TILTED PROPELLERS FOR ENHANCED DISTRIBUTED PROPULSION CONTROL AUTHORITY

An aircraft (200; 300; 400; 500) comprises a fuselage (205; 305; 405), one or more support structures (210a-c, 215; 310a-c, 315; 410a-c, 415) connected to the fuselage, the one or more support structures comprising a closed or ring wing (215, 315, 415) and spokes (210a-210c, 310a-310c, 410a-410c), one or more engines or motors disposed within or attached to the one or more support structures or the fuselage, and a distributed propulsion system. The distributed propulsion system comprises two or more propellers (220a-220l, 320a-320l, 420a-420l, 510a-510h) configured in pairs, the propellers symmetrically distributed along the one or more support structures (210a-c, 215; 310a-c, 315; 410a-c, 415) and operably connected to the one or more engines or motors. Each propeller has a rotation direction (225a-225l, 325a-325l, 425a-425l, 512a-512h) within a tilted plane of rotation (235a-235l, 335a-335l, 435a-435l, 514a-514h), and the rotational axes (240a-240l, 340a-340l, 440a-440l, 516a-516h) of the propellers in each pair are substantially coplanar with a vertical axis (245, 345, 350, 445, 518) disposed between the respective pair of propellers, such that a summation of horizontal force vectors (230a-230l; 330a-330l; 430a-430l) created by the tilted plane of rotation of all the propellers is substantially zero when all the propellers are creating a substantially equal thrust magnitude. Movement of the aircraft is controlled by selectively increasing or decreasing a thrust of at least one of the two or more propellers.