All-electric multirotor full-scale aircraft for commuting, personal transportation, and security/surveillance

摘要

Methods and systems for a full-scale vertical takeoff and landing manned or unmanned electric aircraft, having an all-electric, non-hydrocarbon-powered lift and propulsion system, an integrated avionics system for navigation and guidance, and simple joystick and throttle controls to provide the operator with ‘drive by wire’ style direction control. The vehicle employs counter-rotating sets of propellers and lift is provided by multiple pairs of small electric motors driving directly-connected, counter-rotating sets of propellers. Automatic computer monitoring by one or a plurality of programmed redundant digital motor management computer or autopilot controls each motor-controller and motor to produce pitch, bank and elevation, while simultaneously restricting the flight regime that the pilot can command. Sensed multi-axis information and parameter values about vehicle state are used to provide stable vehicle control and to detect when stable vehicle operating limits are about to be exceeded.

主权项

1. A full-scale, multirotor vertical takeoff and landing (vtol) electric aircraft system capable of transporting a plurality of human occupants and payload, comprising:
a. a multirotor vtol electric aircraft having a plurality of components; b. a system comprising the plurality of components where the system comprises safety and reliability attributes necessary to safely and reliably transport human occupants and satisfy Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regulatory safety-of-flight rules; c. a physical airframe structure which mounts the plurality of components, capable of supporting a weight of the multirotor vtol electric aircraft with one or a plurality of human occupants and payload; d. a physical motor attachment structure that provides mounting attachments for a plurality of electric motor and propeller subassemblies, and that transfers lift generated by the motor and propeller subassemblies to the airframe, passengers, and payload; e. a plurality of electric motor and propeller subassemblies reliably attached to the multirotor attachment structure and connected to the airframe or fuselage; f. the plurality of electric motor and propeller subassemblies comprising pairs of motor and propeller subassemblies where each pair comprises two counter-rotating motors and counter-rotating propellers; g. the plurality of electric motors being controlled by a plurality of electric motor controllers; h. a ground support structure comprising landing skids or wheels capable of supporting the airframe structure and a plurality of occupants, avionics, motors, electronics and batteries; i. the plurality of motor electric controllers to control a commanded voltage and torque generated by each motor and to measure its performance, comprising RPM and voltage and current; j. a motor control or autopilot system comprising the plurality of motor electric controllers or autopilots, where the redundancy satisfies the safety and reliability required to meet regulatory safety-of-flight rules; k. an On/Off switch connected to a high-current fuse and high-current contactor that isolates a battery system from a remainder of the system when the battery system is not required or is being charged, the battery system comprising a plurality of rechargeable high-energy density batteries connected in serial and parallel configurations to supply a required voltage and current; l. a battery charger comprising a unit configured to receive external power accessed through a charging connector to recharge the batteries after use; m. a battery display system that outputs performance metrics for the batteries; n. a safety switch configured to provide a means of disabling and enabling an entire motor system; o. an external charging connector compatible with infrastructure chargers for the multirotor vtol electric aircraft to enable multirotor vtol electric aircraft recharging; p. a dual display system comprising an application software operating on a touch-tablet computer or an avionics display system, the dual display system capable of displaying a planned three-dimensional path from origin to destination; q. an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-B (ADSB) unit configured to provide the avionics display system with collision avoidance, traffic, and weather information to and from the multirotor vtol electric aircraft; r. a motor management computer or autopilot comprising a computer and input/output interfaces, Controller Area Network (CAN), analog voltage inputs, analog voltage outputs, embedded or stand-alone air data computer capabilities, embedded or stand-alone inertial measurement capability, and a cross-communications channel or network; s. a DC-DC converter configured to down-regulate motor battery voltage for the multirotor vtol electric aircraft to either 12V or 24/28V standards, with a 12 or 24/28V battery to provide local storage, enabling the battery system to be recharged from one external connector; t. a throttle to provide a single or dual-redundant variable voltage or potentiometer setting indicative of commanded thrust; u. a two-axis joystick or control yoke to provide two independent sets of single- or dual-redundant variable voltage or potentiometer settings indicative of pitch command and bank command; and v. control algorithms operating within the single or redundant motor management computer or autopilot to perform analysis, comparisons, and generate commands to individual motor controllers and monitor results to control the multirotor vertical takeoff and landing (vtol) electric aircraft for transporting multiple occupants and payload.