Electric Hybrid Air Cushion Vehicle

Technical AbstractThis application proposes a Green yet high-performing hybrid electric Air Cushion Vehicle, which is a combination of quad-copter and hovercraft. The new capability necessary to deliver this design and subject of Phase I research is a sectioned plenum box design, a skirt design that acts as an airfoil in flight, and lightweight lift fans with dual motor multi-engine reliability.The primary technical question to be answered in Phase I is will enough additional lift and or thrust be produced in the testing compared to the control, that when mathematically applied to the available surface of a theoretical full-size craft would it overcome the weight of the said craft and fly with enough battery charge life to complete the mission in five hours and return with ten percent reserve. The Phase I effort consists of the construction of control and experimental testbeds, conduct of testing, and comparison to control. These experiments will validate our key design differences to past designs in order to prove the feasibility of a successful Phase II prototype.