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:
Jan. 20, 2015
Filed:
Aug. 24, 2010
Qiang Fu, San Jose, CA (US);
Xu Zhang, San Jose, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
System and method to construct vertical and/or short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) aerial vehicles capable of being folded into compact size, and capable of be combined with one or more such vehicles to form bigger composite aerial vehicles. Airframe of the vehicle comprises a plurality of wings on lateral or periphery of thrust generators, wherein arrangements of wings make it possible to optionally fold wings without moving thrust generators. Folding transforms such vehicles into ground vehicles which can share roads and house parking lots with conventional ground vehicles. Therefore such vehicles can be used as V/STOL flying cars. Means are provided for attaching to and detaching from one or more similarly equipped vehicles in flight or before takeoff, so that multiple vehicles can form a large composite vehicle. Compactness, combinability and V/STOL capability enable versatile applications.