The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 27, 2020
Filed:
Apr. 10, 2018
Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., Fort Worth, TX (US);
Dalton T. Hampton, Fort Worth, TX (US);
Andrew Paul Haldeman, Fort Worth, TX (US);
Aaron Alexander Acee, Flower Mound, TX (US);
Matthew John Hill, Keller, TX (US);
Textron Innovations Inc., Providence, RI (US);
Abstract
Systems and methods include providing an aircraft with a tail rotor system having a tail rotor housing that forms a cambered airfoil between an upper cambered surface and a lower cambered surface of the tail rotor housing. The cambered airfoil design of the tail rotor housing is capable of providing sufficient lifting force of an aircraft to offload the tail rotor during forward flight, thereby eliminating the need for a traditional vertical stabilizer or fin. The tail rotor blades of the tail rotor system are disposed within an aperture in the tail rotor housing, which minimizes or preferably eliminates exposure of the tail rotor blades to edgewise airflow typically encountered during forward flight, thereby allowing rigid rotor hubs, both in-plane and out-of-plane, to be used in the tail rotor system while also reducing noise output of the tail rotor system.