초록 ▼

This disclosure provides a solar rechargeable aircraft that is inexpensive to produce, is steerable, and can remain airborne almost indefinitely. The preferred aircraft is a span-loaded flying wing, having no fuselage or rudder. Travelling at relatively slow speeds, and having a two-hundred foot win

This disclosure provides a solar rechargeable aircraft that is inexpensive to produce, is steerable, and can remain airborne almost indefinitely. The preferred aircraft is a span-loaded flying wing, having no fuselage or rudder. Travelling at relatively slow speeds, and having a two-hundred foot wingspan that mounts photovoltaic cells on most all of the wing's top surface, the aircraft uses only differential thrust of its eight propellers to turn. Each of five sections of the wing has one or more engines and photovoltaic arrays, and produces its own lift independent of the other sections, to avoid loading them. Five two-sided photovoltaic arrays, in all, are mounted on the wing, and receive photovoltaic energy both incident on top of the wing, and which is incident also from below, through a bottom, transparent surface. The aircraft is capable of a top speed of about ninety miles per hour, which enables the aircraft to attain and can continuously maintain altitudes of up to sixty-five thousand feet. Regenerative fuel cells in the wing store excess electricity for use at night, such that the aircraft can sustain its elevation indefinitely. A main spar of the wing doubles as a pressure vessel that houses hydrogen and oxygen gasses for use in the regenerative fuel cell. The aircraft has a wide variety of applications, which include weather monitoring and atmospheric testing, communications, surveillance, and other applications as well.

대표청구항 ▼

[ We claim:] [1.] An aircraft having a wingspan dimension that is perpendicular to a direction of travel of the aircraft, a length dimension that is parallel to the direction of travel, and a front direction defined by the direction of travel said aircraft comprising:a wing extending generally perpe

[ We claim:] [1.] An aircraft having a wingspan dimension that is perpendicular to a direction of travel of the aircraft, a length dimension that is parallel to the direction of travel, and a front direction defined by the direction of travel said aircraft comprising:a wing extending generally perpendicular to the direction of travel and defining the wingspan; anda landing gear having wheels positioned at different locations along the length dimension of the aircraft, the landing gear having a main gear and a front-most gear, wherein all of the wheels are mounted by the wing;wherein the wing's angle of attack is configured such that the main gear lifts off prior to the front-most gear during take-off.