At Avalon International Airshow in Melbourne today Australian vertiport developer Skyportz has released a patent for a modular vertipad that ameliorates downwash and outwash in urban locations.
“The Swinburne University study released today has indicated that the Skyportz modular vertipad may dissipate energy up to 250% faster than an air taxi landing on a flat tarmac,” said the company in a press release. “This issue has been highlighted by the FAA in January in their Engineering Brief 105A where the American air regulator indicated that vertipads will need to have a wind safety zone. This safety zone has been defined as where the windspeed exceeds 34.5mph.”
“The Skyportz vertipad patent has some very real applications as cities move to establishing vertiport networks outside of existing airports and helipads”, said Skyportz CEO, Clem Newton-Brown. “It means that with our vertipad you can safely use less land or fit more vertipads onto smaller plots”.
The Skyportz vertipad patent will eventually be made available in emerging global markets under licence, said Clem Newton-Brown. “The vertiport infrastructure is the missing piece of the puzzle for this industry. Without a multitude of new vertipad landing sites in places people want to go, the aircraft will never fulfil their potential,” he said. “The interest from the property industry is rapidly building – we envisage that those properties with vertipads will attract higher rents as businesses seek to provide air taxi services for customers”.
According to Professor Justin Leontini, Department of Mechanical and Product Design Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology: “The design concept of the Skyportz vertipad could dissipate power up to two and a half times faster than if an air taxi were to use a flat concrete landing surface.
The first iteration of the modelling conducted by Swinburne University has experimented with different landing surface treatments described in the patent. The next step will involve adding mechanical devices detailed in the patent under and around the vertipad which should induce “a Magnus effect” and dissipate energy at an even higher rate while directing flows to desired zones away from waiting passengers.
The Skyportz vertipad is protected by Australian provisional patent number 2024901767 with all international rights reserved.
For more information
www.skyportz.com