阅读说明：本技术 一种用于控制飞机方向的方法和实施该方法的飞机 (Method for controlling the direction of an aircraft and aircraft for implementing the method ) 是由 菲利普·克罗沙 于 2018-12-21 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开了一种控制具有至少一个机翼(2)的固定翼飞机或具有至少一个叶片(3)的旋转翼飞机(1)的方向的方法,机翼(2)或叶片(3)受气流的作用,在机翼(2)或叶片(3)上施加升力；并且,由于机翼(2)或叶片(3)的下表面与上表面之间的压力差,在机翼(2)或叶片(3)的每个自由端处产生边际涡旋(4),边际涡旋(4)减少升力并增加阻力。根据本发明,该方法包括产生不同强度的附加涡旋,以便根据附加涡旋的方向和旋转速度,明显地作用于边际涡旋(4)的强度,从而选择性地增加或抵消边际涡旋(4)的影响,由此选择性地减小或增加在机翼(2)或叶片(3)的自由端施加的升力和/或阻力,并引起固定翼飞机(1)的侧倾和/或偏航运动,或旋翼飞机(1)的倾斜运动。(The invention discloses a method for controlling the direction of a fixed-wing aircraft having at least one wing (2) or a rotary-wing aircraft (1) having at least one blade (3), the wing (2) or the blade (3) being acted on by an air flow, exerting a lift force on the wing (2) or the blade (3); and, due to the pressure difference between the lower and upper surfaces of the wing (2) or blade (3), a marginal vortex (4) is generated at each free end of the wing (2) or blade (3), the marginal vortex (4) reducing lift and increasing drag. According to the invention, the method comprises generating additional vortices of different intensity so as to act predominantly on the intensity of the marginal vortices (4) depending on the direction and speed of rotation of the additional vortices, thereby selectively increasing or cancelling out the effect of the marginal vortices (4), thereby selectively reducing or increasing the lift and/or drag exerted on the free ends of the wings (2) or blades (3) and causing a roll and/or yaw movement of the fixed-wing aircraft (1) or a pitch movement of the rotary-wing aircraft (1).)

1. A method of operating a fixed wing aircraft (1) having at least one wing (2) or a rotary wing aircraft having at least one blade (3), wherein the wing (2) or the blade (3) is subjected to an airflow, a lift force is exerted on the wing (2) or the blade (3), a marginal vortex (4) is generated at each free end of the wing (2) or the blade (3) due to a pressure difference between an upper surface and a lower surface of the wing (2) or the blade (3), the marginal vortices (4) reducing the lift force and increasing the drag force; it is characterized in that the preparation method is characterized in that,

the method generates additional vortices of different intensity to affect the intensity of the marginal vortices respectively, the intensity of the marginal vortices (4) being dependent on the direction and rotational speed of the additional vortices, thereby selectively enhancing or counteracting the effect of the marginal vortices (4) to selectively reduce or increase the lift and/or drag applied to the free ends of the wing (2) or the blades (3) and causing the fixed-wing aircraft (1) to produce roll and/or yaw motion or the rotary-wing aircraft (1) to produce pitch motion.

2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the additional swirl is generated by a main motorized propeller (5) located at the free end of the wing (2) or the blades (3).

3. The method of claim 2,

the aircraft (1) having fixed wings and comprising at least one of said wings (2), each free end of each of said wings comprising said main motorized propeller (5) rotating in the opposite direction to said marginal vortex (4) and an auxiliary motorized propeller (6) rotating in the same direction as said marginal vortex (4);

the method comprises the following steps: -rotating the main motorized propeller (5) of a first end of the wing (2) faster than the auxiliary motorized propeller (6) of the first end to produce a roll motion; -rotating the auxiliary motorized propeller (6) of the second end of the wing (2) faster than the main motorized propeller (5) of the second end to increase the roll motion; and when the power of the auxiliary motorized propeller (6) at the second end is equal to the power of the main motorized propeller (5) at the first end, then acting on the power of the auxiliary motorized propeller (6) at the second end to reduce or even eliminate yaw motion.

4. The method of claim 2,

the fixed wing aircraft (1) is provided with at least one wing (2), each free end of the at least one wing comprises one main movable propeller (5) and one auxiliary movable propeller (6), the main movable propeller (5) rotates in the opposite direction to the marginal vortex (4), and the auxiliary movable propeller (6) rotates in the same direction as the marginal vortex (4);

the method comprises the following steps: -rotating the main motorized propeller (5) and the auxiliary motorized propeller (6) of a first end of the wing (2) faster than the main motorized propeller (5) and the auxiliary motorized propeller (6) of a second end to produce a roll and a yaw movement, and-when the main motorized propeller (5) power of the first end and the auxiliary motorized propeller (6) power of the first end are equal, acting on the auxiliary motorized propeller (6) power of the first end to reduce or even eliminate the yaw movement.

5. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that, when the aircraft (1) has a rotating wing and has at least one of the blades (3), each of them rotates, an additional vortex is alternately and periodically generated to obtain a tilting movement of the aircraft (1) in the desired direction.

6. The method according to claims 2 and 5, characterized in that it comprises: -rotating said main mobile propeller (5) of the free end of said blades (3) in the opposite direction to said marginal vortex (4); and rotating the auxiliary propeller (6) at the same free end with the same power as the main propeller (5) in a phase opposite to the main propeller (5) to suppress potential vibration.

7. A method according to claims 2 and 5, characterized in that the blade (3) generates an asymmetric air resistance per half rotation of the blade when the aircraft (1) is subjected to relative wind, the method comprising: -rotating the main mobile propeller (5) of the free end of the blades (3) in the opposite direction to the marginal vortexes (4), and-rotating the auxiliary mobile propeller (6) at the same free end in the opposite direction to the main mobile propeller (5), in phase with the rotation of the main mobile propeller (5), to counteract the effect of the main mobile propeller (5), and to act on the auxiliary mobile propeller (6) power to mitigate asymmetric air drag.

8. A fixed wing aircraft (1) having at least one wing (2) or a rotary wing aircraft having at least one blade (3), the wing (2) or the blade (3) being subjected to a lift force exerted by air on the wing (2) or the blade (3), a marginal vortex (4) being naturally generated at each end of each wing (2) or blade (3) due to a pressure difference between an upper surface and a lower surface of the wing (2) or blade (3), the marginal vortex (4) reducing the lift force; it is characterized in that the preparation method is characterized in that,

the method is adapted to generate additional vortices so as to significantly vary the intensity of the marginal vortices (4) depending on the direction and rotational speed of the additional vortices to selectively weigh or counteract the effect of the marginal vortices (4), thereby selectively reducing or increasing the lift force applied to the free wing (2) or free end of the blade (3) and generating roll and/or yaw motion for the fixed wing aircraft (1) or pitch motion for the rotary wing aircraft (1).

9. Aircraft (1) according to claim 8, characterised in that the means for generating additional vortices comprise:

-a main motorized propeller (5) located at the free end of the wing (2) or the blade (3), the axis of the main motorized propeller being substantially parallel to the plane of the wing (2) or the blade (3) and substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the wing (2) or the blade (3);

-at least one power circuit board connected to the motorization of the propeller and controlled by an onboard computing device.

10. The aircraft (1) according to claim 9, characterised in that the main motorized propeller (5) is designed to rotate in the opposite direction to the marginal vortex (4) and the aircraft (1) is equipped with an auxiliary motorized propeller (6) connected to the power circuit board and in the opposite direction to the rotation direction of the main motorized propeller (5).

11. Aircraft (1) according to claim 9, characterised in that it has a rotary wing with at least one blade (3) mounted on a rotor (7), the rotor (7) position sensor being connected to the power circuit board.

12. Aircraft (1) according to claim 8, characterised in that it is of the rotary wing type and has three blades (3) staggered by 120 ° from one another.

13. The aircraft (1) of claim 8, characterized in that one or more of said blades are made of expanded polypropylene.

14. The aircraft (1) according to claim 13, characterised in that one or more of said blades are covered with a thermoplastic film.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of aviation, in particular to a method for controlling the steering of an airplane, wherein the airplane comprises at least one wing or at least one blade.

The invention also aims to protect the relative aircraft implementing the above method.

The invention can be used in the field of unmanned aircraft, commonly known as "drones".

Background

From the prior art, fixed-wing aircraft comprise at least one wing, or rotating-wing aircraft comprise at least one blade. During flight, the wings or blades are subjected to a relative airflow, exerting a lift force on the wings or blades, thereby causing the aircraft to lift and fly.

The wing(s) of a fixed wing aircraft each include at least one motorized propeller positioned in the fuselage or wing with the propeller axis substantially parallel to the plane of the wing and substantially orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the wing. These motorized propellers ensure, on the one hand, the propulsion of the aircraft and, on the other hand, can generate an airflow under the wing to increase the lift.

The motorized propellers of a rotary wing aircraft are mounted at the free ends of the blades, causing the blades to rotate about a main shaft, thereby generating aircraft lift.

In the case of a rotary wing aircraft, which is steered, i.e. subjected to roll and/or pitch movements, or more generally when the aircraft is a symmetrical drone and has no front or rear end, a tilting movement occurs in all its directions, with the use of a swash plate which allows mechanical, periodic variation of the blades, the inclination of which varies their angle of attack and thus the lift and thus the tilting movement of the aircraft.

A disadvantage of such swash plates is that they generate an extra weight, and more importantly, the complexity of such solutions makes them very maintenance intensive.

Another solution for maneuvering an aircraft is to place an engine, ideally of the high torque "servomotor" type, on the hub of each blade to periodically vary the elevation of each blade individually at the desired position to effect the pitch motion. However, in the long term, this solution is relatively expensive, cumbersome and low in reliability.

For fixed wing aircraft, in order to maneuver the aircraft, i.e. to perform roll and/or yaw movements, a control system is generally used which comprises ailerons and horizontal and vertical tail fins. A V-shaped flight may also be used.

The aileron/tail control system has the disadvantage of adding extra weight and, more importantly, the solution adds complexity in industrialization and is relatively fragile, lacking reliability.

Without a large and sufficiently effective tail, a further disadvantage of such systems is that, in addition to the required roll movement, a yaw movement is also produced which opposes the roll movement, in short "anti-roll".

Disclosure of Invention

To this end, one of the aims of the present invention is to remedy the drawbacks of the prior art by proposing a method which makes it possible to control the direction of an aircraft in a reliable, light and economical manner, using a fixed wing with at least one airfoil and a rotating wing with at least one blade.

To this end, the applicant has used the natural swirl phenomenon, also called marginal swirl (vortex), generated by the airflow at the free end of the wing or blade. In fact, due to the difference in air pressure between the upper and lower surfaces of the wing or blade, at the free end of the wing or blade, the physical barrier constituted by the wing or blade suddenly disappears, so that the overpressure zone is naturally sucked to the low pressure zone, and therefore the air flow will migrate very strongly towards the low pressure zone, forming a so-called marginal vortex or vortex. A disadvantage of creating such marginal vortices is that it will greatly reduce the pressure difference between the upper and lower surfaces of the wing or blade, thereby reducing lift. In addition, such marginal eddies will also add much resistance, referred to as "induced resistance.

Thus, starting from this natural phenomenon, and according to the present invention, the applicant proposes a method for maneuvering a fixed-wing aircraft having at least one wing or a rotary-wing aircraft having at least one blade, said method comprising generating an additional marginal vortex of different intensity substantially coaxial to the marginal vortex, so as to effectively vary the intensity of said marginal vortex according to the direction and speed of rotation of the additional vortex. In this way, the additional swirl generated at the free end of each said blade or said airfoil can selectively augment or counteract the effect of said marginal swirl. This may thus selectively reduce or increase the lift and/or drag of the free ends of the wings or blades to produce the required roll and/or yaw motion for the fixed wing aircraft or pitch motion for the rotary wing aircraft. In general, the additional swirl generated is typically used to counteract the marginal swirl of the airfoil or the blade end, and will therefore increase lift and reduce induced drag.

In this way, the invention steers the aircraft in an economical, reliable and aerodynamically efficient manner, while making it relatively light in weight, by means of a device capable of generating additional marginal vortices.

This means that the additional marginal vortex created is suitable for all suitable types, such as turbines. Preferably, the additional swirl is generated by a main rotor propeller at the free end of the wing or blade.

The invention is applicable to fixed wing aircraft and rotary wing aircraft. Furthermore, for a fixed wing aircraft having at least one wing, each end of at least one of the wings is fitted with a primary mobile propeller rotating in the opposite direction to the marginal vortex, and a secondary mobile propeller rotating in the same direction as the marginal vortex. The method provided by the invention comprises the following steps: rotating the primary motorized propeller at a first wing end faster than the secondary motorized propeller at the same end to induce a roll motion; rotating the secondary motor propeller at the second wing end faster than the primary motor propeller at the same end to enhance roll movement; if the power of the secondary motorized propeller at the second wing end is equal to the power of the primary motorized propeller at the first wing end, the power of the secondary motorized propeller at the second wing end is acted upon to reduce or even eliminate the yawing motion.

Of course, when one propeller is instructed to rotate faster than the other, the method may accelerate the propeller that rotates faster, or decelerate the propeller that should rotate slower. Likewise, the method acts on the propellers at the first wing end to increase lift or in the opposite way on the propellers at the second end to decrease lift and to obtain the same effect, which should be considered to be entirely within the scope of the invention.

In the same configuration, the method may include, for example, rotating the main and auxiliary propellers of the first wing end faster than the main and auxiliary propellers of the second wing end to produce roll and yaw motions; if the main and auxiliary propellers of the first wing end are equal in power, the power of the auxiliary propeller of the first wing end is reacted to reduce or even eliminate the roll motion.

In another embodiment, for a rotary wing aircraft having at least one blade, additional vortices are alternately and periodically generated for each revolution of the blade to achieve an angular pitch motion in a desired direction.

In one embodiment, the method comprises: such as causing the main moving propeller at the free end of the blades to rotate in the opposite direction to the marginal vortex and causing the secondary moving propeller at the free end of the same blades to turn at the same power and in the opposite direction to the main moving propeller to dampen potential vibrations caused by the periodicity of the thrust of the main moving propeller.

In the same embodiment, each half revolution of the blade when the aircraft encounters relative wind produces asymmetric air resistance on the blade by rotating the main dynamic propeller at the free end of the blade in a manner opposite to the marginal vortex and rotating the secondary dynamic propeller in a rotational direction opposite to the main dynamic propeller and in phase with the main dynamic propeller to counteract the effect of the main dynamic propeller and to act on the secondary dynamic propeller power to balance the asymmetric effect of air resistance.

The invention also relates to an aircraft designed according to the method and suitable for carrying out the method.

As is known, fixed-wing aircraft comprise at least one wing, or rotary-wing aircraft comprise at least one blade. The wing or blade will necessarily be acted upon by the airflow to generate lift to the wing or blade, and the marginal vortices which reduce lift are naturally generated at each free end of the wing or blade due to the pressure differential between the upper and lower surfaces of the wing or blade.

According to the invention, the aircraft comprises means for generating additional marginal vortices substantially coaxial with the marginal vortices for acting effectively on the strength of the marginal vortices to selectively augment or cancel out their effect, depending on the direction and speed of rotation of the additional vortices, thereby selectively reducing or increasing lift at the free ends of the wings or blades, producing roll and/or yaw motion for the fixed wing aircraft, or producing pitch motion for the rotary wing aircraft.

As mentioned above, the means for generating additional swirl may be a turbine. Preferably, these means comprise:

1) a main dynamic propeller arranged at the free end of the wing or blade, the main dynamic propeller axis being substantially parallel to the blade or wing plane and substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the wing or blade;

2) at least one power circuit board connected to the motorized means of the propeller and controlled by the onboard computing means.

The present method is preferred for propellers as they can be rotated in both clockwise and counter-clockwise directions.

In order to reduce the potential vibration or asymmetric drag of the rotary wing aircraft caused by relative wind, or to independently generate roll and yaw motions for the fixed wing aircraft, the main movable propeller is rotated in a direction opposite to that of the marginal vortex, and the aircraft further comprises a secondary movable propeller opposite to that of the main movable propeller, and the secondary movable propeller is connected with a power circuit board.

The rotary wing aircraft has at least one blade mounted on a rotor, and the rotary wing aircraft includes a rotor position sensor connected to a power circuit board.

In a particular embodiment, the aircraft is a drone. In a preferred embodiment, the drone has three blades, which surround the hub at 120 ° angles, and the hub can suspend the nacelle below the hub. The present preferred embodiment with three blades improves the stability of the drone by significantly reducing the reaction capacity required to control the blade tip propeller.

Furthermore, the applicant has noticed that the manufacture of the blade can be greatly improved. At the outset, the use of carbon fibers for the fabrication of blades is favored for stiffness considerations. Unfortunately, the extensive testing required to develop a drone results in repeated blade damage during testing. To solve the cost problem that results therefrom, the blades are made of a cheaper and more elastic material, namely expanded polypropylene (EPP). To improve its surface layer, the EPP is covered with a film, preferably a thermoplastic material, in particular an adhesive, such as a transparent laminating film for printing. Carbon fiber sheet liners may also be used. In this embodiment, the centrifugal force exerted on the blade between the end motor and the hub increases the stiffness of the material. At rest, the blades are relatively soft, but when the aircraft rotates, the blades become stiff and rotate in a flat, horizontally oriented disk-like plane.

Drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate by way of example only, and in no way limit, embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a rotary wing aircraft having a main powered propeller and controlled for tilting movement to the left;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view similar to FIG. 1, the aircraft further including a counter-rotating auxiliary proprotor that is manipulated to perform a roll motion to the left and reduce potential vibration;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view similar to FIG. 1 showing the behavior of the aircraft in the face of incident wind that tends to induce roll motion to the left;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view similar to FIG. 3, the aircraft being controlled to maintain its stability even in the face of headwind;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view similar to FIG. 2 showing the asymmetric drag produced on the aircraft blade facing the incident wind;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view similar to FIG. 5, the aircraft being controlled to counteract the asymmetric drag created by the incident wind;

FIG. 7 is a top view of a fixed wing aircraft equipped with main and auxiliary dynamic propellers and controlled to perform a roll motion to the left without a yaw motion;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view similar to FIG. 7, with the aircraft controlled to perform a yaw motion and no roll motion;

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 1, the aircraft being shown in perspective and having three blades deflected at 120;

fig. 10 is a view similar to fig. 9, the aircraft having a secondary motorized propeller.

Detailed Description

The invention relates to a method for controlling the direction of an aircraft (1). The aircraft (1) is intended to mean any type of manned or unmanned aircraft, and is a fixed wing aircraft with at least one wing (2), or a rotary wing aircraft with at least one blade (3).

In practice, the blades (3) may be made of carbon fibre. To reduce manufacturing costs, one or more of the blades (3) may be made of expanded polypropylene (EPP). To improve the surface layer of the EPP, the surface layer of the EPP may be covered with a film, preferably thermoplastic, in particular an adhesive, and for example transparent, such as the one used in the printing industry. In addition, the blade (3) may be backed with a thin sheet of carbon fibre. When the blades (3) are made of EPP, the centrifugal force exerted on the blades (3) between the end motor and the hub increases the stiffness of the material. At rest, the blades (3) are relatively flexible, but once the aircraft (1) has flown, the whole aircraft becomes rigid and straight.

Whether the airplane (1) is a fixed wing or a rotary wing, when the airplane (1) flies, the wings (2) or the blades (3) are subjected to the action of airflow to lift the wings (2) or the blades (3). In the figure, the lifting force is indicated by the symbols "+", "-" and "═ respectively".

The lift comes from the following: the airflow creates a pressure zone on the top wing (2) or blade (3) below the wing (2) or blade (3), i.e. below the lower surface. On the upper surface, the air flow creates a negative pressure zone. The pressure difference between the upper and lower surfaces generates a lift force for flying the aircraft (1).

However, at the end of the wing (2) or blade (3), the physical barrier constituted by the wing (2) or blade (3) disappears suddenly and the air flows naturally under overpressure conditions. Thus, the gas drawn by the gas flow in the recess will migrate very strongly towards it, creating so-called marginal eddies (4) or vortices which are only shown in fig. 1.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a disadvantage of the marginal vortex (4) is that it greatly reduces the pressure difference between the upper and lower surfaces of the wing (2) or blade (3), thereby reducing the lift at the free end of the wing (2) or blade (3) accordingly.

In conclusion, the invention aims to directly and effectively act on the strength of the marginal vortexes to selectively accentuate or counteract the effects (4) of the marginal vortexes, thereby reducing or selectively increasing the lift force exerted on the free ends of the wings (2) or blades (3) to cause a roll and/or yaw motion of the aircraft (1) with fixed wings or a pitch motion of the aircraft (1) with rotating wings.

To this end, the method of the invention automatically generates additional vortices of different intensity substantially coaxial to the marginal vortices (4). Thus, depending on the direction and speed of rotation of the additional vortices, the marginal vortices (4) will be significantly exacerbated at the free ends of the blades (3) or airfoils (2), i.e. they will rotate or be impeded at higher speeds, or else they will rotate at lower speeds, even at zero speed or even in reverse. Of course, slight alignment errors between the marginal and additional vortices are acceptable. The effectiveness may be reduced, but the process still works. The description is "substantially coaxial" because the axis of the marginal vortex (4) tends to move downwards as the vortex moves away from the wing (2) or blade (3). Most importantly, the additional vortices generated affect the strength of the marginal vortices (4).

The additional swirl may be generated in any suitable manner, for example via a turbine. Preferably, the latter is produced by a propeller, called the main dynamic propeller (5), mounted at the free end of the wing (2) or blade (3).

In this way, with reference to fig. 7 and 8, for example in the case of a fixed-wing aircraft (1) comprising at least one wing (2), the latter comprises, at its end, a main mobile propeller (5) whose axis is substantially parallel to the plane of the wing (2) and substantially orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the wing (2), so as to be able to generate an additional vortex coaxial to the marginal vortex (4). Of course, the invention applies in the same way also when the aircraft (1) comprises two wings (2) connected by a central fuselage.

Thus, if propulsion of the aircraft is ensured only by the main mobile propeller (5) rotating in the opposite direction to the direction of the marginal vortexes (4) and it is desired to produce a roll and yaw movement (1) to the left side of the aircraft, the method according to the invention comprises rotating the main mobile propeller (5) on the right side faster than the main mobile propeller (5) on the left side to counteract and reduce the effect of the marginal vortexes (4) on the right side. On the basis of the above, the effect of the marginal vortex (4) at the end of the right wing (2) is reduced, causing the lift of the side to increase, thereby enabling the aircraft (1) to roll to the left. In addition, the rotation of the right main motorized propeller (5) tends to push the aircraft (1) to the same side, thereby also causing a yaw movement of the aircraft to the left. The yawing motion is not a reverse yawing motion because it rotates the aircraft in the desired direction, which is the normal yawing (forward yaw) common in the art. For a conventional aircraft without a vertical tail, roll motion is also accompanied by yaw motion, but in a direction opposite to the desired direction, which is also the reverse yaw (yaw) common in the prior art.

Of course, in addition to increasing the lift at the end of the right wing (2), the roll motion can be further increased by reducing the lift by simultaneously slowing down the speed of the main maneuvering propeller (5) of the left wing (2).

If the pilot wishes to avoid or modify the induced yawing motion, the aircraft (1) is actually equipped with a controllable vertical tail. According to the invention, the vertical tail wing can be omitted and an auxiliary propeller (6) can be used which rotates counter to the main propeller (5) and is mounted at the end of the wing (2), for example at the rear end, for example in the opposite direction to the main propeller (5).

For example, in the preceding case, with reference to fig. 7, the aircraft comprises at least one wing (2) fitted at each of its ends with a main mobile propeller (5) rotating in the opposite direction to the marginal vortex (4), and with an auxiliary mobile propeller (6) rotating in the direction of the marginal vortex (4). Thus, to avoid yawing movements to the left, the method comprises rotating the main motorized propeller (5) at the right end faster than the auxiliary motorized propeller (6) at the right end to produce rotation; the speed of the auxiliary engine propeller (6) at the left end of the rotary wing (2) is faster than that of the main engine propeller (5) at the left end so as to enhance the roll movement; the power of the left auxiliary engine propeller (6) is equal to the power of the right main engine propeller (5) to restrain the yawing motion. In the figure, the propulsion of the motorized propellers (5, 6) is schematically shown by the arrow F.

Of course, in such a configuration, the method may also act on the power of the auxiliary motorized propeller (6) to reduce the yaw movement without eliminating the yaw movement, thereby obtaining a combination of yaw and roll movements.

The propellers (5, 6) can also be steered to obtain a yaw movement to the left of the aircraft (1) without generating a roll movement. To this end, with reference to fig. 8, the method of the invention comprises: the main engine propeller (5) and the auxiliary engine propeller (6) at the right wing end part rotate faster than the main engine propeller (5) and the auxiliary engine propeller (6) at the left wing end part, and the power is the same, so that the rolling motion is generated without the yawing motion.

In the same way as described above, the method allows the power acting on the auxiliary motorized propeller (6) to reduce the roll motion without eliminating it and to obtain a combination of roll and yaw motions.

The invention also includes the use of the method for controlling the orientation of an aircraft (1) having a rotor wing comprising at least one blade (3) mounted on a rotor. Preferably, the aircraft (1) comprises two diametrically opposed blades (3). According to the invention, the blades (3) comprise a main motorized propeller (5) at their free ends, such as at the leading edge of each blade (3). The main motorized propeller (5) may be used to push the blades (3) to rotate, which will generate lift of the aircraft (1).

As mentioned above, the main moving propeller (5) may generate additional vortices substantially coaxial with the marginal vortices (4) to act on the strength of the marginal vortices (4).

In the same way, the main moving propeller (5) of the blade (3) rotates in the opposite direction to the marginal vortex (4), reducing the effect of the marginal vortex (4), thus increasing the lift on the blade (3) and reducing the drag it causes. In case the blades (3) are driven by a main moving propeller (5) located at the free end of the blades (3), in order to increase the lift, we should rotate the main moving propeller (5) of one of the blades (3) faster than the other blades, and conversely slow down the speed of the main moving propeller (5) on the other blades.

Thus, with reference to fig. 1, if, at a given instantaneous position of the blade (3), the lift increases at the position of the free end of the first blade (3), the torque generated tends to tilt the aircraft (1) in the direction of the opposite second blade (3). After half a revolution of the engine, the blades (3) are in the opposite state, so it is necessary to reduce or stop the engine power of the main motorized propeller (5). In this way, in order to produce the tilting motion, the main dynamic propeller (5) of one of the blades (3) is rotated in an alternating and cyclic manner, which may be advantageously sinusoidal according to the law of periodicity.

It will be understood that if the blades (3) are driven in rotation by a motorized rotor, the main motorized propellers (5) arranged at the free ends of the blades (3) are activated and rotated alternately to manoeuvre the aircraft (1). In the case of an aircraft without the use of a motorized rotor and with the blades (3) driven in rotation by the main motorized propeller (5), the method of maneuvering the aircraft (1) comprises: the speed of the main motor propeller (5) alternately rotating the blades (3) is made faster than the speed of the other diametrically opposite blade (3), thus creating a lift difference. The following description is about a final embodiment of the method, in which the blades (3) are driven in rotation by a main motorized propeller (5).

From the above, it can be seen that during the steering of the rotary wing aircraft (1), the main propellers (5) at the ends of the blades (3) rotate alternately at a faster rate than the main propellers (5) of the opposite blades (3) due to the variation of thrust generated by the main propellers during the rotation cycle of the rotor, and thus generate vibrations. These vibrations will become more important and therefore the asymmetry of the main dynamic propeller (5) will become important, because the rotational speed of the main dynamic propeller (5) at the end of the blade (3) differs from the main dynamic propeller (5) at the end of the opposite blade (3).

In order to overcome this vibration drawback, a secondary motor propeller (6) is used. According to the invention, with reference to fig. 2, the method comprises: a main moving propeller (5) rotating the free end of the first blade (3) in a direction opposite to the marginal vortex at a faster speed than the second opposite blade (3); and periodically rotating the secondary propeller (6) at the free end of the same side blade (3) in the opposite direction and with the same power as the primary propeller (5), the rotation being in phase opposition to the primary propeller (5) of the first blade (3), to mitigate potential vibrations caused by the periodic motion.

Furthermore, the auxiliary motor-driven propeller (6) can perfectly control the periodic variation of the lift of the blades (3) and the air resistance generated by the relative wind.

For example, fig. 3 shows the main motorized propeller (5) at the end of the blades (3) of the aircraft (1) when stationary, i.e. the speed of the main motorized propeller (5) is constant regardless of the instantaneous position of the rotor. However, in the presence of incident wind blowing in from the front to the rear of the aircraft (1), a greater lift force will be generated on the blades (3), which lift force advances into the wind while the blades (3) are rotating. Thus, the aircraft (1) is not controlled by itself, leans to the left and generates a rolling motion.

Referring to fig. 4, to compensate for this involuntary roll motion, the main moving propeller (5) on the roll side is driven to rotate in the opposite direction to the marginal vortex (4) and faster than the main moving propeller (5) of the opposite side blade (3) to increase lift and counteract the asymmetry of the lift created by the incident wind.

Fig. 5 shows an aircraft (1) having at the free end of the blades (3) a main mobile propeller (5) rotating in the opposite direction to the marginal vortex (4) and an auxiliary mobile propeller rotating in the same direction as the marginal vortex (4) and opposite to the main mobile propeller (5).

According to fig. 5, the aircraft (1) perceives the relative wind, either because of the presence of real wind or because, when the aircraft (1) moves forward, the blades (3) will generate a greater drag during the advance, opposite to the diametrically opposed blades (3).

Thus, referring to fig. 6, the method may counteract the asymmetric drag. To this end, the method comprises: the main moving propeller (5) of the first blade (3) is made to rotate faster than the main moving propeller (5) of the opposite second blade (3), and the auxiliary moving propeller (6) of the first blade (3) is made to rotate in the opposite direction to the main moving propeller (5) making it to do a cyclic motion and in phase with the main moving propeller (5) of the first blade (3) to counteract the effect of the main moving propeller (5) and to act on the power of the auxiliary moving propeller (6) to compensate for the asymmetry of the drag. In other words, the power of the auxiliary motor propeller (6) must be such that the absolute value of the thrust generated by the auxiliary motor propeller (6) of the first blade (3) is equal to the force difference between the T2 resistance of the first blade (3) and the T1 resistance of the second, diametrically opposite blade (3).

In practice, to carry out the method of the invention, whether it be a rotary wing or a fixed wing, the aircraft (1) comprises a main dynamic propeller (5) located at the free end of the wing (2) or blade (3), the main dynamic propeller axis being substantially parallel to the plane of the wing (2) or blade (3) and substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the wing (2) or blade (3). For controlling the propellers, the aircraft (1) comprises at least one power circuit board connected to the motorised means of the propellers (5, 6) and controlled by an embedded computing device such as a microcontroller. The power circuit board allows the rotational speed of each motorized device to be modified.

Preferably, and as mentioned above, the aircraft (1) comprises an auxiliary motorized propeller (6) counter-rotating to the main motorized propeller (5) and connected to the power circuit board. These counter-rotating auxiliary propellers (6) are located at the end of the wing (2) or blade (3), for example arranged opposite and below the main propeller (5). When the aircraft (1) comprises the secondary mobile propeller (6), the primary mobile propeller (5) is designed to rotate in the opposite direction to the marginal vortex (4).

When at least one blade (3) of a rotary wing of the aircraft (1) is mounted on the rotor (7), the aircraft (1) also comprises a rotor (7) position sensor connected to the power circuit board of the aircraft in order to send speed variation commands to the engine at appropriate times according to the position of the blade (3).

The position sensor may be of any suitable type, for example an encoding wheel used in conjunction with one or more gyroscopes, or a hall effect sensor, or even a magnetic compass.

The energy transfer between the rotor (7) and the fixed part, called stator, can be done by e.g. additional slip rings or even by magnetic induction. A separate battery system can also be mounted on the rotor (7).

The transmission of the speed command to the motor can be done by known techniques, such as using a rotating collector with more channels, or by optical data transmission, or radio transmission with "bluetooth", or even wired communication controlled by an embedded computing device on the blade. Thus, in the latter configuration, a fixed stator is not required.

In the preferred embodiment shown in fig. 9 and 10, the aircraft is a drone equipped with three blades (3) offset from each other by 120 ° around a central hub (8) under which a useful gimbal can be placed. This particular embodiment with three blades (3) improves the stability of the drone by significantly reducing the reaction capacity required by the motorized propellers at the blade tips. With reference to fig. 9, the drone comprises a main mobile propeller (5) located at the free end of the blades (3), and with reference to fig. 10, the drone comprises an auxiliary mobile propeller (6) counter-rotating to the main mobile propeller (5).

In summary, the present invention provides a method for controlling the direction of an aircraft (1), and an aircraft (1) suitable for implementing the method, which is simple, economical, effective, reliable and allows a considerable weight reduction compared to steering systems of the prior art.