A New VTOL Propelled Wing Design Specifically Defined for a New Flying Car Concept

Votes: 7
Views: 6709

This concept presents a radically new wing design that aims to equip new aircraft designs such as flying car with the aim of emulating the behaviour of helicopters and tilt rotors with much higher efficiency, better performances and higher safety levels. The specific design has been grasped to allow producing typical manoeuvres including VTOL operations and hovering by means of a innovative and simple high-chamber ducted fan morphing wing with a dual configuration: one aims to increase lift by mean of Coanda effect and super circulation and the other aims to produce a vertical thrust by jet deviation. It is derived by a family of possible configurations which have been preliminarily originated by the optimization of the energy balance of a helicopter in flight and by optimizing this model arrives to the definition of new vehicle concepts that can do anything that a helicopter can do with major energetic benefits. Initial analysis identifies the possibility of overcoming the energetic limits of rotary wing aircrafts with respect to other vehicles. In particular, the future environmental exigencies of greening aeronautics have focused the attention on possible solutions that can be electrically propelled. The main characteristics of the innovative wing design are the following:

1. Green, all electrical propulsion. Distributed electrical propulsion by mean of ducted fan propellers embedded into the wing;

2. Acceleration of the fluid stream on the upper surface of the wing by mean of EDF propellers that produces a much higher lift coefficient, with respect to any other aircraft;

3. Very low stall speed (lower than 10m/s) and consequent increase of the flight envelope in the low speed domain up to 10-12 m/s;

4. Flight at lower velocity than stall speed by the innovative flaps that can change the configuration of the aircraft in flight and can change the direction of the thrust by mean of Coanda effect from a position that is adequate for high speed cruise flight to one for low speed flight with higher lift coefficient and more deflected thrust, and by mean of fluid deflection to an almost vertical direction of thrust for vertical take off and landing (VTOL) and hovering.

Having embedded ducted fan propellers make it necessary for it to be manufactured using innovative methods for wings. The most probable method is modular construction. This allows elements to be easily linked including each one propeller and the necessary electric components. A faster and cheaper manufacturing process can be ensured that avoids the use of large composite formed elements that requires huge vacuum equipment's. Internal spars, to which the modular elements can be linked, will ensure structure and structural ribs are included into the new modules. Having modular construction, the technological processes of mass production, maintenance and assembly will have major benefits.

The results which have been preliminarily obtained allow defining a radically new aircraft that can operate both STOL and VTOL and at presents dimensions, are adequate for the urban environment.

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  • ABOUT THE ENTRANT

  • Name:
    Mohammad Hussain
  • Type of entry:
    team
    Team members:
    Michelle Trancossi
  • Profession:
    Student
  • Number of times previously entering contest:
    2
  • Software used for this entry:
    Solidworks and Ansys Workbench 17
  • Patent status:
    none