: Please refer to Fig. 1~Fig. 21. A hydrogen energy vertical take-off and landing aircraft, using the upper single seagull wing, 4 lift rotor + 2 tilt rotor layout, specifically contains fuselage 1, wings 2, V-tail 3, lift arm 4, tilt nacelle 5, main landing gear 6, front landing gear 7.

[0032] The fuselage 1 adopts a streamlined fuselage with a symmetry plane 85, and the rear section of the fuselage is smoothly contracted and fused with the V-tail 3. The main landing gear 6 and the front landing gear 7 are installed on the fuselage. All components are symmetrical about the symmetry plane of the fuselage.

[0033] The wing 2 adopts a seagull wing and upper single wing layout, as shown in Fig. 14 and Fig. 15, the wing contains right inner wing 21, right middle wing 22, left inner wing 23, and left middle wing 24. The inner wing 21, 23 adopts an upper negative angle of 9.12 degrees, and the middle wing 22, 24 is a straight trapezoidal wing with an upper negative angle of 0. The inner wing is smoothly fused with the middle wing to reduce resistance. The seagull wing can increase the angle between the inner wing and the fuselage to reduce interference resistance, and also raise the height of the rotor, reduce the ground effect, and provide higher safety for the rotor far away from the cockpit, while also considering aesthetics.

[0034] The lift arm has two groups, the first lift arm 41 is located at the connection between the inner wing 21 and the middle wing 22, and adopts a through installation method without breaking the wing beam, please refer to Fig. 18, the lift arm cross section is circular, and two hydrogen storage tanks are installed in a single lift arm. The hydrogen tank is far away from the fuselage, so even if the hydrogen leaks, it will not affect the passengers in the fuselage, greatly improving the safety. Please refer to Fig. 16, the lift arm adopts a parabolic guide contraction at both ends to form a smooth closed curve, thereby reducing resistance. Two lift rotors are installed at both ends of the lift arm.

[0035] The lift rotor adopts a stacked propeller design and is installed at both ends of the lift arm. Please refer to Fig. 16 and Fig. 17, a rotor is composed of two overlapping two-blade propellers, which has two forms of Fig. 17 locking in the airflow and Fig. 16 unfolding. The stacked propeller design makes the rotor obtain greater solidity without changing the diameter, so that greater lift can be obtained with smaller rotor diameter, and the rotor dynamic load can be reduced by about 50% in the transition state. It also has the same function of locking in the airflow as a double-blade propeller, reducing the resistance in the forward flight state.

[0036] The tilt nacelle has two groups, the first tilt nacelle 51 is located outside the middle wing 22, as shown in Fig. 19 and Fig. 20, the tilt nacelle contains a tilt rotor 511, a fairing 512, a nacelle inlet 513, a heat dissipation fin 514, a wing tip winglet 515, an integrated motor and controller 516, a tilt mechanism 517, and a hydrogen fuel cell 518.

[0037] The propeller, the integrated motor and the controller are installed before the tilting axis 519, and the hydrogen fuel cell is installed after the tilting axis 519, so as to balance the weight of the front and rear. The short-cabin air inlet 513 is opened to the flow direction to supply air to the fuel cell, which can improve the air inlet efficiency. The short-cabin air outlet is opened to the rear of the short-cabin to discharge the exhaust gas and water generated by the reaction of the fuel cell. The outer part of the rotor short-cabin is also provided with a heat dissipation fin, which is designed in a fan shape and connected with the integrated motor and the controller in the inner part of the rotor short-cabin and the fuel cell. The heat dissipation fin has a high-speed downwash flow formed by the propeller, and the outer circle of the heat dissipation fin is wrapped with a thin skin to form a narrow tube effect, so as to further increase the speed of the downwash flow of the propeller and enhance the heat dissipation effect. The winglet 23 has a sharp design, the trailing edge is flush with the middle section trailing edge, and the leading edge has a smooth curve and is swept back to obtain a more reasonable lift distribution. The winglet tilts with the short-cabin during tilting. The design of the winglet can improve the aspect ratio of the aircraft, and the winglet tilting with the short-cabin can reduce the obstruction of the wing surface to the downwash flow of the tilting rotor during take-off and hovering.

[0038] Embodiment three: Please refer to FIG. 7-FIG. 12, in the vertical take-off and landing stage, the tilting mechanism drives the tilting short-cabin 51, 52 to tilt 90°, the lift rotor is unfolded and rotates normally, and the tilting rotor and the lift rotor jointly provide lift to realize vertical take-off and landing. At this time, the power of the hydrogen power system is the largest, and the heat dissipation demand is the strongest. The heat dissipation fin relies on the high-speed downwash flow of the tilting rotor to take away the heat. At this time, the downwash flow speed of the propeller is the largest. The wingtip winglet at the outermost end tilts with the tilting short-cabin, which reduces the interference of the wing to the tilting rotor during vertical take-off and landing.

[0039] Please refer to FIG. 13, the state between the vertical take-off and landing state and the forward flight state is called the transition state. In the transition state, the tilting angle of the tilting short-cabin is between 0° and 90°, and the lift rotor is unfolded and rotates normally. At this time, the aircraft flies at a certain speed, and the lift is provided by the wing, the lift rotor and the tilting rotor. The tilting rotor also provides power for forward flight. The power of the hydrogen power system is relatively large, and the heat dissipation demand is relatively strong. At this time, the airflow flowing through the heat dissipation fin is the vector sum of the high-speed downwash flow of the tilting rotor and the airflow from a distance, and the airflow speed is relatively large.

[0040] Please refer to FIG. 1-FIG. 6, in the forward flight state, the tilting mechanism drives the tilting short-cabin 51, 52 to tilt back to 0° state, and the lift rotor in the lift support arm is locked in the direction of the airflow to reduce the flight resistance. At this time, the lift of the aircraft is completely provided by the wing, and the tilting rotor only provides power for forward flight. The power of the hydrogen power system is relatively small, and the heat dissipation demand is relatively small. In high-altitude forward flight, not only the high-speed downwash flow of the tilting short-cabin and the airflow from a distance can take away the heat of the heat dissipation fin, but also the low-temperature environment of high altitude can improve the heat dissipation effect.

[0041] Obviously, the embodiments involved in the specific embodiments of the present application are only for more clearly explaining the technical solutions in the specification, and only a part of the embodiments of the present application, and are not used to limit the present application. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without making creative labor on the basis of the embodiments in the specific embodiments shall belong to the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. An integrated hydrogen fuel cell electric motor electrically controlled all-in-one tilting power system, characterized in that, include: The tilting mechanism is connected to the machine body; An integrated motor and controller are fixedly connected to the tilting mechanism and located at the front end of the tilting mechanism; The tilting rotor is mounted at the front of the integrated motor and controller; The hydrogen fuel cell is fixedly connected to the tilting mechanism and located at the rear end of the tilting mechanism; The nacelle shell encloses the tilting mechanism, integrated motor and controller, and hydrogen fuel cell; The nacelle has external heat dissipation fins that wrap around the outside of the nacelle circumferentially; The tilting mechanism, integrated motor and controller, and liquid-cooled heat dissipation pipes of the hydrogen fuel cell exchange heat with the heat dissipation fins on the outside of the sump.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein: The upper surface of the nacelle shell has an air intake duct at the front end and an exhaust duct at the rear.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein: The external heat dissipation fins of the nacelle include finned plates perpendicular to the surface of the nacelle shell and the shell itself; the finned plates are arranged in the direction of the propeller slipstream.

4. An aircraft characterized by: The aircraft includes at least two symmetrically arranged integrated tilt propulsion systems with integrated hydrogen fuel cell motors and electronic controls as described in any one of claims 1-3.

5. The aircraft of claim 4, wherein: The aircraft also includes the fuselage, wings, tail, lifting arms, and landing gear; The lifting arms are fixed to the wing, with at least two arms that are symmetrically distributed parallel to the heading. Each lifting arm has a lifting rotor at its front and rear ends.

6. The aircraft of claim 5, wherein: The lifting boom has a lifting motor at each end and a hydrogen storage tank in the middle. The hydrogen storage tank is used to supply fuel to the integrated tilting power system, and the lifting motor receives electrical energy from the integrated tilting power system.

7. The aircraft of claim 5, wherein: The lifting rotor uses either stacked rotors or coaxial counter-rotating rotors.

8. The aircraft of claim 5, wherein: The wings are gull wings, divided into an inner wing section and a middle wing section. The inner wing section has a positive dihedral angle and blends smoothly with the fuselage. The middle wing section is a straight trapezoidal wing with ailerons. The inner wing section and the fuselage are designed to blend smoothly together.

9. The aircraft of claim 5, wherein: The tail is a conventional horizontal vertical tail, V-tail, or T-tail, with control surfaces on the tail to control heading and pitch attitude. The rear section of the fuselage is smoothly connected to the tail.

10. The aircraft of claim 5, wherein: The nacelle of the integrated tilt propulsion system is equipped with winglets on its outer side.

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