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:
May. 10, 2022
Filed:
Feb. 18, 2020
Bell Textron Inc., Fort Worth, TX (US);
Christopher Edward Foskey, Keller, TX (US);
Colton Gilliland, Northlake, TX (US);
Textron Innovations Inc., Providence, RI (US);
Abstract
Embodiments are directed to a selectable drive system that allows a rotor gearbox to send torque to a proprotor assembly and/or through a multiplier planetary gear set to a pylon-mounted ducted fan thrust unit. The rotor drive system may be a stop-fold system in which rotor blades can be folded when not rotating. This allows a normally idle lift engine to provide additional aircraft thrust during cruise where an aircraft is typically using only a dedicated thrust engine for high speed flight. An inline engage/disengage actuator or 'shift fork' on the rotor gearbox is used to select the torque-output direction. The multiplier planetary gear set increases the output RPM that is received from the rotor gearbox and that is applied to the thrust fan unit.