Flying device

Amusement devices that give the participant a feeling of hovering or flying are known as fairground attractions. However, the known flight devices are designed in such a way that the subscriber or user does not have the opportunity to become active in the use of such amusement devices themselves. It is rather a seat bound, which is forced on a firm path, for example, on rails as with the roller coaster, on a vertical column or on rod arms. The participant can only ride along, but not himself can determine something at the expiration of the experience itself. It can not actively intervene in flight or hovering itself.

The <patcit id="pcit0001" dnum="GB921398A"><text>GB921 398A</text></patcit> Deals with a free-flying space-limited flight by means of a vertical center for high flight speeds and good maneuvering.

The object of the invention is to create a flying device in which active flying or hovering of the participants is possible. This is not only with the aspect of a pleasure device but also, in particular, as a training device for the training of the motor and mental abilities necessary for the flying control of plunger devices.

In order to achieve this object, a flying device with the features of claim 1 is proposed.

The flotation device therefore comprises a hall and at least one flying unit which can be freely flown therein, which preferably takes up one, but possibly also two or even more persons, can start vertically and then freely travel around the hall.

The hall is designed so that its limits prevent a flying unit from leaving the hall. This can be achieved by providing closed walls and a closed ceiling of the hall. However, it is not absolutely necessary that the limits be closed properly. Grids are also considered as limitations, so that the hall forms a kind of cage for the flight units. It is not even necessary that the limitations be formed by mechanical means. It could also be prevented by a remote control that a flying unit leaves a certain space area. On approaching, for example, to a vertical such limitation, the flying unit could be compulsorily deflected or lowered.

The term "hall" is intended to cover structures of the most varied geometric type, as far as they are suitable for accommodating free flying units. The simplest and most economically viable shape is that of a generally convex solid image (claim 2), in particular of a cuboid (claim 3) with rectangular planar lateral surfaces, but non-planar boundary surfaces are also contemplated, eg, round upright bounding surfaces 4).

The structures do not have to be convex on all sides. A particularly suitable variant is that of a flight tube arrangement (claim 5), in particular with self-returning flight tubes (claim 6), in which the flying units can fly on closed paths.

According to claim 7, several halls of different types can also be combined with one another.

In order for the feeling of free flight to be sufficiently apparent, a certain proportion must exist between the flight units and the hall, so that there is sufficient mobility without an immediate approach to the limits. For example, a parallelepipedal hall should have at least twenty or thirty folds of a single flight unit in each direction. The horizontal dimensions of the hall will often be limited, not only by the economically feasible size, but also by the space available in an amusement park or the like.

The flight units will primarily be designed to be able to carry a single person. They must not be too large in their dimensions, ie not as large as a small aircraft, in order to maintain the right size ratio to a practically realizable hall. Such flying units are known per se. For example, at the opening of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, a flyer with a rocket-bearing flight unit floated in the stadium. The fact that these types of flights are now approaching commercial realization is also evident from the essay "Push and lift off" published in the weekly magazine "WELT am SONNTAG" No. 33 of 18 August 2002.

The invention is suitable not only as an attraction for an amusement park or a fair in the sense of a driving business, but also as a permanently fixed installation in the sense of a go-kart track. Also, the invention is not only an entertainment and entertainment item, but can also be used to train flying with flying units of the type in question for sports or professional purposes.

The flying unit could be designed as a flying disc with a platform, in the center of which the person's space is provided and on which a lifting unit arrangement is provided (claim 8). Such a platform could have a diameter of 3 to 5 m, for example, in order to enable it to accommodate a lifting aggregate arrangement of sufficient power.

According to claim 9, the lifting unit arrangement could comprise a plurality of individual lifting units distributed around the center, which lift a uniformly distributed lifting effect around the center.

The uniformity of the lifting action is necessary to keep the platform horizontal. The uniform lifting effect is achieved by appropriate control.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention according to claim 10, the lifting units are operated vertically downwards, in the operating stroke blower, the drive of which can be effected electrically in the embodiment according to claim 11, for example in such a way that the energy supply of the drive according to claim 12 is effected via contact loops in the hall Respectively.

In the alternative embodiment according to claim 13, internal combustion engines are provided for driving the lifting units on the platform. A further alternative consists, according to claim 14, in that the lifting units are designed in the manner of rocket engines.

An important embodiment of the invention is that at least one flight unit is provided with a position detection device so that the position within the hall can be ascertained at any moment.

This is the prerequisite for the flying unit to be controllable by means of a remote control device (claim 16), either to avoid a collision of the flying unit with other flying units or with a limitation of the hall, as required, or to return certain flying units to the ground (Claim 17).

The hall may comprise at least two zones according to claim 18, and flying with the flying unit can be restricted to one or certain zones, for example for beginners to a low ground-level zone.

It is recommended according to claim 19 that at least one flight unit is provided with distance sensors connected to the remote control device in order to eliminate the risk of collisions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Exemplary embodiments of the inventive flotation device are shown schematically in the drawing.<ul><li><figref idrefs="f0001">1a and 1b</figref> Show the outline of possible hall forms;</li><li><figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> 12 is a perspective view of a single flight unit;</li><li><figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> Shows a frontal sectional view of the hall <figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> Approximately along the line III-III in FIG <figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref>;</li><li><figref idrefs="f0002">FIG</figref> Shows a side view of the hall <figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> In the direction of the arrow IV in FIG <figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> a;</li><li><figref idrefs="f0003">FIG</figref> 12 is a partial perspective view of a model of an air-tube assembly.</li></ul>

In the <figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> as a whole by reference 100 Hall has the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped having a floor 1 of a cover 2, two shorter rectangular side surfaces 3 and 4 and two longer side faces 5 and 6. The Fläc hen 2-6 constitute limitations be designed as closed walls And, in this way, leaving the hall 100 by flying units 10 (<figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref>) Or which are designed as "electronic walls" which interact with the control of the flight unit 10 in order to prevent the leaving of the parallelepipedal area.

The cuboid shape is only one embodiment. In<figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> Another possible embodiment 200 of a hall having the shape of an upright cylinder section is shown in FIG <figref idrefs="f0003">FIG</figref> A hall 300, which is configured as an air tube arrangement 40.

In <figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> A single flight element 10 is shown, which in the exemplary embodiment is designed as a flying disk and comprises a platform 7 of circular outline, which carries a dome 8 of transparent material such as plexiglas in the center on the upper side located. A plurality of lifting units 10 'in the form of lifting blowers 9 with downwardly directed nozzles 11 from which the supporting blasting blasts emerge in the sense of the arrows 12 are arranged around the dome 8 on a subcircuit in the platform 7. By means of suitable self-actuated control, it can be ensured that the lifting action of the lifting blowers 9 is uniform over the circumference so that the platform 7 remains substantially horizontal in flight. When the platform 7 has a diameter of approximately 3 m, in the arrangement shown, lifting blowers 9 can accommodate enough power to lift and fly at least one person in the dome 8. The circular plan view of the platform 7 and the number of nine lifting blowers 9 are merely features of the exemplary embodiment, but are not essential.

The person in the dome 8 has one in <figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> Which is indicated by dashed lines, in order to control the power output of the blowers 9 and thus the ascent and descent. It can also determine the movement direction, be it by suitably influencing the lifting blowers 9, or by horizontally acting auxiliary nozzles (not shown).

If the lifting units 10 'of the flying unit 10 are lifting blowers 9, they can be electrically driven, whereby the current can be supplied via appropriate contact loops in the hall 100, 200, 300 in such a way that the free mobility of the flying unit 10 within the Hall 100, 200, 300 is maintained.

However, the drive of the lifting blowers 9 can also be effected by means of internal combustion engines, which reduces the complexity of the installation. It is also not impossible to use a kind of rocket drive instead of the lifting blower 9.

The technical configuration of the flight unit 10 in detail is only to be understood as an exemplary embodiment. The idea is to leave such flying units 10 free in a hall 100, 200, 300, as is the case for Hall 100 in FIG<figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> Is indicated.

In the free interior space 20 of the hall 100, several air units 10 can freely travel around. The flight units 10 are arranged in the<figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> and <figref idrefs="f0002">4</figref> Against the representation in <figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> Simplified reproduced.

The hall 100 has the <figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> Which can be formed, for example, by a trelliswork of metal, so that the flying person has a view into the open air and thus a better flight feeling is possible.

The hall 100 is subdivided into three zones 22, 24, 25 by additional restrictions 21, 22. The lowest zone 23 is ground-level and reserved for beginners. Each flight unit 10 comprises a position detection device which interacts with a remote control device 26 which can identify the individual flight units 10 and can control the stay in the intended zone 23, 24 or 25. In the event of an excess of the zone membership and also in the case of technical problems, by means of the remote control device 26, which has the priority over the manual control device 13 (<figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref>), Each flying unit on the ground 1 can be returned.

Apart from the control by the remote control device 26, distance sensors 27 (FIG.<figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref>) Can be provided in order to avoid collisions with other flight units 10 or the hall borders 3,4,5,6.

The boundaries 21, 22, which divide the zones 23, 24, 25 in the interior 20 of the hall 100, can be "electronic walls". However, when mechanical limits are limited by lattice walls at 21.22, the access to the zones 24, 25 takes place by means of an elevator 28 which conveys a flying unit 10 into one of the raised zones 24, 25 and moves it into the respective zone . However, it is also conceivable that the flying units 10 are first moved by a cable into the higher zones 24, 25, and the connection is not released until the relevant flying unit 10 already floats. By means of such a cable connection, it is also possible to secure the flight unit 10 in the starting phase and to avoid a crash if the required lifting capacity should not be reached.

While the halls 100, 200 have a generally convex shape, FIG <figref idrefs="f0003">FIG</figref> A "hall" 300, which consists of an arrangement 40 of flight tubes 30. The flight tubes 30 are tubular structures, the walls of which, as in the case of the hall 100, can be embodied as closed physical limitations, for example as a gridwork or as plastic panels. However, "electronic walls" also come into consideration for the flight tubes 30. The clear cross-section of the flight tubes 30 is predominantly convex and of a size which allows the flying units 10 to fly without hindrance. In order to avoid pushing against the boundaries, the clear cross-section of a flight tube 30 would have to be approximately five to twenty times the diameter of the flight unit 10 in all directions.

The simplest embodiment of a flight tube arrangement is a straight horizontal flight tube, which can be flown on a straight track, for example in a larger parallelepiped hall 100 or from such a hall into another such hall 100.

The next stage would be an annular flight tube, which allows a closed path of the flight unit 10.

In <figref idrefs="f0003">FIG</figref> A considerably more complex flight tube arrangement 40 is indicated in which slopes are also provided and an extended and varied route can be covered. In the region 31, three sections of the flight tube 30 extend in a plurality of planes one above the other. In the region 32, the flight tube 30 forms a helical path, from which the flight tube 30 merges into a type of dome 33, which is an all-convex "hall". In region 34, the flight tube 30 performs a steep gradient of about 45 °.

The flight tube arrangement 40 is supported by portal-like supporting structures 35. Although it is spatially rather extensive, it can be easily carried out since the flight tube arrangement 40 has only a limiting function and has nothing to bear except for its own weight.