Continuously rotatable aircraft wing

Abstract

To provide a vertical take-off and landing aircraft whose energy efficiency is close to that of a fixed wing aircraft.SOLUTION: In a wing of an aircraft, an end on an aircraft fuselage side of the wing is a center relative to the aircraft fuselage, and the wing is continuously rotatable about an axis that is orthogonal to both an against-the-air traveling direction of the wing and an extention direction of the wing.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to vertical take-off and landing aircraft. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventional vertical take-off and landing aircraft are designed to take off and land vertically using thrust itself as lift, so they require a high-thrust propulsion system, and their energy efficiency during horizontal flight is not as good as that of fixed-wing aircraft. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0003] To provide a vertical take-off and landing aircraft whose energy efficiency during horizontal flight is close to that of a fixed-wing aircraft. [Means for solving the problem]

[0004] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a continuously rotatable airplane wing is characterized in that the wing of an airplane can rotate continuously around an axis centered on the end of the wing facing the airplane fuselage, relative to the airplane fuselage, that is perpendicular to both the direction of air movement of the wing and the extension direction from the end of the wing facing the airplane fuselage to the wing tip. Effect of the Invention

[0005] Unlike an airplane fuselage which does not move horizontally, the wings are rotated continuously and the aircraft takes off and lands vertically using the lift generated by the wings, and by stopping the rotation of the wings in the air and flying as fixed wings, it is possible to provide a vertical take-off and landing aircraft with energy efficiency close to that of a fixed-wing aircraft. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0006] [Figure 1] Vertical takeoff and landing with continuous rotation of wings [Diagram 2] After vertical ascent, the rotation of the front wings is stopped and the propeller is turned 90 degrees. [Diagram 3] The propulsion unit has been turned another 90 degrees from the state shown in Figure 2. [Figure 4] Level flight with wings and thrusters fixed DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0007] Figure 1 shows the state in which the direction in which the wing moves through the air and the direction in which the thruster moves are opposite, and the aircraft rotates in place to generate lift. In Figure 2, the aircraft takes off vertically from the position in Figure 1 by rotating the wings, and when it reaches a certain altitude, the rotation of the front wing stops and the thrusters are turned 90 degrees. When the rotation of the wings stops and lift is lost, the thrusters temporarily provide upward thrust in its place. Figure 3 shows the propulsion unit turned another 90 degrees, with the front wings and propulsion unit fixed facing forward. The rear wing is 180 degrees out of phase with respect to rotation, so while the front wing's thruster is changing direction, the wing continues to rotate to maintain lift, and after the front wing and thruster face forward and become fixed, they stop rotating in the same way, the thruster changes direction, and the wing and thruster face forward again. When going from horizontal flight to vertical landing, the process is reversed. The rotational angles of the front and rear blades, which are 180 degrees out of phase with each other, can be synchronized either mechanically or by adjusting the thrust. The two wings, which rotate coaxially at the front and rear, are designed to be mechanically inverted, so that if one of the thrusters fails, the aircraft can make a runway landing, but the other thruster can also rotate the two coaxial wings to make an emergency vertical landing.

[0008] The wing shape is basically that of a fixed-wing aircraft, but since the airspeed varies depending on the distance from the axis of rotation to the tip of the wing during rotation, and the stall phenomenon is also different from that of a fixed wing, the shape takes into account the characteristics of a rotorcraft. Furthermore, it is also effective to change the flap angle sequentially along the extension direction of the wing during rotation. It would also be effective to rotate the wings around the same axis as the thruster's 180-degree turn, as shown in the figure, to change the angle of attack during vertical takeoff and landing, horizontal low-speed flight, and high-speed flight, but this would raise issues of weight and strength.

[0009] The blades may be rotated in any manner as long as they can rotate continuously. As shown in the figure, if the thruster is placed on the opposite side of the rotation axis, the centrifugal force caused by the rotation can be offset, and by changing the direction of the thruster to the direction of flight, horizontal flight like a fixed-wing aircraft can be achieved. It is also possible to use a high-torque thruster to turn the wing's rotation axis like a helicopter, but this requires a counterbalance for the wing, complicates the mechanism, increases the weight, and makes it difficult to effectively use the high torque as thrust during horizontal flight. In order to stop rotation and fly horizontally, two wings that rotate on the same axis are required. These wings rotate symmetrically left and right, and the center of air resistance and lift generated by the wings moves depending on the angle of rotation relative to the aircraft fuselage. This movement can be cancelled out in the left-right direction by having the two wings flip symmetrically, but the front-to-back movement remains, so by adding two more wings to create a tandem structure as shown in the figure, and synchronizing the rotation phase of the front and rear wings by shifting them by 180 degrees, the front-to-back movement can also be cancelled out; however, in reality, the rotation puts considerable stress on the rotation axis, and because of the strength of the materials, this is more likely to be feasible with drones than with manned or large aircraft.

[0010] Rotation about an axis perpendicular to both the direction of air movement of the wing and the direction of extension of the wing means that the axis of rotation is not limited to the vertical direction. Like a helicopter, it can not only ascend and descend vertically and hover, but also move slowly in any direction by tilting its axis of rotation and tilting the plane of rotation.

[0011] A wing that can rotate continuously means that the wing is designed to rotate and move continuously toward the air ahead without the aircraft fuselage moving horizontally. By rotating the wings a certain angle and then fixing them, they can be made to move forward or backward during horizontal flight, but this differs from conventional variable-wing aircraft, which only move back and forth within a certain angle range.

[0012] The figure shows the characteristic rotation of the wings, and other mechanisms are omitted or simplified. An embodiment requires attitude control means for vertical takeoff and landing when the wings rotate, and for horizontal flight when the wings are fixed. There are methods such as using the ailerons on the wings, changing the direction of the thruster itself, or changing the direction of its exhaust port, but since all of these are known technologies, details will be omitted. The vertical stabilizer and rudder are also effective during level flight.

[0013] When a propulsion unit changes direction in the air, lift is temporarily lost, causing instability, so the structure must be designed to enable the unit to change direction as quickly as possible. [Explanation of symbols]

[0014] 1 wing 2 Propulsion machine 3. Propulsion shaft 4. Airplane fuselage

Claims

[Claim 1] A continuously rotatable airplane wing, characterized in that the wing can be continuously rotated around an axis perpendicular to both the direction of air travel of the wing and the direction of extension of the wing, with the end of the wing facing the airplane fuselage as the center.

Images