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VTOL Configuration Paper
VTOL Configuration Paper
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Table 1. Example Aircraft For manned aircraft, the Lift + Cruise approach was used
Multicopter + Conventional Airframe successfully for the supersonic French Mirage III V.
ALTI Transition (UAV)
However, the eight lift engines imposed a severe range and
Arcturus Jump 20 (UAV)
GerMap G170-V Quadplane (UAV) payload penalty on the aircraft and it was never able to take
Latitude HQ-Series (UAV) off vertically and successfully attain supersonic flight
SkyPro M6 VTOL QuadPlane (UAV) during the same flight. (This feat was only accomplished by
the X-35B in 2001 [14].)
4.1.2 Jets + Conventional Airframe
At least for small UAV applications, the modular ‘add- Table 2. Example Aircraft - Jets + Conventional Airframe
on’ setup can be applied as well. The small form factor of Dassault Mirgae III-V
turbojets with radial compressors may allow the vertical Short SC-1
installation of such small jet engines. This uses very little
internal space, but requires careful inlet design. Since small 4.2 Lift = Cruise
jets for UAV applications usually do not allow the offtake All concepts are discussed under the premise that the
of bleed-air for a reaction control system it can be necessary propulsion system is sized by hover requirements and also
to establish control authority by placing ducted electric fans used for cruise flight.
in suitable locations. If the VTOL capability is unnecessary
for a certain mission, the jet engines might be removed and 4.2.1 Tiltrotor
replaced with fuel tanks for extended range and endurance. A tiltrotor (and for the sake of simplicity this title shall
Specialized jet engines for hover can be used to improve also cover tilt-nacelle and tilt-duct concepts) uses the same
performance for a jet Lift + Cruise aircraft. For jet engines, motors for both vertical and horizontal flight. It can rotate
the average T/W ratio is about 6-8, depending on their size. its propellers, rotors, ducts or nacelles in such a way, that
If the multitude of operation points necessary for “regular” the thrust vector can support the aircraft’s weight in vertical
jet engines can be reduced to only vertical take-off and flight, and provides forward thrust during level flight. In
landing conditions, it is possible to develop lightweight some cases, the entire nacelle with the engine is tilted, while
engines of higher thrust. For example, the Russian designed other tiltrotors use drive shafts and gearboxes to transfer
Kolesov RD-38 (first run 1964 as RD-36) lift jet used by power to swiveling rotors. A mechanism that synchronizes
the Yakovlev Yak-38 (Lift + Lift/Cruise design, see section the movement is necessary to avoid loss of control. The
4.3.3) and Rolls-Royce’s designated VTOL engine RB162 wings and fuselage stays level during the transition
(first run 1962) both achieve a T/W of about 18. Kohlman maneuver. This allows any attitude sensitive payload (e.g.
estimates that a T/W of up to 25 is possible for future lift optical sensors or humans) to operate in all parts of the
jets employing modern technology [13]. This will flight regime.
necessitate the employment of composites in the
compressor section and the casing, as well as accepting a
marked deterioration of time between overhaul compared to
conventionally designed jet engines.
Fig. 7. Tiltrotor
Because wings placed below the rotors’ impinging wake
produce a download reducing the net lift (see also section 3,
Fig. 6. Jet L+C Eq. (4)), the rotors are usually positioned at the wing tips,
to minimize exposure. The wings can be small and sized to
If hover engines are positioned about the center of gravity
cruise requirements, because low speed flight is achieved in
like in Fig. 6, they can increase the required fuselage
the hovering configuration. To reduce the download to a
volume in this area significantly. This can lead to a severe
minimum, tiltrotors are usually equipped with full span
increase in wave drag.
flaps, which will deflect to a 90° down position during
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hover. This way, the flapped wing area is not producing any Compared to other concepts, a disadvantage of the
vertical drag. tiltrotor is the need to mount (at least) two large rotors side-
Conventional take-off is usually impossible for propeller by-side at the tips of the wings. This dictates a minimum
driven aircraft, because the size of the rotors prevents a wingspan and gives a larger footprint, especially when
forward tilt on the ground. This, just like the hover compared to helicopters.
download, can be avoided if a jet propulsion system is Because tiltrotor aircraft usually use the same propulsion
used– at the expense of reduced hover efficiency. system for hover and cruise, the engines are oversized for
Ducted fans can be an interesting alternative to the pure cruise and loiter conditions, leading to an increase in fuel
rotor, as a duct can increase propeller thrust and can provide consumption.
additional lift during forward flight. However, these
benefits can be offset by the additional weight and friction 4.2.2 Tiltwing
drag. A tiltwing aircraft is quite similar to the tiltrotor, as it is
Compared to a Lift + Cruise configuration, tiltrotors offer able to rotate the thrust vector of its main engines. However,
the benefit of reduced weight and improved aerodynamic not only the nacelle and rotor are swiveled, but the entire
efficiency, because a combined propulsion system can be aircraft’s wing, with the engines fixed relative to the chord.
packed tighter. However, during transition the control loops This has some advantages: A single rotation mechanism is
are coupled, increasing complexity, and powerful actuators are simpler, therefore more reliable and should be lighter [10].
necessary to overcome the gyroscopic moments of the large, There is also little blockage effect from the wing.
fast-spinning rotors. However, during transition from hover to forward flight,
Tiltrotors usually use wing-mounted propellers. When a the wing reaches very high angles of attack and will stall
tandem-wing or lifting-canard layout is used, this allows [15]. This can be controlled by submerging the entire wing
multicopter-like control in hover – provided the T/W is in propwash and running the engine at a high power setting.
high-, and the vehicle’s inertia is low enough. This is acceptable for take-off, but during approach, with
the intention to slow down, this is undesirable. Additionally,
the tilted wing offers its entire surface to the wind, causing
degraded controllability during hover in gusting conditions.
As explained for the tiltrotor, if at least four rotors are
used, control in hover might be accomplished similar to a
multicopter. However, most of the time, the wings’ control
surfaces are submerged in the propwash and thus can exert
control forces.
Fig. 8. Tandem-wing tiltrotor/tiltduct For propellers without swashplate actuation an additional
method to control the pitching motion during hover is
Table 3. Example Aircraft - Tilt Configurations required. This can be either a reaction control system or an
Tilt Rotor additional rotor, typically mounted in the tail, as shown on
AgustaWestland AW609 the LTV XC-142.
Bell XV-15
To cover the complete span with propwash, multiple
Bell XV-3
Bell-Boeing V22 Osprey smaller propellers can be used instead of few large rotors as
Bell Eagle Eye (UAV) for tiltrotors. This allows conventional take-off and landing
KATI Smart (UAV) operations are possible due to the reduced propeller
Tilt Prop diameter.
Curtiss Wright X-19
Curtiss-Wright X-100
Tilt Duct/Nacelle
Bell 65 ATV
Bell X-22
Doak 16 VZ-4
Nord 500 Cadet
American Dynamics AD-150 (UAV) Fig. 9. Distributed propulsion tiltwing (with tilting
horizontal stabilizer)
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A hybrid between the tiltrotor and tiltwing is possible. Flow deflection and thrust vectoring are related.
Tilting nacelles are attached to a fixed central wing. An Typically, thrust vectoring happens directly at the engines
outboard wing can be attached to the nacelle and tilt with it. exhaust nozzle, while a flow diversion involves a movable
This design combines the structural benefits of the fixed blocker device that redirects the flow through ducting to a
central wing, where the largest forces and moments are different outlet. It is therefore applicable to aircraft
introduced in the fuselage, with the aerodynamic advantage propelled by ducted fans or jets.
of the reduced hover download of the tiltwing configuration. The Hawker Harrier’s Pegasus turbofan engine allows the
This way, a higher aspect ratio wing can be used, with the vectoring of fan- and core-airflow through swiveling
corresponding induced drag benefit. It must be said, nozzles. However, this causes the hot air to be ejected along
however, that the lift distribution will be far from the ideal the fuselage, where the Coandă effect, keeps it attached.
ellipse, due to the negative impact of the nacelle. This causes thermal fatigue, which is aggravated by
As described in [18], such a wing can be easily attached acoustic loads. Additionally, it requires the engine to be
or disassembled from the nacelle, allowing to optimize the positioned very far forward, leading to a poor volume
airframe depending on different mission requirements. distribution for transonic flight [8]. These issues can be
mitigated, if the concept is applied to multi-engine aircraft,
where the engines are placed in pods on the wings [20].
Then, a much simpler integration is possible because the
aircraft’s tail is not in the way of the exhaust gases.
Depending on the design philosophy, this layout also lends Thrust” (RIVET) configuration is a very interesting ‘twist’
itself to box-wing configurations. on this problem. To quote from the patent: “The main
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propulsion engine which will provide both vertical and pitching the entire aircraft.
horizontal propulsion forces is mounted in the airframe in a If propeller propulsion is used, either large flaps (which
reversed position aft of the center of gravity, with the can degrade performance) must be placed in the slipstream
engine front face facing to the rear and the exhaust nozzle to control propeller torque, or a coaxial rotor system must
assembly located at the center of gravity. The nozzle be used. The motor and rotor/propeller design requires
assembly is comprised of a pair of exhaust nozzles, one many compromises, because they cannot be optimized for
mounted on each side of the airframe, in the form of 90 either vertical or horizontal flight. Therefore, propeller
degree "elbows", which can be rotated from a vertically efficiency is degraded, especially for fixed pitch propellers.
downward facing position to a horizontally rearward facing An interesting concept is the combination of a tail-sitting
direction.” [21] flying wing and the quad-/octocopter layout (see sections
4.3.2 and 5.5). The propulsion system doubles as a
relatively wide landing gear in this arrangement and thus
the aircraft is less prone to topple over in high winds.
Jet propulsion can also be used for tail-sitters.
Afterburners are not used at take-off and landing for such a
concept since the re-heated exhaust gases will melt any
landing pad. Because of the cooler exhaust stream and
larger static thrust, high- or ultra-high-bypass turbofans are
Fig. 13. . RIVET Concept [22] superior to low-bypass- or turbojet-engines for VTOL
This concept allows significant weight savings over a performance. Unfortunately, this will restrict such aircraft
conventional engine installation, and allows the installation to subsonic speeds and shows how difficult it is to combine
of any standard turbofan engine. An afterburner can be supersonic flight and VTOL requirements.
integrated in the rotating nozzle, but it must not be used in If a jet engine is used, it must not touch the ground during
hover, since the ground erosion is excessive. The weight take-off or landing, since this will choke the engine. The
savings, coupled with the corresponding sizing benefits of Ryan X-13 was designed with the tailpipe as the absolute
this configuration, result in a lighter aircraft. end of the aircraft, and took off (and landed) on a hook on
The deflected slipstream concept was applied to propeller a wall, instead of sitting on its tail on the ground.
aircraft as well. However, it was only of very limited Ducted fans can be successfully applied to a tail-sitter
success. The US Army explored the concept with the Ryan design, since the duct can increase the static thrust, thereby
VZ-3 and Fairchild VZ-5 research aircraft. The flight- improving performance in the vertical flight regime.
testing revealed that the “deflected slipstream concept Generally, tailless (sometimes also tail first, see [24])
proved to be better suited to STOL than VTOL operation.” configurations lend themselves very well to the tail sitter
[23] approach. Many concepts involve a delta (Ryan X-13,
Convair XFY-1) or flying wing planform. A conventional
Table 5. Example Aircraft - Flow Division and Vectoring tail-aft configuration (like the ducted fan concept developed
Vectored Thrust by RMIT [25] standing on its empennage offers too much
Boeing X-32 area to the wind, making it unstable when standing on the
Hawker Harrier ground.
Yakolev Yak-36
Deflected Slipstream
Fairchild VZ-5
Ryan VZ-3
4.2.4 Tail-Sitter
The tail-sitter concept also uses the same propulsion
system for take-off and landing, but differs from the two
concepts described before. The whole aircraft is tilted, not
only a part of it. As the name suggests it sits on its
empennage during take-off and landing, and transitions by
Fig. 14. Prop and jet tail-sitters
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According to [26], tail-sitter concepts can be split in configuration (discussed in detail in section 5) is suitable
‘Control Surface Transition Tail-sitters’ and ‘Differential for such a concept.
Thrust Transitioning Tail-sitters’. Both require The selection of the tricopter configuration (see section
sophisticated control systems, with the former relying on 5.5.1) has the distinct advantage of having the least amount
control surfaces submerged in the slipstream and the latter of motor/rotor pairs and is therefore the easiest to integrate.
using either a swash-plate actuated rotor or a 3-D thrust- This gives the possibility either to actuate a single rotor in
vector-nozzle. The thrust vectoring approach is more a way that offers 3-D vector control, or to actuate two of the
maneuverable, but comes with a weight penalty. three rotors for 2-D motion. Since the rotor-torque does not
For manned tail-sitters a large problem is pilot visibility need to be evenly distributed, an uneven disk loading can
[27], but this is no drawback for an unmanned aircraft. be applied. This enables the tilting rotors to be optimized
However, optical payloads might not be effective in both for forward flight and the dedicated hover rotors to be
flight regimes. Problems also arise from a tendency to tip adapted to their separate flight regime.
over (observed for several small tail-sitter UAVs) and the IAI has created a very adaptable unmanned airframe called
heavy tail structure needed to take the landing loads. ‘Panther’. It swivels two of its three motors to transition to
Nevertheless, as the general approach needs less moving wing-borne flight. The Panther is available in two sizes and
parts, tail-sitters should offer a slight weight advantage with pure electric or a hybrid gas-electric propulsion system,
compared to tiltwings or tiltrotors. demonstrating the scalability of the concept.
Transition from flight to hover is very complex, because Quantum Systems uses a tilting mechanism on all four
the wing operates at large, post-stall angles of attack. The rotors of their SLT UAV. However, only the front engines
so-called diving transition seeks to minimize that phase of are used to provide forward thrust during cruise flight. The
the transition, by diving down, rather than sustaining level aft engines are swiveled to allow the propeller blades to fold
flight during the transition. By trading altitude for airspeed into a low drag position, increasing aerodynamic
level flight is resumed. performance. A careful tradeoff is required, if the increase
Just as the other Lift = Cruise concepts, in its pure form in L/D is worth the weight of the additional swiveling
the propulsion system is oversized for forward flight. mechanism.
If a high speed flight requirement is a high priority, then
Table 6. Example Aircraft - Tailsitters efficiency in hover can be exchanged for lower drag during
Convair XFY-1 cruise by replacing one rotor (or even all rotors) of the
Lockheed XFV-1 tricopter layout with a ducted fan. The RWTH Aachen
Ryan X-13
developed the ‘Parcelcopter 3.0’ together with logistics
Aerovel Flexrotor (UAV)
AeroVironment SkyTote (UAV) provider DHL based on this concept. Two propellers are
AVIC VD200 (UAV) mounted to tilting wings and an electric ducted fan is used
Martin UAV V-Bat (UAV) to supplement the system in hover.
University of Sydney T-Wing (UAV)
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Table 7. Example Aircraft - Tilting Multicopters Table 8. Example Aircraft - Jet L+L/C
Tilt Prop Dornier Do 31
IAI Mini Panther (UAV) Entwicklungsring Süd VJ 101C
IAI Panther (UAV) Lockheed XV-4B
Quantum Systems SLT (UAV) VFW-Fokker VAK 191B
RWTH Parcelcopter 3.0 (UAV) Yakolev Yak-38
Tilt Duct Yakolev Yak-141
XTI Trifan 600 Aurora Excalibur (UAV)
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Table 9. Example Aircraft - Augmented Jets is owed to its low disc loading. Helicopters achieve control
Lockheed Martin F-35B by a swashplate actuated main rotor and a counter-torque
Lockheed XV-4A rotor at the tail. To spin large rotors at low speed, large
Rockwell XFV-12A gearboxes are needed. Both the rotor hub and the tail rotor
Ryan XV-5A
cause high drag in forward flight and a typical helicopter
Vanguard Omniplane
reaches a maximum lift-to-drag ratio of only 4.5 [5]. Fixed
4.4 Summary wing aircraft reach 2-4 times this L/D value. VTOL
An overview of the configurations suited for transitioning concepts usually cause a slight degradation of aerodynamic
VTOL aircraft, which were discussed in this chapter, is performance, but still requires vastly less power for
provided below. Table 10 shows an evaluation matrix of the cruising flight. This is the main reason, why transitioning
strengths and weaknesses of each configuration. VTOL systems are even considered.
While the performance evaluation of an aircraft cannot During forward flight, the helicopter suffers from a
merely be attributed to a certain propulsion system layout problem arising from the relative velocity of the blades to
but needs to take into account the entire configuration, this the surrounding mass of air.
matrix does provide a starting point for a detailed design In hover, at zero forward speed, both blades encounter the
synthesis. Good performance is marked with a ‘+’, average same flow conditions. Each blade-station, however,
performance with a ‘○’ and below average performance is experiences a different velocity. Therefore, the low velocity
marked with a ‘-’. area near the rotor hub contributes little to the total lift. This
lowers the overall efficiency of the complete system.
Table 10. Performance overview of VTOL configurations When moving, the retreating blade sees the helicopter’s
forward speed subtracted from its rotational velocity.
Supersonic
Simplicity
Transonic
Speed
Speed
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concept (see sections 4.1.1, 4.3.1 and 4.3.2). is not unlimited because the flight dynamics are based on
Multicopters (sometimes called multirotors) have rapidly the moments generated by inertia and very large vehicles
taken a very large share of the small UAV market and exhibit sluggish reactions to control inputs. Typically,
nowadays are used frequently for commercial and growth is achieved by using additional motors and rotors
recreational applications. Considering terminology, instead of increasing the size and power of each motor/rotor.
multicopters really are a subtype of the helicopter.
Typically, rotorcraft with up to two rotors are called 5.3 Multicopter Dynamics
helicopters, with the dual rotor type being called tandem- To illustrate the basic control principles of multicopters,
or coaxial helicopter, depending on the layout. If three or only the quad rotor design will be discussed. Nevertheless,
more rotors are used, then one speaks of it as a multicopter. this theory can be extended to vehicles with six or more
The typical multirotor has an even number of rotors, rotors.
where each rotor pair spinning clock- and counter- Consider a copter system with four counter rotating
clockwise to cancel out torque. Even though the general propellers aligned in an X-shape, as shown in Fig. 20. At a
flight mechanics are comparable to helicopters, multirotors given rotational speed (ω), propellers generate a thrust force
offer a very simple control system. No actuators or variable (T) and a torque (M). Due to Newton’s third law of motion,
pitch rotors need to be used and besides the motors, there a clockwise spinning rotor generates a counter-clockwise
are no other moving parts, because the rotors usually are torque on the vehicle. The four independent motors control
fixed pitch. For simplicity, the most commonly used the attitude angles roll (Φ), pitch (Θ), and yaw (Ψ), as well
propulsion system are ungeared electric motors, even as the heave motion, for a total four degrees of freedom.
though there have been successful manned flights of Roll rate is controlled by a left-right differential of thrust,
multicopters using direct drive gasoline engines. The while the front-back motors control the rate of pitch. The
simplest multicopter arrangement that allows pure motor yaw rate is controlled by differentiating the speed of the
control is the quadcopter [30]. counter-spinning motors: Accelerating the clockwise and
The general concept is not new; in fact, it can be traced slowing down the counter-clockwise rotors lets the vehicle
back to the 1907 ‘Breguet-Richet Gyroplane’ [31], designed rotate counter-clockwise. Forward flight is controlled by
by Louis Breguet, of fame for his range and endurance rotating the thrust vector opposite to the desired direction
equations. However, it was only with the miniaturization of of travel.
processors and accelerometers that this kind of aircraft
concept found widespread use. Multicopters are highly
unstable systems, and it is near to impossible for a pilot to
stay in control without an automatic flight controller.
Payloads are usually carried in a central body, with the
rotors distributed symmetrically around this fuselage. This
increases efficiency compared to the helicopter, because it
avoids the suck down effect (sometimes called ‘hover
download’) by minimizing the area below the rotor disk.
Unfortunately, efficiency and controllability do not go
Fig. 20. Multicopter Definitions
together for multicopters. Considering an arbitrary
multicopter with a given weight, an increase of rotor disk
5.4 Optimal Multicopter Layout
area will lower the disk loading, improve efficiency, and
All multicopters use arm mounted propellers to generate
decrease power consumption. However, the larger rotors
their lift. The exact configuration of the motor/rotor setup
will spin slower than their smaller counterparts will.
influences the efficiency and hence the performance of the
Coupled with the weight increase of larger rotors, the rotor
multicopter. Theys et al. from the KU Leuven [32]
inertia is increased, and, because vehicle control is based
investigated several configurations experimentally for
on the acceleration of said rotors, the control
small multicopters, and their most interesting findings shall
responsiveness is reduced.
be presented here.
Correspondingly, while the concept works for small
unmanned and large manned aircraft alike, growth potential
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hexacopters, compared to the tricopters is in the even relationship between efficiency in hover, the disk loading
number of rotors. Therefore, torque is cancelled out and and the downwash-velocity was explained. A guideline for
control is achieved using differential motor speeds without selecting an appropriate T/W was established, dependent on
the propulsion system. The most relevant options for the
having to rely on changing the thrust angle of one (or more)
rotors. Hexacopters can sustain flight in case of a motor configuration of transitioning VTOL aircraft were
failure, giving improved reliability over systems with a thoroughly discussed. Finally, for completeness, an
overview about the design of rotorcraft, with major focus
lower number of motors. However, since they have greater
inertia compared to a copter with lower rotor count, they on multicopters, was presented.
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