Crinoline Series Aircraft

Over the years I proposed many VTOL designs. However, none could hover in the air for long. This time I thought of an aircraft that could hover longer than a helicopter and carry more weight and have a longer range than a helicopter. Its shape resembles a crinoline. That’s how it gets its name from.

The objective is to create a big low-pressure zone above the aircraft to generate lift efficiently. Helicopters use blades, my design utilizes unified rocket engines to achieve a similar but more powerful effect. The engines generate linear thrust like my Blade 3 Apex. The thrust direction would be lateral, not against the gravity.

There would be a fabric duct, like a crinoline, outside the main aircraft. The giant fabric (carbon fiber) duct would be attached to the airframe of the aircraft using triangular truss made of composite material. The composite rings attached to the fabric keep the duct firm. When the engines fire dashed line of exhaust gas over the walls of the duct, they generate low-pressure zone on top of the duct. The air sucked in from the top of the duct would be pushed downward. This generates the lift. The cross-sectional area of the duct determines the amount of lift coupled with some other parameters. This setup allows much larger diameters compared to a helicopter blade. The low-pressure zone is also more consistent. The addition of Coandă lips at the edge of the duct create virtual ground for the aircraft to hover. Like the skirts of a hovercraft.

This setup is so efficient that, even the aircraft carries its own LOX on board, can hover for hours. The air sucked in from the top act as afterburner and bypass air which improves the efficiency dramatically.

I designed several versions of this aircraft. The heavy lifting version utilized liquid methane, then the next one used liquid hydrogen and the last one used liquid air. Each version optimized for different operations. The methane variant would be used on wind turbine construction, negating the need for cranes and allow higher tower. It can even carry the complete floor of a skyscraper. Allowing the high rise building to be constructed like a LEGO. Liquid air version is very silent and generate no hot air below it. This would be ideal for in city construction projects.