Chatillon Drone Air Cargo (concept design)

Drone Air Cargo (concept design)
Thibault Chatillon (inventor)
Lyon, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, France
website unknown

Since 2007, Thibault Chatillon has been working with, inventing, flying and designing drones, including designing passenger electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Chatillon is based in Lyon, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, France. In addition, he's designed the first vertiport network in France for eVTOL aircraft and drones. Cahtillon is also working on innovative eVTOL aircraft design concepts for advanced aerial mobility (AAM) and air racing. On several of Chatillon's social media accounts, his handle is Tibo Cat Lion.

The Drone Air Cargo eVTOL is a heavy-lift air cargo drone concept design that is flown either remotely or autonomously. The large version shown above has a maximum payload of 500 kg (1,102 lb). The aircraft has been designed to be scalable. See the graphics on this web page to see small, medium and large versions of the Drone Air Cargo aircraft.

The aircraft has canard wings connected underneath by two booms parallel to the fuselage. The heavy-lift cargo drone has four propellers facing downward on each boom for VTOL-only flight. Under the rear wing are four electric ducted fans (EDFs) for forward, rearward and positioning flight. The aircraft uses at least 12 electric motors for aircraft propulsion.

The fuselage has a typical tubular aircraft fuselage design and cargo can be loaded from the front and rear of the aircraft. The aircraft lands on fixed tricycle wheeled landing gear. The aircraft has been designed for flight within cities, between two cities and for rural air cargo flights. If fitted with pontoons, the aircraft with appropriate modifications, could land in the water.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: eVTOL heavy-lift scalable cargo drone concept design
• Piloting: Remote or autonomous
• Capacity: Cargo
• Maximum payload: 500 kg (1,102 lb)
• Propellers: 8 VTOL propellers mounted on two booms, 4 electric ducted fans (EDF) for forward flight
• Electric motors: 12 electric motors
• Power source: Batteries
• Fuselage: Carbon fiber composite
• Wings: Canard wings with low angled winglets
• Landing gear: Fixed tricycle wheeled landing gear
• Safety features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP), provides safety through redundancy for its passengers and/or cargo. DEP means having multiple propellers (or ducted fans) and motors on the aircraft so if one or more propellers (ducted fans) or motors fail, the other working propellers (or ducted fans) and motors can safely land the aircraft. There are also redundancies in the sub-systems of the aircraft.

Resources:

• Thibault Chatillon Facebook
• Tibo Cat Lion (Thibault Chatillon) Twitter
• Tibo Cat Lion (Thibault Chatillon) YouTube Channel
• Tibo Cat Lion (Thibault Chatillon) Instagram
• Thibault Chatillon LinkedIn
• Tibo Cat Lion (Thibault Chatillon) Tumblr
• Tibo Cat Lion (Thibault Chatillon) Pinterest (France)
• AirNova (vertiport network for France) website
• AirNova LinkedIn
• Article: Les drones du Thouarsais recherchent leur cible, Lanouveller Republique, Nov. 11, 2014