Flying car - a subversive car direction favored by many giants and bosses, and the latest ranking of technology reserve pattern has been exposed. Based on patents. This is also the first authoritative report on the theme of flying cars in the world. Compiled and released by Japan Patent Office, covering the world, from 2012 to 2018. This survey report mainly focuses on the global patents related to flying vehicle technology. It makes a detailed statistics on the total number of patent applications of various countries, enterprises and technologies. It can be summarized into three points: First, from a national perspective, China and the United States go hand in hand and lead the world. From 2012 to 2018, 584 patents related to flying vehicles were filed in the United States, 574 patents were filed in China, 307 patents were filed in Europe, followed by Japan and South Korea. Second, from the perspective of enterprises, the innovation of Chinese companies in Dajiang ranks first in the world, and American enterprises occupy eight seats in the top ten, such as Amazon technology, Bell Helicopter, Wal Mart, Uber, etc. Third, Foshan Shenfeng Aviation Technology Co., Ltd., the largest dark horse player, ranks third in the world in patent applications and first in the world in patent applications related to rechargeable batteries. But to be honest, this is a company that may not be well known in China. The latest patents of flying cars? Back to the technical content of the patent itself, we can see it from six dimensions: The first is the body of the flying car, and the multi rotor type is the most concerned. China has applied for the largest number of patents in this regard, up to 232, followed by the United States, 148, and only 46 in Europe. What is a multi rotor airframe? It is a common aircraft, which can take off and land vertically. The mechanical structure is very simple. It only needs to connect the motor directly to the propeller to realize the power system. The advantages are: simple operation, high reliability and low maintenance cost. The disadvantage is that the load and endurance time are relatively poor. In addition, the number of relevant patents of thrust vector type is also large worldwide, ranking the second in total, but it has been going downhill since 2017, while the total number of lift cruise type ranks the third, with a rapid growth after 2017. The second is the "wing" of the flying car. Major players in the world are aiming at the propeller, that is, the rotating wing. China has applied for 345 related patents, the United States has applied for 292 patents and Europe has applied for 80 patents. In addition, many players have paid attention to the fixed wing. China has applied for 102 patents and the United States has applied for 57 patents. What is the difference between "rotating wing" and "fixed wing"? Fixed wing aircraft has a long history, mature technology and very safe, but take-off and landing have high requirements for the runway. Rotary wing aircraft does not need runway, but it has small payload and low safety factor. The third is the driving source. All countries in the world are studying electric motors without exception. China has applied for 335 related patents, while the United States has applied for 281 and Europe has applied for 82. It seems that everyone wants to build a pure electric flying car. Is there a hybrid flying car? China has applied for 47 patents in this regard, the United States has applied for 22, followed by Europe. The fourth is the source of electricity, and the most popular is rechargeable batteries. The United States has applied for 241 related patents, China has applied for 238 patents and Europe has applied for 61 patents. Are there any other possibilities besides rechargeable batteries? In fact, some people are also studying fuel cells and generators, but at present, the number of patents applied for is very small. The fifth is the control device of flying vehicle, which mainly focuses on vertical takeoff and landing control. For example, the United States has applied for 62 related patents, China has applied for 54 and Europe has applied for 24. The last is the communication equipment of flying cars. The United States attaches particular importance to it. This alone has applied for 156 patents, followed by China, which has applied for 58 patents and Europe, which has applied for 19 patents. In addition, the report also combed from the publication dimension. In terms of quantity, 152 papers related to flying vehicles were published in Europe from 2012 to 2021, ranking first in the world, 94 in the United States and 42 in China, including 8 in Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Therefore, Europe's progress in this field is likely to accelerate. The biggest dark horse: Foshan Shenfeng aviation technology There is no doubt that Foshan Shenfeng Aviation Technology Co., Ltd. is the biggest dark horse in this flying car report. I don't know if you've heard of it before, but in this patent statistical ranking, it ranks third in the world, behind Dajiang, with 71 patents related to flying cars. It is worth noting that all 71 patents were applied for in China. What patents have been applied for? These patents are invention patents, such as 4WD flying car, new flying car, multifunctional flying car, self generating electric flying car, vertical takeoff and landing flying car, flight rescue car, etc. Generally speaking, invention patents have high gold content, transfer value, wide protection scope, protection period of 20 years, difficult application and high cost. The threshold for the application of utility model patent is low, and the protection period is ten years. So some names are unknown, but they have some family background. In addition to the field of aircraft technology, they have also applied for patents on some robots, fitness equipment, ship equipment, household and educational toys, such as symmetrical bipolar propulsion device for ships, seaplane, new adjustable dumbbell, automatic rotary fitness device, labor-saving walker, flying robot that can do housework, plastic potted plants that can detect harmful gases, etc. The company was founded in 2013 and is located in the science and Technology Incubation Center of Gaoming District, Foshan City. Its legal representative is Wang Zhicheng and its registered capital is 246913600. Who is Wang Zhicheng? According to Foshan wenming.com, Wang Zhicheng is a Post-70s student from Hunan. He majored in refrigeration equipment and low temperature technology in University, and has nothing to do with aviation at all. As a child, I loved aircraft. When I was in high school, I went south to Foshan, Guangdong to do summer work in order to save money to buy aviation related books. In 2000, he applied for the first utility model patent. After tasting the joy of success, in 2013, he resigned as the chief engineer of the electrical appliance company, came to Gaoming to start a business and established the current company. In 2018, he was selected as the fourth entrepreneurial leader in Foshan. In addition, Wang Zhicheng is also a representative entrepreneur of local innovation and entrepreneurship in Foshan. The laboratory and office space have received local support, and the invention patents have also been funded by local finance. Wang Zhicheng did not have much exposure, but in an interview, he admitted that although he had obtained many patents, he rarely made products except prototype. He thought it was a pity. He also said: "patents have a time limit. I hope to find venture capital companies and enterprises before the expiration of patents to realize the transformation of patent achievements, so that these invention patents will eventually produce social and economic benefits." Other domestic layout of flying car patents? Whether it can be transformed into actual products or not, patents can reflect the achievements of mental labor and the level of technological development to a certain extent. What are the patents related to flying cars applied for in China from 2012 to 2018? It can be divided into the following categories: For multi rotor type, China has applied for 232 related patents, ranking first in the world. On behalf of players, there are "multi rotor manned aircraft" of Yihang intelligence, Beihang and Dajiang. Propeller, China has applied for 345 related patents, also ranked first. For example, the "locking mechanism of propeller, propeller, motor, power assembly and unmanned aerial vehicle" applied by Dajiang in 2016 and the "propeller installation structure, propeller, power suit and unmanned aerial vehicle" applied in 2018 belong to invention patents. For vertical takeoff and landing control, Northwest University of technology and Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics have done relevant research, and the patents applied are "composite vertical takeoff and landing long endurance electric UAV" and "short-range / vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with variant landing gear" respectively. There are also some forward-looking academic research on the academic papers related to flying vehicles. For example, in 2017, Xu Bin and Tian Fugang of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics published a paper entitled "analysis of dynamic matching of flying vehicle in take-off stage based on dual-mode drive". Aiming at the problem of dynamic matching of folding wing flying vehicle in take-off stage, this paper studied the basic power control strategy, analyzed the dual-mode drive characteristics in take-off stage through theoretical calculation, and put forward the concept of optimal switching time. In 2018, Xu Weihan of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics also published a paper entitled "overall scheme design of self rotating rotor flying vehicle". This paper mainly studies the analysis and design methods of various configurations of self rotating rotor, which can provide some references for the configuration of self rotating rotor flying vehicle. The above all reflect the key research direction and development trend of flying vehicles in the future. However, it may be hard for the above researchers to think that until the 2020's, flying cars will not be more mentioned in the wave of new cars, and even explore the future traffic forms, with a special evtol (electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle) track. What's more, Japan, which is densely populated, began to study it seriously as a "national policy". Of course, for flying cars, some people are optimistic and others are not optimistic. Among those who are not optimistic, the most famous one is Elon Musk - yes, musk, the helmsman of Tesla and SpaceX. He said that flying cars are noisy and can't make the world a better place, so he built rockets and spacecraft and promoted energy sustainability, but flying cars, he doesn't. (Xinhua News Agency)