Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation

Bcg Digital Ventures Gmbh

Aurora Flight Sciences, a Subsidiary of the Boeing Company

Robert William Parks

Adam Woodworth

Francesco Giannini

Justin McClellan

Diana Siegel

Jan D Lienhard

Martin Gomez

Tom Vaneck

Tony Shuo Tao

Mark Drela

Adam Scott Ehrmantraut

William Thalheimer

Thomas Vaneck

Peter Lively

Kimberly Kohlhepp

Jean-Charles Ledé

Adrian Hachen

Andrew Mark Heafitz

John Gundlach

Ed Wen

Tomas Vaneck

Robert Ormiston

Ran D St Clair

Jason W Fredell

Bruno Miguel Costa Moniz

James McDaniel Snider, Ii

William Cooper Thalheimer

Mark Andrew Heafitz

A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is disclosed. The VTOL aircraft may include: a fuselage, a thrust rotor to produce a propulsion thrust, rotor booms, canard surfaces, wing surfaces, tail surfaces, and lift rotors to produce lifting thrust force.

Vertical take-off and landing aircraft

A fan apparatus is disclosed, including a duct having an inlet opening, a fan mounted in the duct, and a plurality of louver devices positioned at the inlet opening. Each louver device has an open position and a closed position, and adjacent louver devices define a plurality of airflow channels. Each airflow channel has a curvature profile that changes as the louver devices move between open and closed positions.

Upper surface louvers for lift fans

Aircraft

Example double-blown wing vertical takeoff and landing aircraft are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a wing having a leading edge and a trailing edge, a mounting rib having a first end and a second end, the mounting rib coupled to the wing, the first end forward of the leading edge, the second end aft of the trailing edge, the mounting rib including: a first rotor having a first propeller, the first rotor coupled to the first end of the mounting rib below the leading edge, the first propeller having a first axis of rotation, and a second rotor having a second propeller, the second rotor coupled to the second end of the mounting rib above the trailing edge, the second propeller having a second axis of rotation substantially perpendicular to the first axis of rotation.

Double-blown wing vertical takeoff and landing aircraft

Winged tilt-rotor vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft and related methods are disclosed. Aircraft comprise an airframe comprising one or more wings; one or more tilt-adjustable rotors positioned forward of the one or more wings; and one or more fixed-tilt rotors positioned behind at least one of the one or more wings. Methods comprise tilting only one or more forward rotors positioned in front of one or more wings of the aircraft, and not tilting one or more rearward rotors positioned behind at least one of the one or more wings.

Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft and related methods

Rotor assemblies for aircraft are described where one or more blades of the rotor assembly includes a blade alignment device that passively orients a blade in response to an airflow around the blade alignment device when the rotor assembly is free-wheeling. One embodiment comprises a method of operating a rotor assembly for aircraft. The method comprises operating the rotor assembly in a free-wheeling state, where the rotor assembly includes a rotary hub that rotates about an axis and a plurality of blades extending radially from the rotary hub. At least one of the plurality of blades includes a blade alignment device. The method further comprises aligning the at least one of the plurality of blades in response to airflow around the blade alignment device when the rotor assembly is in the free-wheeling state.

Passive rotor alignment in a free-wheeling state

Disclosed herein is a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft having three lifting surfaces and separate lift and cruise systems. The VTOL aircraft may include a fuselage having a roll axis, a thrust rotor to produce a propulsion thrust, first and second rotor booms, first and second canard surfaces, first and second wing surfaces, first and second tail surfaces, and a plurality of lift rotors to produce a lifting thrust force. The plurality of lift rotors includes a first plurality of lift rotors positioned on the first rotor boom and a second plurality of lift rotors positioned on the second rotor boom. The first and second rotor booms may be substantially parallel to the roll axis of the fuselage, where the fuselage is positioned between the first and second rotor booms. Each of the first and second rotor booms may be secured to the aircraft at three locations.

A system and method enabled to increase efficiency during a VTOL aircraft's transition. A VTOL aircraft enabled to operate multiple lift fans arranged into separately controllable groups, wherein the VTOL aircraft initially has vertical flight but transitions to horizontal flight. A first group of lift fans may be kept at full throttle, a second group of lift fans may be throttled to balance thrust and/or weight, and a third group of lift fans may be shut off.

Method and system for improving transition lift-fan performance

System and method for improving transition lift-fan performance

The present invention is directed to a solar-powered aircraft comprising a fixed wing panel, a motor driven propeller, a plurality of secondary wing panels, and a tail assembly having a first tail panel and a second tail panel. Each secondary wing panel being configured to rotate about a first longitudinal pivot axis extending from a distal end of the fixed wing panel through a central transverse portion of the secondary wing panel. The secondary wing panels may comprise an array of solar panels on its surface. The first tail panel comprises a second array of solar panels located on a surface of the first tail panel, the first tail panel being configured to rotate about a second longitudinal pivot axis through a central transverse portion of the first tail panel.

Solar-powered aircraft

Lenticular aircraft

A combined submersible vessel and unmanned aerial vehicle preferably includes a body structure, at least one wing structure, at least one vertical stabilizer structure, and at least one horizontal stabilizer structure. A propulsion system is coupled to the body structure and is configured to propel the flying submarine in both airborne flight and underwater operation. Preferably, the propulsion system includes a motor, a gearbox coupled to the motor and configured to receive power generated by the motor and provide variable output power, a drive shaft coupled to the gearbox and configured to transfer the variable output power provided by the gearbox, and a propeller coupled to the drive shaft and configured to accept power transferred to it from the drive shaft. The propeller is further configured to rotate and propel the flying submarine in both an airborne environment and in an underwater environment.

Combined submersible vessel and unmanned aerial vehicle

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Robert William Parks