Aeronautics and astronautics – Aircraft – heavier-than-air – Helicopter or auto-rotating wing sustained – i.e. – gyroplanes
Patent
1987-05-26
1988-11-29
Barefoot, Galen
Aeronautics and astronautics
Aircraft, heavier-than-air
Helicopter or auto-rotating wing sustained, i.e., gyroplanes
244 122, 244 1719, 244 93, 244 60, 416129, B64C 2710
Patent
active
047875739
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a rotary-wing aircraft having a particularly simple structure and very light weight which makes it possible in particular although not exclusively to use the aircraft as a ULM (Ultra-Light Motorized) machine.
There already exist known designs of airplanes of the vertical-takeoff and landing type, in particular of the rotary wing or airfoil type commonly designated as helicopters or autogiros. In their design concept and general principles of operation, however, these airplanes are subject to drawbacks arising in particular from the use of a rotor for driving the lifting blades in which the mechanism for driving and pitch control or in other words for varying the angle of incidence of the blades is heavy and costly, and requires difficult maintenance. Furthermore, the rotor blades usually serve to lift a cabin or cockpit which is occupied by the pilot and/or the passengers of the aircraft and which accordingly constitutes an obstacle to the flow of air swept by said blades. Finally, the flight efficiency of such aircraft is of a low order, thus resulting in high fuel consumption. In addition, the purchase price and maintenance cost of these machines are usually prohibitive for individual use.
The present invention has for its object a rotary-wing aircraft which overcomes these disadvantages while also permitting operation by a user who has only a limited knowledge of flying and navigation, the airplane being capable of taking-off and landing without requiring any made-up platform or any other similar structures, the sole requirement being a free space which is sufficient to permit free rotation of the blades of the airplane. In addition, this latter has low fuel consumption, requires only limited maintenance and can be constructed for a very low purchase price. Furthermore, the aircraft in accordance with the invention does not call for costly structural materials but makes it possible on the contrary to use standard commercially available materials such as wood, light alloys, plastics. Finally, the aircraft lends itself to many alternative embodiments having the same conceptual basis which is common to each embodiment.
To this end, the aircraft considered is characterized in that it comprises a nacelle surrounding the user who is seated on a seat mounted in the median plane of said nacelle for sliding motion substantially in the normal direction of displacement of the aircraft in flight, two parallel rings carried by the nacelle and driven in identical movements of rotation but in opposite directions about a common axis extending substantially at the center of the nacelle at right angles to the plane of said rings, the function of each ring being to support at least one pair of wing-blades or airfoils which are diametrically opposite and located in the line of extension of each other, means for driving the rings about the nacelle and means whereby the blade pitch in each pair of blades can be varied in an equal but opposite manner in each case.
Thus, with the aircraft in accordance with the invention, the heads of the blade-driving rotors which represent a particularly high cost in known aircraft and also have a certain fragility are henceforth replaced by two counterrotating rings for driving these blades in rotation while maintaining a predetermined position-setting and incidence of these latter.
Moreover, the aircraft in accordance with the invention is so arranged that the center of gravity of this latter, which is located between the two rings, can permit easy control of the aircraft by the user. It is possible in particular to modify the trim of the aircraft at will, simply by displacement of the user himself on his seat which is slidably mounted with respect to the nacelle, thereby producing during flight a thrust on the unit which ensures propulsion of the aircraft as a result of forward inclination of the blades of the rotary wings or, on the contrary, in the case of rearward displacement of the seat, an opposite modification of trim and a braking effect on the air
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"Le Mobycoptere", Aviasport, No. 385, Jun. 1986, p. 52.
Barefoot Galen
Bernard Solinhac
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