US008500061B2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent N0.2 US 8,500,061 B2 Chen (45) Date of Patent: Aug. 6, 2013 (54) AIRCRAFT WITHVTOL TECHNOLOGY 6,260,794 131* 7/2001 Rowe ......................... .. 244/125 6,318,668 B1 * 11/2001 Ulanoski et 31. .. 244/125 (76) Inventor: Li Jing Chen, Bougival (FR) 6,371,407 B1* 4/2002 Renshaw ..... .. .. 244/125 6,520,450 B1 * 2/2003 Seyfang .. .. 244/125 8,020,804 B2 * 9/2011 Yoeli ......... .. 244/23 D ( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this 2009/0121073 A1* 5/2009 Doane et a1. .. 244/125 patent is extended or adjusted under 35 2011/0226890 A1* 9/2011 Chen .......................... .. 244/125 U.S.C. 154(b) by 339 days. * cited by examiner (21) Appl.No.: 12/926,629 (22) Filed: Dec. 1, 2010 Primary Examiner * Christopher P Ellis Assistant Examiner * Medhat BadaWi (65) Prior Publication Data (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm * Jackson Patent LaW O?ice US 2011/0226890 A1 Sep. 22, 2011 (30) Foreign Application Priority Data (57) ABSTRACT An aircraft includes a jet engine With a doWnWard de?ectable Dec. 11,2009 (FR) 09 05991 propelling noZZle; an auxiliary poWer unit With a doWnWard Jul. 19,2010 (FR) .................................... .. 10 03019 de?ectable propelling noZZle; and a transformable Wing. The (51) Int. Cl. transformable Wing includes a ?xed Wing, hydraulic sleeve, B64C 29/00 (2006.01) an air intake duct including an upper Wall and a loWer Wall, a (52) US. Cl. thin Wing connected to the hydraulic sleeve, a sliding Wing, USPC .................... .. 244/12.5; 244/129.4; 244/45 R leading edge ?aps, trailing edge ?aps, an aileron, and a hinge. (58) Field of Classi?cation Search The transformable Wing is con?gured, during vertical take USPC .............. .. 244/125, 129.4, 23 D, 23 C, 45 R, off/landing, to transform such that a leading end to an air 244/ 12.1 intake duct in a vertical direction is formed on the ?xed Wing, See application ?le for complete search history. and the air intake duct is formed internally in and along a direction of the Wingspan of the ?xed Wing to cause air taken (56) References Cited in by the jet engine to How, in a common direction, over upper and loWer surfaces of the thin Wing, thereby generating lift for U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS vertical take-off/ landing. 4,109,885 A * 8/1978 Pender ........................ .. 244/7 R 4,848,701 A * 7/1989 Belloso . .. 244/12.5 5,433,400 A * 7/1995 Singhal et a1. ............. .. 244/12.1 4 Claims, 10 Drawing Sheets US. Patent Aug. 6, 2013 Sheet 1 0110 US 8,500,061 B2 21 16 20— 18—— US. Patent Aug. 6, 2013 Sheet 2 0f 10 US 8,500,061 B2 20—_‘_J 4 13 \ /N T 13 13 ——-/ 7 11 14 — 3 8 13 H g- 13 13 20 L FIG.2 US. Patent Aug. 6, 2013 Sheet 3 0f 10 US 8,500,061 B2 13ii: i 13 20- -- US. Patent Aug. 6, 2013 Sheet 4 0f 10 US 8,500,061 B2 14 13 1 2 1 13 15 13 17 11 13 U i 1 | V 13 12 l l l 8 7 13 6 10 A “q FIG.4 US. Patent Aug. 6, 2013 Sheet 5 0f 10 US 8,500,061 B2 20 % \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ é\\\\E §§\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\ 80 FIG.5 US. Patent Aug. 6, 2013 Sheet 6 6f 10 US 8,500,061 B2 US. Patent Aug. 6, 2013 Sheet 8 0f 10 US 8,500,061 B2 13—- 13 ‘M ' _lM 13~——-/ 13 17—— 3* “QF 15 14 s 7 s 13- 13 13-1 13 20- - .JN FIG.8 US. Patent Aug. 6, 2013 Sheet 9 0f 10 US 8,500,061 B2 FIG.9 US. Patent Aug. 6, 2013 Sheet 10 0f 10 US 8,500,061 B2 w31111.. FIG.1O US 8,500,061 B2 1 2 AIRCRAFT WITH VTOL TECHNOLOGY FIG. 7 is a front vieW of the transformable Wings of an aircraft With this invention during vertical taking off and CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED landing. APPLICATION FIG. 8 is a top vieW of the transformable Wings of an aircraft With this invention during vertical taking off and This Application is claims foreign priority bene?t under 3 5 landing. U.S.C §119 of Patent Application FR2010/0003019 ?led on FIG. 9 is M-M Section for FIG. 8 19 Jul. 2010, and Patent Application FR2009/0005991 ?led FIG. 10 is N-N Section for FIG. 8 on 11 Dec. 2009, the contents of Which are herein incorpo rated by reference. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the invention can achieve VTOL on air craft Whose thrust-to-Weight ratio is smaller than 1. Accord 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to aircraft ing to its ?rst characteristic, the embodiments can obtain or and, more particularly, to aircraft With VTOL technology. generate another lift force for VTOL, in addition to the lift 2. Description of related art force obtained by traditional Ways, by horizontally setting a Currently, VTOL is only possible for aircraft With a thrust Thin Wing at the middle of the perpendicular line of the to-Weight ratio equal to or greater than 1 because of the horizontal section inside the Air Intake Duct. According to the limitation of traditional VTOL technologies Which, Without 20 characteristics of the embodiments, the folloWing are true: exception, get the lift force in vertical direction for VTOL The Thin Wing is a part of the Air Intake Duct and is from a doWnWard-directed propelling nozzle of a jet engine attached to the inner Wall of the latter in a ?xed or solely, or its combination With a lift fan. ?exible Way. The Thin Wing Will produce a lift force When air ?oWs over it and the produced lift force Will be BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 25 then transmitted to the inner Wall of the Air Intake Duct to lift the aircraft off the ground. An aircraft to achieve vertical take-off and landing The Thin Wing is designed such that its area and shape take (VTOL), the aircraft comprising: a jet engine With a doWn into full consideration the air in?oW of the jet engine and Ward de?ectable propelling nozzle; an auxiliary poWer unit can ensure the produced lift force Will be greater than the With a doWnWard de?ectable propelling nozzle; and a trans 30 difference betWeen the maximum take-off Weight and formable Wing comprising a ?xed Wing, a hydraulic sleeve, the vertical thrust of an aircraft. an air intake duct including an upper Wall and a loWer Wall, a The entire or part of the Air Intake Duct With a Thin Wing thin Wing connected to the hydraulic sleeve and located can be ?xed or formed through the transformation of between the upper and loWer Walls, a sliding Wing, leading components of an aircraft. edge ?aps, trailing edge ?aps, an aileron, and a hinge, the 35 The entire or part of the Air Intake Duct With a Thin Wing transformable Wing being con?gured, during vertical take can be ?tted to the fuselage or Wings of an aircraft. off/landing, to transform such that a leading end to an air The leading end of the Air Intake Duct With a Thin Wing in intake duct in a vertical direction is formed on the ?xed Wing, horizontal direction can be opened or closed. and the air intake duct is formed internally in and along a The leading end of the Air Intake Duct With a Thin Wing in direction of the Wingspan of the ?xed Wing to cause air taken 40 vertical direction can be opened or closed. in by the jet engine to ?oW, in a common direction, over upper As illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, 6 and 7, an aircraft With this and loWer surfaces of the thin Wing, a chord line of the thin invention is mainly made up of a fuselage (18), transformable Wing being in the direction of the Wingspan of the ?xed Wing, Wings (19), an extended section (6) of the air intake duct for thereby generating lift for vertical take-off/ landing, the trans the Wing, an openable/closable leading end (8) of the air formable Wing being con?gured, during forWard ?ight, to 45 intake duct in horizontal direction and that (20) in vertical restore a normal shape in order to reduce drag, the aircraft direction, a jet engine (7) With a propelling nozzle (21) that further including an assembly, Which is an integral and can be directed doWnWard, and an APU (9) With a propelling inseparable part of the transformable Wing, the assemble nozzle (10) that can be directed doWnWard. The air intake including an extended section of air intake duct, an openable duct (5) formed by the transformable Wing (19), together With and closable leading end to air intake duct in horizontal direc 50 the extended section (6) of the air intake duct for the Wing, tion, and an openable and closable leading end to air intake jointly forms an intake duct (5,6) With a thin Wing (2) to duct in vertical direction. produce an additional lift force besides the one produced by traditional technologies. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING As illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 10, the transform 55 able Wing (19) is made up of a ?xed Wing (3), a hydraulic FIG. 1 is a side vieW of an aircraft With this invention on sleeve (1), a thin Wing (2), a sliding Wing (4), a leading edge ground (Without landing gear) and during horizontal ?ight.