short description
Two OPRE Tilting Engines secured to each other form the “backbone”; each engine driving two counter-rotating propellers.
Phase I Submissions.
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1. Information for GoFly publications
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Data submitted in this section may be used by GoFly in various publications such as team lists, award announcements, etc. By submitting data in this section, you are granting GoFly rights to publish the data in this section.
1.3. Team type
Private individual(s) or group
2. Administrative
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2.1. Contact information
2.1.1. Primary point of contact name
Pattakos Emmanouel
2.1.2. Primary point of contact email
2.1.3. Primary point of contact phone number
030-210-4934402
2.2 - Alternate point of contact
2.3. Address
2.3.1. Team street address and postcode
Lampraki 406
PC. 18452
Nikea Piraeus
Greece
2.3.2. Team location
Attica, Greece
2.4. Phase II registration
Yes
3. Technical Design Report
Report format guidelines: Number your pages and adhere strictly to a content page limit of 18 pages maximum. A table of contents, list figures, and list of tables do not count toward the page limit; ALL OTHER CONTENT COUNTS TOWARD THE 18 PAGE LIMIT. Additional pages beyond the limit may not be reviewed. A cover page will be automatically generated, so there is no need to include any information from sections one or two anywhere in the design report or design summary. A page is 8-1/2 by 11 inches with type not smaller than 12 point or a maximum 10 characters per inch (10-pitch, pica) spacing, margins not smaller than 1 inch, and line spacing not smaller than single-spaced; charts may use 10 point font. Fold-outs up to 11 by 17 inches may be used but will be counted as two pages. The use of figures, tables, charts, and drawings is encouraged, but they must be relevant and referred to in the text of the report.
Upload your design report as a single PDF document
Portable Flyer pattakon_final.pdf
4. Design summary
Data provided in this section may be direct excerpts of content from your technical design report or may be new content. However, your design report should stand alone.
4.1. Drawings
Drawings should be B size (11” x 17”). Identifying information from section one is not required on the drawings.
4.1.1. General arrangement drawing
4.1.2. Inboard profile drawing
4.2. Short device configuration description
PORTABLE FLYER: a lightweight personal flying device comprising two OPRE Tilting Engines secured to each other to form a “backbone”; each engine driving a pair of counter-rotating propellers (the one pair above, the other pair below the backbone).
4.3. Fuel/energy source(s) type(s)
Regular Gasoline
4.4. Tradeoffs summary
A personal flying device must be lightweight.
The more lightweight (including the fuel or the energy source) the better.
Every oz of additional (beyond pilot's) weight requires additional power and additional fuel; the added weight makes the control of the flight more difficult, the landing more risky and dangerous, the noise louder, the range shorter, the mileage smaller, the emissions worse.
A personal flying device must be as lightweight as possible; and because weight cannot be removed from pilot's body, weight can only be removed from the power unit and from the energy source (fuel or batteries).
A lightweight power unit and, more importantly, a top fuel efficient lightweight power unit, is a good start.
With 80% of the total take off weight being the pilot's weight, and with the rest 20% being the PORTABLE FLYER and the fuel, things get promising.
With a true neutral propulsion unit (wherein there are neither vibrations, nor reaction torque, nor gyroscopic rigidity) providing only a force that can "instantly" and effortlessly be vectored towards the desirable direction, the personal flying device becomes safe, controllable and easy to use.
The small dimensions and weight make it not just "portable" but "wearable"; the pilot wears the PORTABLE FLYER like a medium weight back-pack and can walk, run, jump when on ground.
The goal of the PORTABLE FLYER is to provide the required thrust force, while pilot's brain and body do all the rest just like the birds do.
4.5. Expected fly-off parameters
See the rules for further details on how these parameters are measured.
4.5.1. Estimated size (maximum device dimension)
5.25ft (5ft 3in)
4.5.2. Estimated noise (sound pressure level at 50 ft)
70dBA
4.5.3. Estimated speed (6 nmi divided by time to complete speed run)
100 knots
4.6. Top-level weights
Enter estimated weights in pounds.
4.6.1. Operating empty weight
45 lb
4.6.2. Operator weight
200 lb
4.6.3. Fuel/energy source(s) weight
5 lb
4.6.4. Maximum takeoff weight (total of the above)
250 lb
5. Commercial considerations
5.1 - Innovations & technological enablers
Intellectual property and prototypes:
The OPRE engine is patented (patents: US7,909,012, GB2,449,031, GB2,482,750).
“Proof-of-concept” OPRE prototype engines are presented at
http://www.pattakon.com/pattakonOPRE.htm Videos of the OPRE prototype engines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64TY-x2Cj6Yhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd0A0yyC7DUhttp://www.pattakon.com/pre/opre1_files/OPRE2.WMV (spot on the standing cigarette).
The Tilting Valve and the OPRE-Tilting engine is patented (patents: US9,303,637, GB2,515,369).
A “proof of concept” OPRE Tilting prototype engine is presented at
http://www.pattakon.com/pattakonTilting.htm Video of the OPRE Tilting prototype engine:
http://www.pattakon.com/tilting/OPRE_tilting_1.mp4 The PatBam HCCI (2-Stage-Ignition) is patent pending (GB1719459.8 patent application filed November 23, 2017).
The PatBam HCCI is presented at
http://www.pattakon.com/pattakonPatBam.htm .
An explanatory video-animation for a 4-stroke PatBam HCCI version is at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgIDbHOosFE The US2009/0050733 patent application was filed in 2007 for a similar but single-engine PORTABLE FLYER.
More at
http://www.pattakon.com/pattakonFly.htm The GB1604158.4 patent application titled “VTOL WITH FRAME EXTENDING THROUGH THE ROTOR” was filed 10 March 2016 for safer flying devices.
More at
http://www.pattakon.com/pattakonPatTol.htmComplete patent application:
http://www.pattakon.com/PatTol/PatTol_disclosure.pdf
5.2. Market-driven design
Double (twin) extremely lightweight engines of top fuel efficiency, each capable ALONE to power the personal flying device. The top fuel efficiency minimizes the fuel weight for a specific range; the fuel (regular gasoline) is the commonest and cheapest fuel in the market The simplicity of the engines maximizes their reliability (safety) and minimizes their manufacturing cost. The PORTABLE FLYER has an ownership cost estimated to less than US3,000$ and a running cost less than a motorcycle.
High speed and extra long range.
The high speed allows safe flights at adverse weather conditions. The maximum speed of a personal flying device must be substantially faster than the wind speed at all conditions. The more compact the personal flying device, the less risky the landing at adverse weather conditions.
The long range minimizes the required landings and take-offs for refuelling. At take-off and at landing is the most risky part of the flight.
The hands and the legs remain free to lift / rescue persons in danger.
The difficulty of "riding" / flying a PERSONAL FLYER is similar to riding a scooter.
With its long range (the calculated range with 5 US-gallons gasoline is 500 miles) it gives access to distant islands, also to otherwise inaccessible areas.
The long range increases the reachable destinations squared (if with 20 miles range the accessible destinations are X, with 200 miles range the accessible destinations are X*(200/20)^2=X*100, i.e. 100 times more).
5.3. Safety-driven design
Lightweight and compact.
The landing gear is the legs of the pilot. But the legs can only withstand a lightweight personal flying device (say, no more than 50 lb with the fuel).
The compactness (small area exposed to the blowing wind) together with the lightweight and the adaptability of the legs / feet to any roughness of the landing ground, improve the safety and allow landings even on a rock.
Two independent engines, each driving its own propellers. While the Osprey V22 crashes in case one of its rotors is damaged at a vertical take off or landing, the PORTABLE FLYER has an independently driven second set of counter-rotating propellers to keep it flying.
High speed / long range. The high speed is a requirement for safety (it allows the fly even during adverse weather conditions, it also reduces the duration of the flight keeping the pilot tireless and thereby strong for the landing (the most risky part of the journey). The long range minimizes the landings and take-offs for refuelling.
The saddle prevents the pilot from lifting his hands above his shoulders, thereby protecting them from the propellers.
The fast take-off (about 1g upwards acceleration) reduces the time the PORTABLE FLYER remains in the dangerous height zone (wherein the parachutes are useless).
The almost horizontal pose of the pilot at high speed cruising (like lying on a stream of air) keeps the pilot tireless.
6. Draft safety report
See safety report guidelines in the “Safety report” section of the rules.
6.1. Single-point failures and mitigations
Safety considerations.
The PORTABLE FLYER appears, during a vertical take-off and during a vertical landing, safer than the famous OSRPEY V-22 of Bell Boeing: even if a rotor falls apart, or even if a transmission member breaks, the PORTABLE FLYER can still fly and land without a crash.
With zero gyroscopic rigidity the pilot can instantly and effortlessly vector the thrust to the desirable direction to control dynamically the flight.
With zero reaction torque the PORTABLE FLYER is smooth and predictable at all conditions (the only reaction at a sudden power off is the elimination of the thrust force).
Being perfectly (100%) vibration-free, the PORTABLE FLYER leaves the pilot tireless even at long flights.
The engines are rid of spark plugs and of high voltage circuitry (a typical cause for aero-engine stalls).
The engines are also rid of noisy reed valves (“what is omitted cannot fail”).
The engines are extremely tolerable to the air-fuel mixture: a big change of the lambda causes just the change of the thrust force. The accurate adjustment of the air-fuel ratio is meaningless for an HCCI lean burn engine. The two stage (spark-less) ignition guarantees that whatever the air-fuel mixture is, and whatever the fuel quality is, the charge can't help but to ignite
Each Opposed Piston engine is simpler than any known Opposed Piston engine of the state-of-the-art, comprising in total six moving parts: two crankshafts, two pistons and two connecting rods.
The crankcase runs not pressurized (so it needs not sealing means).
The thrust loads between the piston skirt and the cylinder liner are received away from the hot exhaust ports (wherein the scuffing of the conventional two-stroke engines typically starts), on the cool sides of the cylinder liner, which also reduces the lubricant specific consumption (longer TBO (time between overhauls), less emissions, lower running cost).
The "low temperature combustion" is suitable for air cooling that improves the reliability.
The easy intuitive / instictive control of the flight and the compact design, improve the safety at adverse weather conditions (at hovering, and, even more importantly, at landing).
The smaller the surface area exposed to the wind and the more streamlined the PORTABLE FLYER with the pilot (human body), the less vulnerable it is against the wind.
The two parachutes into the spinners are the final safety means.
7. Project execution
7.1. Schedule and budget
Project execution feasibility
With the manufacturing of the two OPRE Tilting engines, the PORTABLE FLYER is almost ready for tethered tests (four carbon fibre propellers, four toothed belts, eight sprockets, two pipes and a saddle are all it takes to tailor the PORTABLE FLYER on the pilot).
No need for electronics, nor for servomotors, nor for control surfaces etc.
A 333cc proof-of-concept OPRE Tilting prototype engine has been manufactured and tested. The design modifications in order to become a 350cc 2-stage-Ignition OPRE Tilting engine is of minor difficulty.
After the tethered tests and the “tethered training” of the pilot, flying tests at low height above the sea will follow.
The project is to be entirely funded by the pilot (as has always been the case with all the rest “pattakon projects”, presented at
http://www.pattakon.com).
The estimated total cost is 20,000+50,000=US70,000$ (not including the personal work of the pilot).
The cost of the necessary machinery / facilities is included in the total cost of the US70,000$.
E.g., by comparison to the PORTABLE FLYER project,
the more demanding “roller-version Variable Valve Actuation” project of pattakon:
[a continuously variable valve lift and duration VVA presented at
http://www.pattakon.com/pattakonRoller.htm ,
http://www.pattakon.com/pattakonRollerLight.htm and
http://www.pattakon.com/DVA_files/pattakonVVAs.pps (the last link is the presentation of the pattakon VVA projects at the Engine Expo International, Stuttgart Germany, May 2008)],
and the modification of a used Honda Civic VTEC 1,600cc car (including the re-programming / tuning of its electronic control unit),
had a total cost several times lower than the above estimated US70,000$.
Compared to the only two valve lift profiles (10.5mm maximum valve lift) of the original mass production Honda sport car, the modified car provides infinite continuously variable (from 0mm to 12mm) valve lift profiles (as shows the
http://www.pattakon.com/vvar/OnBoard/Vtec_files/ValveLifts.gif plot) and was for long tested on the roads, with Its red line shifted from the 8,000rpm of the factory car, to 9,000rpm for the modified prototype VVA-roller car (youtube video at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zzW8YkReLU ).
E.g., by comparison to the PORTABLE FLYER project,
the more demanding PatOP prototype 636cc Opposed Piston Diesel engine project (analytically presented at
http://www.pattakon.com/pattakonPatOP.htm ) had a total cost (from designing, to patenting, to manufacturing a running proof-of-concept prototype) several times lower than the estimated US70,000$.
In the youtube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ByEgfTTq1I it is shown the quality of operation of this single-cylinder opposed-piston prototype Diesel engine (wherein the only parts from the market are: the piston rings, the plain bearings at the big ends of the connecting rods and the injection system).
At the end of the power point
http://www.pattakon.com/opre1_files/pattakonOPRE.pps , a single-engine PORTABLE FLYER was proposed at the Engine Expo 2008, Stuttgart Germany.
7.2. Resources
7.2.1. Funding
Self-funded.
7.2.2. Facilities
An amateur / layman machine shop.
7.2.3. Personnel
The contestant alone.
7.3. Airworthiness and legal flight testing approach
Tethered tests and tethered training.
Flying tests at low height above the sea, later.
7.4. Risks
1) The judges to not value the importance of the lighter weight for a flying device.
2) The judges to not value the importance of a longer range and of a higher speed, especially at adverse weather conditions.
3) The judges to not appreciate the simplicity, the instinctive control and the benefit - cost ratio.
7.5. Future tests & risk reduction
Extensive tethered tests and pilot tethered training.
Extensive flying tests at low height above the sea.
Practicing on the "Fly-Off" cycle above the sea.
Then Fly-Off in the USA.
