Nilsen Xflier (concept design)

(Image credit: Stian Nilsen)

Xflier (concept design)
Stian Nilsen (inventor)
New York City, New York, USA
www.xflier.org

Based in New York City, New York, USA, Stian Nilsen's background includes being a bar owner, a handyman, a movie grip, a stunt rigger (movies), an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft inventor and more. He is still working in many of these work environments. Nilsen started creating his eVTOL concept design aircraft in 2019. He also patented his eVTOL aircraft design with a U.S. patent issue date of August 3, 2021. Patent Number 11077940. Nilsen's patent is for sale. 

When Nilsen first saw the EHang one passenger multicopter, it peaked his interest in the nascent passenger and air cargo eVTOL industry. He felt the EHang multicopter has inherent safety issues with open rotors at waist level and decided to make his own passenger eVTOL aircraft making the safety of the passengers, anyone else around the aircraft and ground crew his number priority. He also felt that an aircraft that had a longer range than a multicopter aircraft would be more practical for the passenger.

Xflier passenger eVTOL concept design aircraft
The Xflier is a two passenger eVTOL concept design aircraft that includes room for their luggage. The aircraft will have the capability of using a pad to tell the aircraft its departure and destination points. Remote piloting and autonomous piloting will also be an option when the technology is perfected. 

The aircraft has an estimated cruise speed of 150 mph (241 km/h) and has an expected range of 300 m (483 km). The aircraft has an X-wing design. On the end of each wing are four nacelles. Each nacelle has two fan blades and two electric motors that are counter-rotating. The inventor proposes that this offers enhanced power, efficiency, durability and safety compared to exposed propeller systems. The X-wing design eliminates the need for tails, rudders and other control surfaces reducing complexity and maintenance costs while increasing the reliability of the aircraft.

The aircraft is all-electric and is powered by battery packs. The fuselage has a canopy over the cockpit and provides forward, left, right and top visibility for spectacular views of the passengers. The fuselage is made from carbon fiber composite to give the aircraft a high strength to low weight ratio. The landing gear consists of two landing struts and will also land on the bottom of each fan blade nacelle.

Safety features include:

• Nacelles are for maximum safety for the passengers anyone on the ground
• Continuous obstacle sensing ensures situational awareness and safety while in flight
• Standard software settings won’t respond to control inputs that would allow craft to maneuver beyond safe operating parameters
• The aircraft won't take off in bad weather
• In the event of a nacelle failure, the remaining nacelles adjust to compensate, allowing for safe landing.
• Has a standard emergency ballistic parachute

The inventor has stated he has already flown subscale prototypes for his aircraft design. The inventor foresees this aircraft being used for personal and commercial purposes.

It is important to remember that all concept design aircraft specifications are estimated and can or will change as prototypes and production models are made, tested and flown with real world avionics, components and payloads.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: Passenger eVTOL concept design aircraft
• Piloting: Programmable using an iPad. If it is safe to fly. It won't take off if the weather is bad. Remotely or autonomously.
• Capacity: 2 passenger
• Cruise speed: 150 mph (241 km/h)
• Range: 300 m (483 km)
• Maximum payload weight: Unknown
• Propellers: 8 fan blades that are counter-rotating. There are two fan blades in each nacelle.
• Electric motors: 8 electric motors
• Power source: Battery packs
• Charge time:  3 hours
• Fuselage: Carbon fiber composite
• Windows: Canopy over the cockpit allowing allowing forward, left, right and top visibility for spectacular views
• Landing gear: 2 landing struts and also lands on the bottom of the 4 propulsion nacelles
• Safety features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP) uses multiple propellers or electric ducted fans, each powered by electric motors, to increase safety through redundancy. If one or more components fail, the remaining ones can still ensure a safe landing. There are also redundancies of critical components in the sub-systems of the aircraft providing safety through redundancy. Having multiple redundant systems on any aircraft decreases having any single point of failure. There is also a whole aircraft emergency ballistic parachute in case of an unexpected inflight emergency.

Resources:

• Xflier website
• Stian Nilsen LinkedIn