Claims
- 1. An aircraft, comprising:
a laterally extending, flexible wing, configured to develop dihedral during flight; a plurality of motors mounted on the wing, at least some of the plurality of motors having throttles that control the thrust of at least some of the plurality of motors, wherein the dihedral causes at least one motor of the plurality of motors to produce thrust above the aircraft's center of drag, and thereby a downward pitching moment, when the aircraft is in flight, and wherein the dihedral causes at least one motor of the plurality of motors produces thrust below the aircraft's center of drag, and thereby an upward pitching moment, when the aircraft is in flight; and a control system connected to the throttles, wherein the control system is configured such that it controls the throttles to control the pitch of the aircraft.
- 2. The aircraft of claim 1, wherein the aircraft is controlled without the use of elevators.
- 3. The aircraft of claim 1, wherein pitching moments generated by the motors on a first side of the aircraft are controlled relative to pitching moments generated by the motors on a second side of the aircraft to avoid torque between the first and second sides of the aircraft.
- 4. The aircraft of claim 1, wherein motors on a first side of the aircraft are controlled to produce the same pitching moment as motors on a second side of the aircraft.
- 5. The aircraft of claim 1, wherein the control system controls pitch by actively adjusting only one set of motors from the group of: the set of motors above the center of drag and the set of motors below the center of drag.
- 6. The aircraft of claim 1, wherein the control system is further configured to control the throttles so as to control aircraft yaw.
- 7. The aircraft of claim 6, wherein the control system is further configured to control the throttles so as to control aircraft roll.
- 8. The aircraft of claim 1, wherein the control system is further configured to control the throttles so as to control roll of the aircraft.
Parent Case Info
[0001] The present invention relates to aircraft. More particularly, the present invention relates to aircraft having unique controls, and related uses thereof. The present application is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/527,544, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
Government Interests
[0002] This invention was made with government support under ERAST JSRA Contract NCC-04004 awarded by NASA. The United States Government has certain rights in the invention.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60182165 |
Feb 2000 |
US |
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09527544 |
Mar 2000 |
US |
Child |
10310415 |
Dec 2002 |
US |