Patent Portfolio and Publications
1) Publications
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Papers on Burgeoning Aircraft Industry:*
PDFs available, click on link at right. See the other >125 refereed papers of Professor Suppes and documentation of citations at https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GmBeY9gAAAAJ&hl=en . *Submitted papers are published here until other archived publication is accepted and in place. Strategic advances are filed as patent applications with a patent pending status prior to posting on this site. "In Press" applies to the papers being published by the USPTO as provisional applications which are available after the provisional applications are converted to non-provisional applications. |
2) Patent Portfolio: 4 years & expanding
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(Patents/Applications)
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6. 2023 Provisional Applications.
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Patent Portfolio (does not include provisional applications):
#1 US 10,589,838 Multicopter with Passively-Adjusting Tiltwing. Filed 10-Sep-2019. Issued 17-Mar-2020.
#2 US 11,186,367 Multicopter with Improved Propulsor and Failsafe Operation. Filed 06-Feb-2020. Issued 30-Nov-2021.
#3 PCT/US20/36936 Multicopter with Improved Propulsor and Failsafe. Filed 10-Jun-2020.
#4 PCT/US21/16392 Flat Plate Airfoil Platform Vehicle. Filed 03-Feb-2021. - see Article 34 Claims (above) identified as patentable.
#5 PCT/US22/14884 (addition of electric motor and new hybrid electric-fuel jet technology).
#6 2023 Prov. Appl. 3/12/2023, 5/14/2023, 6/25/2023, 8/1/2023, 8/16/23, 8/30/23, 9/29,23, 11/3/23, 12/3/23, 12/29/23.
See Prototypes for proofs of concepts, HS-Drone, and Summary for further more details on Transformer and SP- Drones.
#1 US 10,589,838 Multicopter with Passively-Adjusting Tiltwing. Filed 10-Sep-2019. Issued 17-Mar-2020.
#2 US 11,186,367 Multicopter with Improved Propulsor and Failsafe Operation. Filed 06-Feb-2020. Issued 30-Nov-2021.
#3 PCT/US20/36936 Multicopter with Improved Propulsor and Failsafe. Filed 10-Jun-2020.
#4 PCT/US21/16392 Flat Plate Airfoil Platform Vehicle. Filed 03-Feb-2021. - see Article 34 Claims (above) identified as patentable.
#5 PCT/US22/14884 (addition of electric motor and new hybrid electric-fuel jet technology).
#6 2023 Prov. Appl. 3/12/2023, 5/14/2023, 6/25/2023, 8/1/2023, 8/16/23, 8/30/23, 9/29,23, 11/3/23, 12/3/23, 12/29/23.
See Prototypes for proofs of concepts, HS-Drone, and Summary for further more details on Transformer and SP- Drones.
Path of Innovation
These patents are more than technologies, they are a new path and evolution in aerial platforms and related technologies. The following are the topics of independent claims (including the currently pending European patent application):
- A tiltwing that longitudinally aligns with a flat fuselage surface for form a flat, long, lifting body.
- A mostly thin/long platform fuselage being towed through a front hinge joint.
- An aircraft with a forward-extending arm attached to a front tiltwing(s).
- A failsafe landing method where a front tiltwing (alone) can achieve an emergency vertical landing.
- Novel distributed propulsion toward high L/D low AR airframes.
- Bridging technologies that merge economic sectors and sub-sectors (e.g., Bernoulli Loops )
Towed Platform of Unlimited Upside Potential - HS-Drone's Towed Platforms deliver to the lead aircraft/tiltwing >4X more power than is needed to sustain their 24/7 flight. This translates to an essentially unlimited amount of energy to SP-Drone aircraft. And that energy is solar energy at less than 20% of the cost of solar energy on Earth's surface due to higher solar panel productivity in the stratosphere and the ultra-low cost of towed solar platforms. Here is the basis for these estimates.
Attainable power generation from a Towed Platform is 300-600 W/kg; which is a range between photovoltaic cells supported on a standard honeycomb array (150 W/kg) and the thin film photocell array (>1000 W/kg) (see Sprectrolab Inc.). The required thrust power (per kg) is acceleration (9.8 m/s2) times velocity (m/s) divided by L:D. At an L:D of 50:1 (i.e. half of 100:1 goal) and speeds of 360 and 720 km/h; the thrust power requirements are 20 and 40 W/kg; the provided power is >10X that needed (>4X is a toned-down factor and accounts for night time) to tow the platform. Since both weight and lift are evenly distributed, little structure is needed for flight; a structured shuttle aircraft can be used to take the platform to flight/altitude.
Opportunity - Most new aircraft are incremental changes to concepts known for decades, including the V-22 Osprey (bicopter) tiltrotor and the B-2 flying wing. Also, it takes too long and costs too much to commercialize these incremental changes.
The Disruption - Two patented/patent-pending advances are creating INCREDIBLE capabilities.
1) Transformer Drone performs safer and simpler transitions to more-efficient cruising configurations. For example, the V-22 targets transformation to a twin-prop plane while Transformer Drone targets transformation to aircraft like the D8 Double Bubble, having a > 100% increase in cruising energy efficiency with higher speeds. Correction, a >200% increase in cruising energy efficiency, because drones can have thinner profiles that do not require pressurized cabins.
2) SP-Drone is a lighter-weight, lower-drag, and and easily expandable method to collect solar energy on an aircraft. The solar energy collected per weight for SP-Drone's solar platforms is literally >300% more than possible with the increased wingspan approaches of NASA's HELIOS (and other) solar aircraft. Implications extend to dominance of freight and passenger transit as well as new stratosphere-based manufacturing.
Unprecedented - This project brings forth at least two (not one) disruptive technologies which are inter-related in two dimensions of innovation (transformations vs solar power enhancement). And those innovations are early in the patent protections, with 19 years of world-wide patent protection in the balance. These scalable innovations can be commercialized faster and better than ever before by early emphasis on kit/hobby/toy scale drone markets.