MULTI-PROPELLER AIRCRAFT

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention is related to the field of aircraft, specifically to unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) with multiple propellers and protection against external influences.

BACKGROUND

With the advent of high-capacity, small-size electrical power supplies, DC motors with rare-earth permanent magnets, and high-integrity electronic communication and control units, the unmanned aerial vehicle industry has begun to develop very rapidly.

Remote controlled unmanned aerial vehicles (also known as drones) have recently beer? used in many areas of life, ranging from military aviation to agriculture, arid their application in various fields is constantly expanding.

All unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) have the following requirements of general design - they must be of minimal mass, small size, well protected from external influences and maximally safe. It is especially important to protect the propulsion of aircraft - propellers (impellers, propellers). They must be protected from mechanical external influences and the operating personnel must be protected from the dangers of high-speed propellers. One known aircraft technical solution (see patents CN108528688 and US201920626) where individual propeller motors are protected by mesh and safety rings, while all other elements of the aircraft are housed inside and only partially protected.

Also known is a flying vehicle (see patent CN108974337) which has a protective cover comprising upper and lower parts and a connecting ring. All the structural members of the aircraft are located in the cavity between the upper and lower parts of the lid.

The closest analogues to the proposed technical solution are described in patents CN107021214 and WO2018117627. These aircrafts have the form of a flat or convex disk formed by interconnected upper and concave lower lattices. The inner cavity of the disc contains and mechanically secures all structural units and elements of the aircraft: propellers in the peripheral annular section and electronic controls and batteries in the central part of the disc. A Disc-shaped aircraft are fully protected from adverse external influences and are safe to operate.

There are the terms, their synonyms and English equivalents to be used in the invention: drone - drone, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) propeller - wing, propeller, impeller, openwork - mesh, spokes - rods, connectors, holders. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A proposed disc-shaped multi-propeller aircraft with a protective frame consisting of outer and inner rings interconnected by spokes and openwork lids covering the areas between outer and inner rings, spokes located in two levels, wing-mounted motors mounted between outer and inner rings mounted on spokes and arranged in two levels, so that counting them in sequence, the odd ones are above and the even ones below, or vice versa; the side impellers overlap each other, the inner ring of the body is hollow, and its outer walls are interconnected by thin-walled partitions, the cavities are equipped with controls, communication units and batteries, while the central hole is used for the storage of payloads.

The number of drive units in the arithmetic sequence can be 4, 8, 12, 16 and more. The outer and inner rings of the protective frame may be oval or elliptical.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is illustrated by the following drawings: fig. 1 is a general view of a circular multi-propeller aircraft, fig. 2 is a top view of a circular multi-propeller aircraft, fig. 3 is a top view of an elliptical multi-propeller aircraft.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The main component of the aircraft structure is the frame (main body) 1. It has an outer ring 2, an inner ring 3 and spokes 4. The spokes 4 connecting the outer ring 2 to the inner ring 3 are arranged in two levels, one of the spokes 4a being mounted on the upper part of the rings and the other on the lower part 4b. The spokes 4 are equipped with an aircraft propulsion unit - motors 5 with impellers 6. Constructively, it is most convenient that the number of spokes 4 corresponds to the number of aircraft engines 5. It is suggested that the number of motors 5 with impellers 6 in increasing order of arithmetic is 4, 8, 12, 16, etc. The aircraft shown in Figures 1,2 has sixteen spokes 4 on which are mounted sixteen engines 5 with impellers 6, eight of which are attached to the upper row of spokes 4a and the other eight to the lower row of spokes 4b. The density of the spokes 4 is chosen such that the distance between the motors 5 mounted on them is slightly greater than half the length of the impeller 6, i.e., the adjacent impellers 6 overlap each other by about half their length.

The inner ring is hollow - the outer wall is cylindrical, and the inner ring is rectangular, the walls are interconnected by thin-walled partitions. The formed cavities contain all the structural elements of the aircraft, the power elements 7, the control unit 8, the communication unit 9, the sensors, and the central cavity 10 is intended for the storage of payload. Payload fasteners are not shown in the drawings.

On both sides, the frame is covered by lids 11 and 12, which are made of openwork (mesh, lattice) in the propulsion area of the aircraft between the outer ring 2 and the inner ring 3 of the cylindrical wall.

Another option for mounting drive units

All spokes 4 connecting the outer ring 2 with the inner ring 3 are arranged in one level, and the motors 5 are also mounted on one level. If the engines have output shafts at both ends, the impellers 6 are mounted on opposite ends of the parallel engines 5 shafts. If the motors 5 have output shafts only to one side, the adjacent motors 5 with impellers 6 are mounted on spokes 4 in opposite directions.

The outer 2 and inner 3 rings of a multi-propeller aircraft may be elliptical or oval.

Fig. 3 shows a multi-propeller aircraft which frame and outer and inner rings have an elliptical shape. The figure shows the following elements: frame le, outer 2e and inner 3e rings, spokes 4e and motors 5e with impellers 6e.

The proposed structure of a multi-propeller aircraft has the following characteristics: the aircraft is very compact, the drive units take up a small volume, reducing the perimeter and weight of protective and housing parts, all aircraft parts and components are well protected against external mechanical damage, the aircraft is highly reliable, with one or more engines in the event of failure partially compensated for by remaining engines in operation, the operating personnel of the aircraft are protected from injuries caused by rotating impeller engines, the payload located in the central part of the round aircraft least unbalances it.