A conception of vertical take-off air vehicle with self-aligning moving wings

The possibility of vertical take-off of an aircraft is a valuable feature in air transport. It allows to increase operational characteristics of an air vehicle and requires less field and low cost ground infrastructure. Currently the vertical take-off feature is practically reserved to helicopters and tilt-rotor aircrafts. Both types of air vehicles have their advantages and also have some important limitations. Regarding the helicopters their construction provides natural vertical take-off features and makes them useful in low altitude flight tasks. However the power required for flight and main rotor kinematics results in low cruising speed and short range performance. The tilt-rotor aircraft is an answer which provides good cruise characteristics saving the vertical take-off feature. The construction of tiltrotor aircraft consists of rotors with adjustable position of tip-path plane. The main technical problem of tilt-rotors is necessity of change aerodynamic configuration from vertical mode to cruise mode at low flight altitude and very low flight speed. A proposed conception of a vertical take-off air vehicle using self-aligning moving wings is focused on producing aerodynamic force always on wings without participation of rotors or propellers. The self-aligning or semirotating wing movement enables to produce aerodynamic force in each flight speed. During take-off lift force is generated by means of power unit driving the wings. The transition from hovering to progressive flight is a smooth phase without aerodynamic configuration changes. It occur as a result of change in wing kinematics or gravity center position. As the flight speed increases the lift force is generated like in classic airplane wing and the power unit load decreases. The conception of presented air vehicle assume to join best features of airplanes and helicopters i.e. vertical take-off, good flight performances and lack of strict border between both phases of flight.