Bladeless eVTOL passenger aircraft with fixed-wing forward flight travel, and method and power plant therefor

1 . An aircraft comprising an electrically powered fan module,

said aircraft further comprising a longitudinal forward flight direction and a longitudinal rearward direction parallel to said longitudinal forward flight direction and opposite to said longitudinal forward flight direction, said aircraft further comprising a vertical downward direction that is orthogonal to said longitudinal forward flight direction and a vertical upward direction that is also orthogonal to said longitudinal forward flight direction and opposite to said downward direction; said aircraft being configured to be forwardly propelled toward said longitudinal forward flight direction by at least one longitudinal rearward thrust ejected from said aircraft substantially toward said longitudinal rearward direction, wherein;

said electrically powered fan module impels an exhaust air, wherein said electrically powered fan module comprises a rotational axis and an axial direction parallel to said rotational axis said electrically powered fan module expels said exhaust air into at least one air duct that conducts said exhaust air away from said electrically powered fan module substantially along a tangential direction;

wherein said electrically powered fan module comprises at least two fan stages in series flow, said at least two fan stages in series flow including a first fan stage capable of a first fan stage rotational velocity and a second fan stage capable of a second fan stage

rotational velocity, wherein said first fan stage feeds air to said second fan stage, and wherein said second fan stage rotational velocity is greater than said first fan stage rotational velocity;

the first fan stage comprising a first diagonal fan having an outlet diameter greater than an inlet diameter, and the second fan stage comprising a second diagonal fan having an outlet diameter greater than an inlet diameter, and the inlet diameter of the second diagonal fan approximately equal to the outlet diameter of the first diagonal fan,

wherein the first diagonal fan and second diagonal fan each have a plane of rotation and are each configured to impel exhaust air in a direction tangent to the plane of rotation, and both of the first diagonal fan and second diagonal fan are configured to increase an air speed between inlet and outlet;

wherein said second diagonal fan is placed coaxial with and adjacent to said first diagonal fan such that air passes through said first diagonal fan to said second diagonal fan and then through said second diagonal fan along a helical path; and

wherein the first and stage and second fan stage are placed end-to-end with the outlet of the first fan stage adjacent to the inlet of the second fan stage.

2 . The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein said electrically powered fan module comprises at least two fan stages in series flow, said at least two fan stages in series flow including at least the first fan stage spinning at a first fan stage rotational velocity and the second fan stage spinning at a second fan stage rotational velocity, wherein said first fan stage feeds air to said second fan stage, and

wherein a ratio of said second fan stage rotational velocity to said first fan stage rotational velocity is greater than 1.5; wherein said electrically powered fan module expels fan module exhaust air into said at least one air duct or into an air duct system that conducts said exhaust air away from said electrically powered fan module and ejects said exhaust air out of said aircraft for thrust to accelerate said aircraft toward said longitudinal forward flight direction, or toward said upward direction, or simultaneously toward both said forward direction and said upward direction, or toward said longitudinal rearward direction.

3 . The aircraft of claim 1 , further comprising a third fan stage spinning at a third fan stage rotational velocity, wherein said second fan stage feeds air to said third fan stage, wherein a ratio of said third fan stage rotational velocity to said first fan stage rotational velocity is greater than 2.2.

4 . The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein said air duct either;

a) ejects said air directly downwardly along said downward direction to accelerate said aircraft in said upward direction, or

b) leads to a splitter module that ejects said air directly downwardly along said downward direction to accelerate said aircraft in said upward direction.

5 . The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein said air duct leads to a splitter module that ejects said air directly downwardly along said downward direction to accelerate said aircraft upward toward said upward direction, and said splitter module can be manipulated to eject air rearwardly along said longitudinal rearward direction to create said at least one longitudinal rearward thrust to accelerate said aircraft toward said longitudinal forward flight direction.

6 . The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein said air duct leads to a splitter module that ejects said air directly downwardly along said downward direction, at 0° relative to said vertical downward direction, to accelerate said aircraft upward toward said upward direction, and said splitter module can be manipulated to eject air downwardly at a non-vertical 1st angle, said non-vertical 1st angle being between said downward direction, 0° from said downward direction, and said longitudinal rearward direction, 90° from said downward direction, to accelerate said aircraft upward in a direction along an oblique non-vertical 2nd angle.

7 . The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein said electrically powered fan module comprises at least one fan stage including the first fan stage spinning in a first fan stage rotational direction, and wherein at least one of said aircraft and said electrically powered fan module comprises at least one flywheel module spinning in a flywheel module rotational direction that is opposite to said first fan stage rotational direction, wherein said first fan stage has a first fan stage axis of rotation and

said flywheel module has a flywheel module axis of rotation wherein said first fan stage axis of rotation is also said flywheel module axis of rotation.

8 . The aircraft of claim 7 , wherein said electrically powered fan module has a hollow portion and said flywheel module resides within said hollow portion.

9 . The aircraft of claim 7 , wherein said electrically powered fan module comprises at least two fan stages including the second fan stage spinning in a second fan stage rotational direction about said first fan stage axis, wherein said second fan stage rotational direction is the same as said first fan stage rotational direction and opposite to said flywheel module rotational direction.

10 . The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein said electrically powered fan module comprises at least one fan stage including the first fan stage that is a diagonal fan stage having a large hollow central portion; wherein said electrically powered fan module further comprises a spinning first drive rotor to drive said first fan stage, wherein said first drive rotor is located within said large hollow central portion of said first fan stage and fixed for rotation with said first fan stage to form a unitary spinning body, wherein said first drive rotor also comprises a hollow center, such that said unitary spinning body spins about said hollow center of said first drive rotor in a shaftless manner.

11 . The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said first and second fan stages is levitated by active magnetic radial bearings and said at least one of said two fan stages spins at a rotational velocity of more than 40,000 revolutions per minute.

12 . The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein said aircraft has a front end and a rear end according to said longitudinal forward flight direction and said longitudinal rearward direction, and wherein said front end comprises a front stabilizer that can emit bursts or streams of stabilizing air to control the orientation of the aircraft, wherein said bursts or streams of stabilizing air are emitted by the front stabilizer in multiple directions including at least one of said downward direction and said upward direction.

13 . The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein said air duct leads to a splitter module that ejects said air substantially rearwardly along said longitudinal rearward direction to accelerate said aircraft forward toward said longitudinal forward flight direction, and said splitter module can be manipulated to eject air forwardly at an angle of 35° or less from said longitudinal forward flight direction, to decelerate said aircraft relative to said longitudinal forward flight direction.

14 . The aircraft of claim 1 wherein said electrically powered fan module expels fan module exhaust air at an area that is substantially at a center of mass of the aircraft for thrust to accelerate said aircraft toward said upward direction.

15 . The aircraft of claim 1 further comprising:

a first annular electromagnet rotor coaxial with the first diagonal fan and second diagonal fan; and

a first annular stator bank of permanent magnets coaxial with the first annular electromagnet rotor.

16 . An aircraft comprising an electrically powered fan module, said aircraft further comprising a longitudinal forward flight direction and a longitudinal rearward direction parallel to said longitudinal forward flight direction and opposite to said longitudinal forward flight direction, said aircraft further comprising a vertical downward direction that is orthogonal to said longitudinal forward flight direction and toward the Earth and a vertical upward direction that is also orthogonal to said longitudinal forward flight direction and opposite to said downward direction; said aircraft being configured to be forwardly propelled toward said longitudinal forward flight direction by at least one longitudinal rearward thrust ejected from said aircraft substantially toward said longitudinal rearward direction, wherein

said electrically powered fan module comprises at least two fan stages in series flow, said at least two fan stages in series flow including at least a 1st fan stage spinning at a 1st fan stage rotational velocity and a 2nd fan stage spinning at a 2nd fan stage rotational velocity, wherein said 1st fan stage feeds air to said 2nd fan stage, and wherein a ratio of said 2nd fan stage rotational velocity to said 1st fan stage rotational velocity is greater than 1.5; wherein

said electrically powered fan module expels fan module exhaust air into at least one air duct or air duct system that conducts said exhaust air away from said electrically powered fan module and ejects said exhaust air out of said aircraft for thrust to accelerate said aircraft toward said longitudinal forward flight direction, or toward said upward direction, or simultaneously toward both said forward direction and said upward direction, or toward said longitudinal rearward direction; and

the first fan stage comprising a first diagonal fan having an outlet diameter greater than an inlet diameter, and the second fan stage comprising a second diagonal fan having an outlet diameter greater than an inlet diameter, and the inlet diameter of the second diagonal fan approximately equal to the outlet diameter of the first diagonal fan;

wherein the first and stage and second fan stage are placed end-to-end with the outlet of the first fan stage adjacent to the inlet of the second fan stage.

17 . The aircraft of claim 16 , wherein said electrically powered fan module impels said fan module exhaust air, wherein said electrically powered fan module comprises a rotational axis and an axial direction parallel to said rotational axis, and wherein said fan module has a plane of rotation and is configured to impel exhaust air in directions tangent to the plane of rotation; wherein

when said electrically powered fan module expels said exhaust air into said at least one air duct or air duct system, said air duct or air duct system conducts said exhaust air away from said electrically powered fan module substantially along a tangential direction.

18 . The aircraft of claim 16 , wherein said electrically powered fan module comprises an air intake comprising an intake area which is the total measure of an open cross-sectional area of said air intake, through which all air that passes into the electrically powered fan module must pass; wherein

said air duct or air duct system has an air-duct cross-sectional area that passes 100% of said exhaust air out of said aircraft during an operating state; wherein

a ratio of said intake area to said air-duct cross-sectional area is greater than 5:1.

19 . The aircraft of claim 16 , wherein said air duct leads to a splitter module that ejects said air directly downwardly along said downward direction to accelerate said aircraft upward toward said upward direction, and said splitter module can be manipulated to eject air rearwardly along said longitudinal rearward direction to create said longitudinal rearward thrust to accelerate said aircraft toward said longitudinal forward flight direction.

20 . The aircraft of claim 16 , wherein said 1st fan stage spins in a 1st fan stage rotational direction, and wherein at least one of said aircraft and said electrically powered fan module comprises at least one flywheel module spinning in a flywheel module rotational direction that is opposite to said 1st fan stage rotational direction, wherein said 1st fan stage has a 1st fan stage axis of rotation and said flywheel module has a flywheel module axis of rotation wherein said 1st fan stage axis of rotation is also said flywheel module axis of rotation.

21 . The aircraft of claim 16 , wherein said 1st fan stage comprises a 1st diagonal fan and said 2nd fan stage comprises a 2nd diagonal fan, wherein said 2nd diagonal fan is placed coaxial with and adjacent to said 1st diagonal fan such that air continuously passes through said 1st diagonal fan to said 2nd diagonal fan and then through said 2nd diagonal fan along an unbroken helical path.

22 . An aircraft comprising an electrically powered fan module, said aircraft further comprising a longitudinal forward flight direction and a longitudinal rearward direction parallel to said longitudinal forward flight direction and opposite to said longitudinal forward flight direction, said aircraft further comprising a vertical downward direction that is orthogonal to said longitudinal forward flight direction and toward the Earth and a vertical upward direction that is also orthogonal to said longitudinal forward flight direction and opposite to said downward direction; said aircraft being configured to be forwardly propelled toward said longitudinal forward flight direction by at least one longitudinal rearward thrust ejected from said aircraft substantially toward said longitudinal rearward direction, wherein;

said electrically powered fan module impels an exhaust air, wherein said electrically powered fan module comprises a rotational axis and an axial direction parallel to said rotational axis;

said electrically powered fan module expels said exhaust air into at least one air duct that conducts said exhaust air away from said electrically powered fan module substantially along a tangential direction; and

wherein said electrically powered fan module comprises at least one fan stage including a 1st fan stage spinning in a 1st fan stage rotational direction, and wherein at least one of said aircraft and said electrically powered fan module comprises at least one flywheel module spinning in a flywheel module rotational direction that is opposite to said 1st fan stage rotational direction, wherein said 1st fan stage has a 1st fan stage axis of rotation and said flywheel module has a flywheel module axis of rotation wherein said 1st fan stage axis of rotation is also said flywheel module axis of rotation.