Electrically powered personal vehicle and flight control method
An aerial vehicle includes at least one wing, a plurality of thrust producing elements on the at least one wing, a plurality of electric motors equal to the number of thrust producing elements for individually driving each of the thrust producing elements, at least one battery for providing power to the motors, and a flight control system to control the operation of the vehicle. The aerial vehicle may include a fuselage configuration to facilitate takeoffs and landings in horizontal, vertical and transient orientations, redundant control and thrust elements to improve reliability and means of controlling the orientation stability of the vehicle in low power and multiple loss of propulsion system situations. Method of flying an aerial vehicle includes the variation of the rotational speed of the thrust producing elements to achieve active vehicle control.
1. An aerial vehicle comprising:
one or more wings,
three or more thrust producing elements mounted in a fixed non-articulating relationship to the one or more wings,
a plurality of electric motors for driving the thrust producing elements, at least one of the electric motors comprising
a stationary electromagnetic stator,
a rotor having a rotational axis, wherein the rotor comprises
a cylindrically shaped structure comprising a plurality of concentric layers, and,
a plurality of permanent magnets disposed on the cylindrical shaped structure,
at least one battery for providing power to the motors, and
a flight control system having a motor controller for controlling the rotational speed and direction of rotation of each thrust producing element.
2. The aerial vehicle according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a fuselage located on a central longitudinal axis of the vehicle,
wherein the one or more wings comprising two wings extending perpendicular to the central longitudinal axis,
wherein the wings are stacked, and
wherein the wings are spaced from each other along the central longitudinal axis.
3. The aerial vehicle according to claim 2 wherein the vehicle further comprises a bottom having a first facet at a first angle and a second facet at a second angle, whereby the vehicle rests at a first orientation when resting on the first facet and rests at a second orientation when the vehicle rests on the second facet.
4. The aerial vehicle according to claim 3 wherein the first orientation is conducive to a vertical or near vertical take-off and the second orientation is conducive to a horizontal or near horizontal take-off.
5. The aerial vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the number of thrust producing elements is selected from the group consisting of 3, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12.
6. The aerial vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the thrust producing elements are selected from the group consisting of propellers, turbines and ducted fans.
7. The aerial vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the vehicle is tailless, and
the control system is adapted vary the amount of rotational energy absorbed by individual motors when the individual motors are operated in a generator mode and are driven by rotation of the thrust producing elements connected to the individual motors,
thereby effecting control of the orientation of the vehicle without the use of control surfaces.
8. The aerial vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the number of thrust producing elements is at least eight,
the thrust producing elements are grouped into four quadrants with at least two thrust producing elements located in each quadrant,
the control system is adapted to
reverse the rotation of a first thrust control element in a first quadrant,
vary the rotation of a second thrust control element in the first quadrant,
when all thrust control elements are not operating in a quadrant opposite the first quadrant,
thereby effecting control of the orientation of the vehicle.
9. The aerial vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein one or more of the thrust producing elements are adapted for hover and one or more of the thrust producing elements are adapted for forward flight.
10. The aerial vehicle according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a battery energy level monitor for determining the energy level in the battery configured to
take a first measurement of the voltage in the battery at an initial epoch under a substantially no-load condition,
relate the voltage measurement to a value of potential energy stored in the battery at the initial epoch,
take a second measurement of voltage in the battery and a measurement of current flow into or out of the battery at a subsequent epoch,
integrate the second measurement of voltage and the current flow measurement with respect to time,
determine an energy change from the integration,
relate the energy change to the initial energy level to calculate the energy level of the battery at the subsequent epoch.
11. The aerial vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein in horizontal or near horizontal flight, the control system is adapted to increase rotational speed of some of the thrust producing elements to make a yaw turn whereby the vehicle turns substantially around the yaw axis but does not turn substantially around the pitch or roll axis.
12. A method of operating an aerial vehicle comprising one or more wings, three or more thrust producing elements mounted in a fixed non-articulating relationship to the one or more wings, and a plurality of electric motors for driving the thrust producing elements, comprising:
differentially varying the thrust of the thrust producing elements thereby altering the orientation of the vehicle
least one of the electric motors comprising
a stationary electromagnetic stator,
a rotor having a rotational axis, wherein the rotor comprises
a cylindrically shaped structure comprising a plurality of concentric layers, and,
a plurality of permanent magnets disposed on the cylindrical shaped structure.
13. The method according to claim 12 wherein the number of thrust producing elements is selected from the group consisting of 3, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12.
14. The aerial vehicle according to claim 12 , wherein the thrust producing elements are selected from the group consisting of propellers, turbines and ducted fans.
15. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising:
differentially varying the amount of rotational energy absorbed by the individual motors when the individual motors are operated in a generator mode and are driven by rotation of the thrust producing elements connected to the individual motors,
thereby effecting control of the orientation of the vehicle without the use of control surfaces.
16. The method according to claim 12 , wherein
the number of thrust producing elements is at least eight and the thrust producing elements are grouped into four quadrants with at least two thrust producing elements located in each quadrant, further comprising:
reversing the rotation of a first thrust control element in a first quadrant,
varying the rotation of a second thrust control element in the first quadrant,
when all thrust control elements are not operating in a quadrant opposite the first quadrant,
thereby effecting control of the orientation of the vehicle.
17. The method according to claim 12 , wherein one or more of the thrust producing elements are adapted for hover and one or more of the thrust producing elements are adapted for forward flight.
18. The method according to claim 12 further comprising:
providing a battery for providing power to the motors,
monitoring the energy level in the battery comprising:
taking a first measurement of the voltage in the battery at an initial epoch under a substantially no-load condition,
relating the voltage measurement to a value of potential energy stored in the battery at the initial epoch,
taking a second measurement of voltage in the battery and a measurement of current flow into or out of the battery at a subsequent epoch,
integrating the second measurement of voltage and the current flow measurement with respect to time,
determining an energy change from the integration, and
relating the energy change to the initial energy level to calculate the energy level of the battery at the subsequent epoch.
19. The method according to claim 12 further comprising increasing rotational speed of some of the thrust producing elements to yaw the vehicle thereby inducing the vehicle to roll resulting in a coordinated turn.