Airbus files for patent of a flying triangle

This should be interesting to some of You. Airbus decided its time to file for a patent for a commercial plane in the shape of a triangle or flying wing if You prefer

Airbus, the company which created the stubby cigar-shaped Airbus A380 superjumbo, has come up with an even more radical blueprint for the future.
The design, submitted to the European Patent Office, has an air of the 1950s science fiction film about it.
This aircraft, should it ever be built, would not have a pair of wings, tail and conventional fuselage.
Instead the wings sweep back from the nose and encompass both the fuselage and tale.

I don't have much more to say on this subject since my knowledge in this field is still rather limited, but I guess some of our resident experts might

Here are some links to articles :
Link
Link2

a reply to: Thill

That's similar to Boeing's BWB. They look cool, but they have a lot of bugs to work out as far as passenger comfort during the flight.

This design actually looks more feasible than Boeings. Boeing's design puts seats out into the wings, where this one puts them in a circular pattern in the middle.

I hereby patent the "flying pretzel" and declare it open source for all to use

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Thill

That's similar to Boeing's BWB. They look cool, but they have a lot of bugs to work out as far as passenger comfort during the flight.

This design actually looks more feasible than Boeings. Boeing's design puts seats out into the wings, where this one puts them in a circular pattern in the middle.

I can't figure out the donut hole in the middle.

That's not like any feature on Boeing's flying wing.

What next? ? I ask you?........the flying Bear Claw??

a reply to: Psynic

The donut hole is for boarding.

The big difference is the seat layout. Airbus went with fewer seats in a round configuration, Boeing went with the more problematical conventional rows across, which is more or an issue with a design like this than with a conventional design.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Psynic

The donut hole is for boarding.

The big difference is the seat layout. Airbus went with fewer seats in a round configuration, Boeing went with the more problematical conventional rows across, which is more or an issue with a design like this than with a conventional design.

Eh?

The shape of the cabin has a huge donut hole in the middle which would have massive aerodynamic effects.

They can put a hatch anywhere without changing the flight characteristics whatsoever.

I don't think they designed the exterior of the aircraft to facilitate the passenger entrance/exit.

a reply to: Psynic

You didn't bother to do more than look at the pictures, did you.

From the second link:

The passenger cabin's circular shape means the plane would have curved rather than straight aisles. Diagrams in the patent application show passengers boarding and departing the plane using escalators that takes them into the center of the aircraft—which resembles the hole in the middle of a doughnut.

www.cnbc.com...

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Psynic

You didn't bother to do more than look at the pictures, did you.

From the second link:

The passenger cabin's circular shape means the plane would have curved rather than straight aisles. Diagrams in the patent application show passengers boarding and departing the plane using escalators that takes them into the center of the aircraft—which resembles the hole in the middle of a doughnut.

www.cnbc.com...

I don't think you understand the diagram.

There's a 20' circular hole in the dead centre of the aircraft.

It's like a flying inner-tube.

It would create huge drag.

All to allow for escalators?

I don't think so.

a reply to: Psynic

Look at the patent itself, page 5, figure 7. The bottom of the fuselage drops down, page 6, figure 8 shows the escalators going up through that same portion.

Figure 7 marks that as 76, described in the patent as:

"The floor of the parking area 68 comprises at least one and preferably two doors 72a, 72b. The room 70 comprises at least one, preferably two retractable escalators, 74a, 74b, shown very diagrammatically. These escalators are preferably parallel to each other and adjacent."

There's also a second section behind there that drops down as well, smaller than the large plug, marked as 80 and 82 in Figure 7.

Figure 80 in the patent:

"Since the aircraft is accessed through the inside doors 52, the outside doors 52 can be reserved for the evacuation of passengers in case of an emergency."

Figure 82:

"This method is based on the use of an elevator to transfer passengers. This transfer only requires a single door 72 in the floor of the parking area 68. As regards the elevator only the cabin 76 is shown in FIG. 7. The lifting mechanism of this cabin 76 may be conventional and is not shown in FIG. 7 for reasons of clarity."

Act ual patent

It's for boarding passengers, and is on the bottom of the aircraft.

originally posted by: Psynic

I don't think you understand the diagram.

There's a 20' circular hole in the dead centre of the aircraft.

It's like a flying inner-tube.

It would create huge drag.

All to allow for escalators?

I don't think so.

At the risk of being "that guy", I think the "hole" is simply empty space within the airframe. The idea is to keep a perfectly circular cross-section of the pressurized compartment. This would help weight immensely -- eliminating the need for reinforced bulkheads at the fore and aft. The "hole" (28) would be apparent within the structure, but not visible from the outside. The bottom of the donut is covered by a hatch allowing access to the interior space ("hole"). The idea is to use that un-pressurized space (for the folding stairs they talked about, for instance) within the donut. There are also external doors to the forward areas of the cabin (54). In the version with the retractable stairs, they are reserved for emergency egress. Another version features an elevator within the hole for loading passengers, and after embarking all the passengers they fill the elevator with freight and luggage and use the "hole" that way. There are also versions with a enlongated donut shape. This makes more sense to me, especially since air-stairs could allow external access to the cabin quite easily with minimum investment, and you could then use all that unpressurized space within the hole for fuel, luggage, etc. It's interesting, but you wouldn't be able to pull up to your standard modern airport gate. I suspect unless the fuel burn is substantially lower, the corporate interest would be pretty low.

So there is no hole through the aerodynamic skin of the aircraft.

The ring shape is strictly the internal pressure vessel.

Fairings cover the openings in the belly and roof of the aircraft.

The ring shape is to create a stronger pressure vessel for the passenger cabin.

The doorway is installed on the interior wall of the ring, but the ring itself is definitely not for the "boarding of passengers".

a reply to: Psynic

The ring is exactly where the elevators and escalators are located if you look at the patent. The passengers go up through there into the cabin, where the seats are located.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Psynic

The ring is exactly where the elevators and escalators are located if you look at the patent. The passengers go up through there into the cabin, where the seats are located.

Yes I realize that the passengers board through the centre of the ring shaped pressure vessel, but that is not the purpose of the ring.

The details were obvious in the patent pages you posted, and were not part of the OP, which btw, I did read in it's entirety.

originally posted by: Thill
This should be interesting to some of You. Airbus decided its time to file for a patent for a commercial plane in the shape of a triangle or flying wing if You prefer

Airbus, the company which created the stubby cigar-shaped Airbus A380 superjumbo, has come up with an even more radical blueprint for the future.
The design, submitted to the European Patent Office, has an air of the 1950s science fiction film about it.
This aircraft, should it ever be built, would not have a pair of wings, tail and conventional fuselage.
Instead the wings sweep back from the nose and encompass both the fuselage and tale.

I don't have much more to say on this subject since my knowledge in this field is still rather limited, but I guess some of our resident experts might

Here are some links to articles :
Link
Link2

To get back to the OP;

Airbus is not filing a patent on triangular planform aircraft, but on the circular inner pressure vessel and the usage of the internal void it creates.

Interseting design..Engineering wise the perfect shape for any structure is circular and the second is triangular..With the shorter delta size wing looks more of a higher speed vehicle than a slower fuel efficient design.

originally posted by: Blackfinger
Interseting design..Engineering wise the perfect shape for any structure is circular and the second is triangular..With the shorter delta size wing looks more of a higher speed vehicle than a slower fuel efficient design.

The speed of this aircraft would be the same as existing airliners.

We tried super sonic airliners.

It didn't work.

Blended wings are all about high lift to drag ratios, which translates into fuel efficiency. Something like 50% more efficient.

As a bonus, their stubbiness creates greater internal volume and payload.

Nice ideas but i suppose the real trick will be getting them through all the required safety tests that the major government flight agencies want for crash safety etc and then theres ease of maintenance as if it takes twice as long to turn around it'll be a dead duck commercially

Flying triangles are cool. Been flying 'em for nigh on 40 year. Here's my current one.


Here's my first one.

a reply to: Phage

When adults were free to decide for themselves whether ultimately - a beard was sufficient protection in the event of an accident.