27 patents
Utility
Systems and methods for simulating an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft
12 Dec 23
Nathan Thomas Depenbusch, Jeffery Scott Greenwood
Filed: 30 May 23
Utility
Systems and Methods for Power Distribution In Electric Aircraft
30 Nov 23
A electric aircraft power distribution system includes a first battery pack connected to at least a first load and to a common bus that connects the first battery pack in parallel to at least a second battery pack; a first electrical component electrically connected between the first battery pack and the first load and configured to disconnect the first load from the first battery pack in response to current above a first threshold current, wherein the first electrical component has a first disconnection time at the first threshold current; and a second electrical component electrically connected between the first battery pack and the common bus and configured to disconnect the first battery pack from the common bus in response to current above a second threshold current, wherein the second electrical component has a second disconnection time at the second threshold current that is higher than the first disconnection time.
John MELACK
Filed: 21 Jul 23
Utility
Systems and methods for retracting lift propeller in eVTOL aircraft
28 Nov 23
A VTOL aircraft includes a lift propeller configured to provide lift during takeoff, landing and hover operations.
Kerry Manning, Nathan Storrs, Scott Graves
Filed: 26 May 23
Utility
Systems and Methods for Controlling Rotor Tilt for a Vertical Take-off and Landing Aircraft
23 Nov 23
A rotor mounting assembly for a vertical take-off and landing aircraft includes a boom configured for mounting to a wing of the aircraft; a mount for mounting a rotor assembly, the mount connected to the boom at a joint and tiltable about the joint from a forward thrust orientation in which the rotor assembly can provide forward thrust for forward flight to a vertical thrust orientation in which the rotor assembly can provide vertical thrust for vertical take-off and landing and hover; a multi-link assembly extending from the boom to the mount; and a rotary actuator for actuating the multi-link assembly to control tilting of the mount.
Pieter DEPAPE, Geoffrey C. BOWER
Filed: 26 May 23
Utility
Tilt rotor systems and methods for eVTOL aircraft
21 Nov 23
A system includes a first frame for mounting to the aircraft; a second frame for mounting the proprotor, the second frame being rotatably mounted to the first frame; a first gear located along the rotation axis of the second frame and fixed in position relative to the first frame; a pinion that moves with the second frame and engages the first gear such that the pinion revolves around the first gear, causing the pinion to rotate; a cam that is fixedly connected to the pinion such that the cam rotates with the pinion; and a control rod operatively coupled at a first end with the cam such that rotation of the cam can cause translation of the control rod, wherein the control rod can be coupled at a second end to the blades of the proprotor such that translation of the control rod alters the pitch of the blades.
Jonathan Anthony Beno, Guy Bernard, Benjamin Scott Dyer, Nathan Daniel Storrs
Filed: 18 Jan 23
Utility
Systems and methods for, and components of, gearboxes for eVTOL aircraft
21 Nov 23
An electric propulsion system for a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, the electric propulsion system including an electrical motor having a stator and a rotor.
Scott Graves
Filed: 11 Apr 23
Utility
Vertical takeoff and landing aircraft electric engine configuration
17 Oct 23
An electric propulsion system for a vertical takeoff-and-landing aircraft having an inverter assembly, a gearbox assembly, an electric motor assembly.
Scott Graves, Alan D. Tepe, Robert Wayne Moore
Filed: 28 Dec 22
Utility
Systems and methods for power distribution in electric aircraft
5 Sep 23
A electric aircraft power distribution system includes a first battery pack connected to at least a first load and to a common bus that connects the first battery pack in parallel to at least a second battery pack; a first electrical component electrically connected between the first battery pack and the first load and configured to disconnect the first load from the first battery pack in response to current above a first threshold current, wherein the first electrical component has a first disconnection time at the first threshold current; and a second electrical component electrically connected between the first battery pack and the common bus and configured to disconnect the first battery pack from the common bus in response to current above a second threshold current, wherein the second electrical component has a second disconnection time at the second threshold current that is higher than the first disconnection time.
John Melack
Filed: 4 Oct 22
Utility
Systems and methods for redundant control of active fuses for battery pack safety
25 Jul 23
In one embodiment, an apparatus for redundant control of active fuses for battery pack safety is provided, comprising a battery; an electrical load coupled to the battery via a fuse capable of being activated by an electrical signal; a sensor configured to sense a short circuit condition at the electrical load and output an analog sensor signal; an analog-to-digital converter configured to sample the analog sensor signal and output a digital sensor signal; a microcontroller configured to detect the short circuit condition at the electrical load based on the digital sensor signal, and, during normal operation, to output a first electrical signal to activate the fuse after detecting the short circuit condition at the electrical load; and an analog circuit configured to operate independently of the microcontroller to receive the analog sensor signal and output a second electrical signal to activate the fuse after receiving the analog sensor signal.
Anvin Joe Manadan, Rohan Gupta, Ross Johnstal
Filed: 29 Dec 22
Utility
Systems and methods for controlling an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft
18 Jul 23
Disclosed are systems and methods for controlling an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
Nathan Thomas Depenbusch, Jeffery Scott Greenwood
Filed: 28 Dec 22
Utility
Systems and methods for controlling rotor tilt for a vertical take-off and landing aircraft
4 Jul 23
A rotor mounting assembly for a vertical take-off and landing aircraft includes a boom configured for mounting to a wing of the aircraft; a mount for mounting a rotor assembly, the mount connected to the boom at a joint and tiltable about the joint from a forward thrust orientation in which the rotor assembly can provide forward thrust for forward flight to a vertical thrust orientation in which the rotor assembly can provide vertical thrust for vertical take-off and landing and hover; a multi-link assembly extending from the boom to the mount; and a rotary actuator for actuating the multi-link assembly to control tilting of the mount.
Pieter Depape, Geoffrey C. Bower
Filed: 9 Jun 21
Utility
Systems and methods for power distribution in electric aircraft
30 May 23
An electric aircraft includes rotors for providing lift for vertical take-off and landing of the aircraft, proprotors that are tiltable between lift configurations for providing lift for vertical take-off and landing of the aircraft and propulsion configurations for providing forward thrust to the aircraft, a first battery pack for powering a first rotor and a first proprotor, a second battery pack for powering a second rotor and a second proprotor, a first electric power bus electrically connecting the first battery pack to the first rotor and proprotor, and a second electric power bus electrically connecting the second battery pack to the second rotor and proprotor, wherein the second electric power bus is electrically isolated from the first electric power bus.
Geoffrey C. Bower, Benjamin M. Greek, Nathan T. Depenbusch, John Melack
Filed: 8 Jul 20
Utility
Vertical Take-off and Landing Aircraft
6 Apr 23
A vertical take-off and landing aircraft includes a fuselage, at least one wing connected to the fuselage, a plurality of rotors connected to the at least one wing for providing lift for vertical take-off and landing of the aircraft and a plurality of proprotors connected to the at least one wing and tiltable between lift configurations for providing lift for vertical take-off and landing of the aircraft and propulsion configurations for providing forward thrust to the aircraft.
Geoffrey C. BOWER, Thomas P. MUNIZ, Brett ADCOCK, Adam GOLDSTEIN, Calder Richmond HUGHES, Zachary Robert Timm HAZEN
Filed: 28 Sep 22
Utility
Systems and methods for managing a network of electric aircraft batteries
4 Apr 23
A method for assigning swappable battery packs to electric aircraft includes receiving, at a computing system, status information for a plurality of battery packs located at at least one battery swapping location, wherein the status information comprises states of charge and states of health for the plurality of battery packs; determining, by the computing system, energy requirements for a plurality of electric aircraft based at least in part on flight plans for the plurality of electric aircraft; determining, by the computing system, assignments of at least a portion of the plurality of battery packs to the plurality of electric aircraft based at least in part on the states of charge and states of health of the plurality of battery packs and the energy requirements for the plurality of aircraft; and swapping at least one battery pack into at least one aircraft based on the determined assignments.
Geoffrey C. Bower
Filed: 16 Feb 21
Utility
Systems and methods for lifter motor cooling in eVTOL aircraft
28 Mar 23
A VTOL aircraft includes a plurality of lift propellers configured to rotated by lift motors to provide vertical thrust during takeoff, landing and hovering operations.
Karthik Kumar Bodla, Bharat Tulsyan, Christopher M. Heath, Kerry Manning, Alan D. Tepe
Filed: 14 Nov 22
Utility
Electric Vehicle Port
16 Feb 23
A port for electric vehicles includes an off-loading zone for off-loading one or more passengers from an electric vehicle; a loading zone for loading one or more passengers onto the electric vehicle; and a charging zone for charging the electric vehicle while the electric vehicle is moving from the off-loading zone to the loading zone.
Young-Joon SUH, Erik SAETRE, Julien THIEBAUD, Nicolas ROUSSEAU, Julien MONTOUSSE, Niki James SMART
Filed: 10 Aug 22
Utility
Systems and Methods for Controlling Rotor Tilt for a Vertical Take-off and Landing Aircraft
15 Dec 22
A rotor mounting assembly for a vertical take-off and landing aircraft includes a boom configured for mounting to a wing of the aircraft; a mount for mounting a rotor assembly, the mount connected to the boom at a joint and tiltable about the joint from a forward thrust orientation in which the rotor assembly can provide forward thrust for forward flight to a vertical thrust orientation in which the rotor assembly can provide vertical thrust for vertical take-off and landing and hover; a multi-link assembly extending from the boom to the mount; and a rotary actuator for actuating the multi-link assembly to control tilting of the mount.
Pieter DEPAPE, Geoffrey C. BOWER
Filed: 9 Jun 21
Utility
Flying Wing Vertical Take-off and Landing Aircraft
8 Dec 22
A passenger vertical take-off and landing aircraft includes a flying wing comprising a passenger compartment, a first set of rotors positioned at least partially forward of a leading edge of the flying wing, and a second set of rotors positioned at least partially rearward of a trailing edge of the flying wing.
Geoffrey C. BOWER
Filed: 7 Jun 21
Utility
Systems and methods for power distribution in electric aircraft
11 Oct 22
A power distribution system for an electric aircraft includes a first electric propulsion unit comprising at least two power stages; a first battery pack electrically connected to a first power stage of the at least two power stages; a second battery pack electrically connected to a second power stage of the at least two power stages; and a control system configured to control the first battery pack, the second battery pack, the first power stage, and the second power stage to transfer power from the first battery pack to the second battery pack through the first power stage and the second power stage.
Diederik Marius
Filed: 22 Jan 21
Utility
Systems and methods for power distribution in electric aircraft
11 Oct 22
A electric aircraft power distribution system includes a first battery pack connected to at least a first load and to a common bus that connects the first battery pack in parallel to at least a second battery pack; a first electrical component electrically connected between the first battery pack and the first load and configured to disconnect the first load from the first battery pack in response to current above a first threshold current, wherein the first electrical component has a first disconnection time at the first threshold current; and a second electrical component electrically connected between the first battery pack and the common bus and configured to disconnect the first battery pack from the common bus in response to current above a second threshold current, wherein the second electrical component has a second disconnection time at the second threshold current that is higher than the first disconnection time.
John Melack
Filed: 8 Dec 20