Is Sikorsky Attempting to Inhibit Others from Developing Electric Rotorcraft?

[Dave_Jackson]

Draft of proposed 'PROTEST'

Thank you for those who posted in support of openness and fairness, in perhaps what may likely be the next generation of rotorcraft.

The following is a draft of my proposed 'PROTEST' to The US Patent Office regarding Patent Application for 'ELECTRIC POWERED ROTARY-WING AIRCRAFT' Patent Application 20090140095; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/991/395.

It is posted here so that interested and patent savvy people will critique it before the final version is submitted. Critique and patent related comments would be appreciated.

Dave J

__________________________________________________

Protest

CLAIMS

Claim 1; "A rotary-wing aircraft comprising:a rotor system rotatable about an axis of rotation; andan electric motor mounted along said axis of rotation to drive said rotor system about said axis of rotation."

Prior Usage;

Main Rotor;

Popular Science Article, April 2006 ~

http://www.proxdynamics.com/news/popular_science/

Jayant Sirohi, the first named inventor in the patent application, made and publicly disclosed on 1-3 June 2005 at the AHS Annual Forum the work on a model helicopter where the motor and aerodynamic rotors were of a coaxial arraignment. However, this model was used to develop a specific and 'unique' type of rotor blade flight-control. Design and Testing of a Rotary Wing MAV with an Active Structure for Stability and Control, ~ http://www.vtol.org/pdf/61AircraftDesignII.pdf

Tail Rotor;

Many R/C electric helicopters have tail rotors that have a coaxial arraignment with their dedicated motors.

Prior Publication (website);

Internet page; Electrotor-Simplex - Simple Electric Principal Assembly

for Ultralight Twin Rotor UAV and ULR, ~ http://www.unicopter.com/ElectrotorSimplex.html~ Initially published on Internet: September 10, 2007 ~ Posted to Rotary Wing Forum: September 10, 2007

Internet page; ELECTROTOR-SloMo - Rotor Driven by Direct Coupling to Slow Turning Motor (1;1 ratio),

~ http://www.unicopter.com/ElectrotorSloMo.html~ Initially published on Internet: July 23, 2006 ~ Posted to Rotary Wing Forum: September 28, 2006 ~ Posted on PPRuNe: June 23, 2007

Electrotor-Plus - Direct Torque Control Moment Gyroscope - Enhanced Flight Control from a Two-bladed Rotor, ~

http://www.unicopter.com/ElectrotorPlus.html~ Initially published on Internet: May 12, 2007 ~ Posted on PPRuNe: June 23, 2007 ~ Posted on Rotary Wing Forum: June 24, 2007 ~ Posted on Eng-Tips Forum: June 24, 2007

Claim 2; "The aircraft as recited in claim 1, wherein said rotor system comprises a main rotor system. "

Argument;

The above 'Claim 1 - Prior Usage - Main Rotor' and 'Claim 1 - Prior Publication (website)' apply to this claim.

Claim 3; "The aircraft as recited in claim 2, further comprising an airframe having an extending tail which mounts an anti-torque system "

Argument;

The above 'Claim 1 - Prior Usage - Tail Rotor' applies to this claim.

Claim 4; "The aircraft as recited in claim 3, further comprising an on-board power source which powers said main rotor system and said anti-torque system."

Argument;

The use of batteries, fuel cells, capacitors, and generator sets etc. are all obvious, even to a layman.

Claim 5; "The aircraft as recited in claim 4, further comprising a servo system powered by said on-board power source."

Prior Usage;

I suspect that all prior Vertical Takeoff and Landing aircraft that comply with claims 1, 2, 3, and 4 utilize electro-mechanical servo systems.

Prior Publication;

Internet page; DESIGN:

Electrotor-Simplex~Control ~ http://www.unicopter.com/A143.html ~ Initially published on Internet: November 28, 2007

Claim 6; "The aircraft as recited in claim 1, further comprising a servo system mounted within said rotor system to pitch a rotor blade mounted to a rotor hub."

Prior Publication;

Internet page; DESIGN: Electrotor-SloMo ~

Motor -Miscellaneous- Blade Pitch Control ~ http://www.unicopter.com/B372.html~Initially published on Internet: July 31, 2006

Argument;

In addition to the above, this should be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which this subject matter pertains.

Claim 7; "The aircraft as recited in claim 6, further comprising a controller within said rotary-wing aircraft to operate said servo system."

Argument;

The blade pitch control noted in 'Claim 6 - Prior Publication' and the obvious requirement for a controller for the servo system.

Claim 8; "A rotary-wing aircraft comprising:a rotor system rotatable about an axis of rotation; andan electric motor mounted along said axis of rotation to drive said rotor system about said axis of rotation, said electric motor mounted at least partially within a rotor hub of said rotor system "

Argument;

This claim is identical to claim 1 in that both involve the rotation of an electric rotor and an aerodynamic rotor about a fixed stator and stator support. The only difference between the two claims is nothing more than an incremental variation in the vertical distance between the center of the aerodynamic rotor and the center of the motor's rotor and stator.

Claim 9; "The aircraft as recited in claim 8, further comprising a rotationally fixed rotor shaft which mounts said rotor hub."

Prior Usage;

Outrunner motors, particularly brushless outrunner motors, are extremely popular. In most cases the permanent magnets are external to the winding and the ring of permanent magnets rotates the aerodynamic rotor or propeller. The central stator is fixed to a non-rotating member, which might be identified by a number of names.

Prior Publication;

The drawings on the published web page Electrotor-SloMo~ Rotor (All) ~ http://www.unicopter.com/ElectrotorSloMo_Rotor.html~ Initially published on Internet: August 6, 2006 ~ show various of arraignments where the motors are located totally within and partially within the aerodynamic rotor hub and mounted on rotationally fixed rotor shafts.

Claim 10; "The aircraft as recited in claim 8, wherein said electric motor is an overrunning motor."

Argument;

I can find no reference to the expression 'overrunning motor', in respect to how it would apply to to drive of a rotary-wing VTOL aircraft. 1/ It might refer to a braking action upon the landing of the craft. so as to slow the rotational speed of the aerodynamic rotor. 2/ It might apply to a charging of an electrical storage device during an autorotation, so as to provide a short-term power for use upon landing. Both features imply using the regenerative capability of the motor.

Both of these features will not work if an overrunning clutch is located between the aerodynamic rotor and the electrical motor. Or, if the overrunning clutch was located between the aerodynamic rotor and the planetary gearbox + electrical motor.

Both of the above applications are published on the web page DESIGN:

Electrotor-SloMo - Motor ~ http://www.unicopter.com/A131.html at the bottom of the 'Random Notes:' section. The date that this information was published may or may not have been before the filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/991/395 (Nov. 30, 2007). However, I assume that it was published before this application described what their 'overrunning motor' is.

Claim 11; "The aircraft as recited in claim 8, further comprising a servo system mounted within said rotor system to pitch a rotor blade mounted to a rotor hub. "

Prior Publication;

The same prior Publication as that which is used above in 'Claim 6 - Prior Publication';

Argument;

The same argument as that which is used above in 'Claim 6 - Argument';

Claim 12; "The aircraft as recited in claim 11, further comprising a controller within said rotary-wing aircraft to operate said main rotor servo system. "

Argument;

The blade pitch control noted in 'Claim 6 - Prior Publication' and the obvious requirement for a controller for the servo system.

Claim 13; "A rotary-wing aircraft comprising:a rotor system rotatable about an axis of rotation; andan electric motor mounted along said axis of rotation to drive said rotor system about said axis of rotation, said electric motor mounted at least partially within a rotor shaft of said rotor system."

Argument;

This claim is identical to claim 8 in that both involve the rotation of an electric rotor and an aerodynamic rotor about a fixed stator and stator support. The only difference between the two claims is nothing more than a greater vertical distance between the center of the aerodynamic rotor and the center of the motor's rotor and stator.

Claim 14; "The aircraft as recited in claim 13, wherein said electric motor is an overrunning motor."

Argument;

The argument in claim 10 is to be applied to claim 14 in that claim 13, claim 8, and claim 1 are essentially identical.

Claim 15; "The aircraft as recited in claim 13, further comprising a servo system mounted within said rotor system to pitch a rotor blade mounted to a rotor hub."

Argument;

The same argument as that which is used above in 'Claim 6 - Argument';

Claim 16,"The aircraft as recited in claim 15, further comprising a controller within said rotary-wing aircraft to operate said servo system."

Prior Publication;

The same prior Publication as that which is used above in 'Claim 6 - Prior Publication';

Argument;

The same argument as that which is used above in 'Claim 6 - Argument'.

DESCRIPTION

[0010] "The main rotor system 12 is driven about an axis of rotation R through an electric motor 24 such as a high torque, low speed electric motor. The electric motor 24 may directly drive the main rotor system 12 without a main rotor gearbox ......"

Prior Publication;

Internet page; High torque, low speed motor is what the Electrotor-SloMo ~

http://www.unicopter.com/ElectrotorSloMo.html was designed to do ~ Initially published on Internet: September 10, 2007 ~ Initially published on Internet: July 23, 2006 ~ Posted to Rotary Wing Forum: September 28, 2006 ~ Posted on PPRuNe: June 23, 2007.