Tip Driven Rotor System

The Tip-Driven Rotor System (TDRS) Project is a product designed for KRyanCreative, LLC (KRC), as the basis of a Levitated Annular Rotor System (LARS) for commercial and tactical military vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicles. Conceptually, this design will greatly increase power density and lift capacity over conventional shaft-centric helicopters. The design also enables variable rotational velocity control that can greatly expand the VTOL flight envelope. The LARS innovatively leverages electromagnetism and superconductive levitation in the transfer of energy from vehicle source to aerodynamic lifting surface. The benefits of LARS include: the reduction of wing tip vortices due to a closed rotor system, the elimination of friction of major moving parts and the elimination of electrical losses due to superconductivity. KRC is designing an aircraft capable of carrying one intermodal shipping container as a payload using six LARS. KRC and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in Prescott, AZ have agreed to collaborate on the development of LARS in the form of a senior capstone design project which was not completed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and has been continued as a project for undergraduate research ever since. The current objective of the LARS TDRS is the display of a properly running/operating system. The demonstrator should be capable of meeting the threshold requirements set forth by KRC; generate and sustain, through electromagnetic means, sufficient angular velocity to the rotating assembly to create a useful amount of thrust