New a/c design > fan wing

[MiloMorai]

[Finkeren]

Aside from it looking like a flying lawnmower, I think it's very clever. It's kind of half way between a fixed wing aircraft and a helicopter. The thrust is provided by a rotating wing, like on a heli, but it flies more like a fixed wing AC.

 

I wonder how it performs in a power-off glide?

[Bando]

Very interesting. Thanks.

[unreasonable]

That is odd: thanks for posting.   I wonder what would happen if the rotating thingies were installed underneath the conventional wing rather than above. The normal principle being that you put your stuff under the wing rather than on top so as not to interfere with the circulation that produces the lift. It looks as though the lawnmower is providing lift as well as thrust.

 

Now we are going to have police lawnmower drones chasing us down the street waiting for us to drop litter.... just what we need.

[Finkeren]

That is odd: thanks for posting. I wonder what would happen if the rotating thingies were installed underneath the conventional wing rather than above. The normal principle being that you put your stuff under the wing rather than on top so as not to interfere with the circulation that produces the lift. It looks as though the lawnmower is providing lift as well as thrust.

 

Now we are going to have police lawnmower drones chasing us down the street waiting for us to drop litter.... just what we need.

Yes, the rotating part provides lift and thrust. I think the clue here is that the lower front half of the rotor is shielded off thus making sure that the thrust is applied in one direction.

[unreasonable]

Yes, the rotating part provides lift and thrust. I think the clue here is that the lower front half of the rotor is shielded off thus making sure that the thrust is applied in one direction.

 

Seems reasonable. So if you put them under the wing - and reversed their rotation, they would create low pressure under the aircraft, sucking it into the ground. Maybe he should be talking to the F1 car makers?

[Willy__]

 

 

Maybe he should be talking to the F1 car makers?

 

They already done it. And FiA already banned it, all in a few decades ago:

 

 

 

[VBF-12_Stick-95]

Great post.  Thanks for sharing.

The pics above reminded me of something that happened when I was a kid.  In the 1960s there was an AF base near me.  A guy had taken an engine from a 4 engine refueling plane (KC-97 I think) and placed it as a pusher prop in a car.  One day I was crossing an overpass and heard this very loud sound coming down the road.  This thing roared right under me on the way to the base.  Simply amazing to watch.  Needless to say the police took it off the road pretty quick.

[Heliopause]

Fan wing designs go back to the 1920's. Not a new idea at all.

[unreasonable]

Fan wing designs go back to the 1920's. Not a new idea at all.

 

Interesting - do you have a link or something with some examples? I do not remember coming across something like this before.

[Finkeren]

Interesting - do you have a link or something with some examples? I do not remember coming across something like this before.

The Wikipedia page (yeah Wikipedia, I know) insists, that it's a 90s invention - that's 1990s. So not that old.

[Heliopause]

Not easy to find ....

Austrian Karl Gligorin kept himself busy with the idea (windtunnel testing)

Dutchman E.B. Wolff (wingtest 3000rpm/min)

Frenchman A. Favre (bigger permisable flapextension)

Peruan A. Alvarez-Calderon (flights with modified Rockwell You-10A Bronco)

 

 

https://www.google.com/patents/US2569983

https://patents.google.com/patent/US3289979A/en

[unreasonable]

Thanks for links - but having looked at them, I am not sure if they are completely the same, but I would need an engineer to confirm that.

 

The linked patents use rollers or fans to help the airflow across a conventional wing stick to the surface - ie prevent separation, hence improving lift. 

 

The fan wing accelerates the airflow to create additional lift and also the vortex inside the fan is claimed to create lift directly. The website says:

 

 A cross-flow fan near the leading edge of the wing transfers the work of the engine to the air along the entire wingspan. The resulting increased lift from the trapped vortex and the rearward acceleration of a large volume of air offers very short take-off-and-landing with quiet and efficient short-haul heavy lift capability. 

 

Not sure if this was claimed or is true of the two patents you linked: is it really the same principle?

[Sokol1]

This seems like KFm (Kline-Fogleman) airfoil, fantastic in paper planes, very good in RC aircraft - specially in foam flight wings, but not very practical in full size aircraft.

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kline%E2%80%93Fogleman_airfoil

[Heliopause]

A link to an 1933 article. See page 301 and 302.

 

https://books.google.de/books?id=dauEiBtVF0AC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Aeroplane+january+1950+Magnus+Wing&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiZoJuO8YrQAhWCCCwKHaBHD_QQ6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

[Bearfoot]

Nice! But, yep, not so much a new concept, as much as a new implementation. 

 

The term that I am used to using for this concept is "cyclocopter", though Wikipedia seems to prefer "cyclogyro":  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclogyro.

 

Many examples abound if you search for it using these terms. 

[unreasonable]

Interesting contraptions! I can see that there is some relationship - but is the fan-wing relying on the Magnus effect or a paddle wheel wing? Is it a combination of both?

 

Need to try to get the developers to model it as an Easter Egg.

[Heliopause]

Check this contraption! (page 529)

 

https://books.google.nl/books?id=g_EDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=nl&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false