JP6536996B2 - Vertical dropping device - Google Patents

Description

  BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vertical drop apparatus, and more particularly, to a technology for dropping a dropped object vertically downward from a small unmanned airplane equipped with a plurality of rotary wings.

  Conventionally, small unmanned aerial vehicles represented by industrial unmanned helicopters are expensive and difficult to obtain, and they require skill in operation in order to make them fly stably. However, in recent years, sensors and software used for attitude control and autonomous flight of unmanned aerial vehicles have greatly improved, and this has made it possible to significantly improve the operability of unmanned aerial vehicles and obtain inexpensive high-performance aircraft. . From this background, at present, especially for small-sized multicopters, applications to various missions in a wide range of fields as well as for hobby purposes are being tried.

  A multicopter is a type of helicopter equipped with a plurality of rotors, and it flies while balancing the airframe by adjusting the rotational speed of each of these rotors. Unlike a helicopter, the multicopter has a simple structure, so it is excellent in maintainability and can be configured at a relatively low cost.

Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 08-324499

  Patent Document 1 discloses an apparatus for dropping a fire extinguishing agent consisting of water or medicine from a helicopter on which a pilot rides to a fire point. The fire extinguishing agent dropping device of Patent Document 1 includes an infrared camera mounted so as to face the lower front of the helicopter, and a laser ranging device mounted so as to face the lower right direction, and the output of the laser ranging device and the helicopter The fire extinguishing agent is automatically dropped when the arrival point of the extinguishing agent calculated from the flight speed of and the point reached with the infrared radiation point by the fire captured by the infrared camera.

  The fire extinguisher dropping device of Patent Document 1 is arranged such that an infrared camera for photographing a fire point is directed to the lower front of the helicopter (claim 1). This means that the extinguishant dispensing apparatus of Patent Document 1 is based on the idea of dropping the extinguishant in a parabolic manner while flying a helicopter. Moreover, since the fire extinguishing agent which the fire extinguisher injection | throwing-in apparatus of patent document 1 throws is water or a chemical | medical agent (Claim 1), it is estimated that the thrown-out fire extinguishing agent spreads widely.

  When the fire extinguishing agent is dropped from the sky in a parabolic manner, an error is expected to occur between the theoretical dropping trajectory and the actual dropping trajectory. When the fire extinguishing agent is dropped to be diffused to a wide range of fire points as in the fire extinguisher dropping device of Patent Document 1, the influence of such an error of the drop trajectory is relatively small. However, for example, when a solid fire extinguisher is thrown to a small fire point, such an error greatly affects the fire extinguishing efficiency. In addition, manned helicopters generally fly with gasoline and kerosene fuels, and the safety of the pilot should be respected even if it is a helicopter for disaster countermeasures. Therefore, the distance in which the helicopter of Patent Document 1 can approach the fire point and the time during which the helicopter can stay are limited to the range in which the safety of the pilot can be secured.

  In view of the above-mentioned problems, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a vertical dropper capable of dropping dropped objects vertically downward from a small unmanned aerial vehicle to a target point.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned subject, the vertical dropping device of the present invention is provided with a small unmanned aerial vehicle provided with a plurality of rotors, a transport container capable of containing and dropping dropped objects, and an actuator for operating the transport container. The transport container is fixed to the lower part of the small unmanned aerial vehicle relatively immovably, the bottom of the transport container is constituted by two bottom plates arranged in the width direction, and the bottom plates are respectively When the other end on the bottom plate side is the front end and the opposite end is the rear end, the bottom plates are inclined downward at the same inclination angle from the rear end toward the front end The two bottom plates can be developed simultaneously and in symmetrical trajectories.

  A bottom transportable container is fixed to a small unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a plurality of rotors, and in a state where such a small unmanned aerial vehicle is hovered just above the target point, the two bottom plates constituting the bottom of the transfer container It is possible to drop the dumped material stored in the transport container vertically downward by unfolding it with a simultaneous and symmetrical trajectory. In addition, by tilting each bottom plate portion downward from the rear end to the tip at the same inclination angle, it is possible to stably arrange dropped articles in the transport container around the boundary line of these bottom plate portions, and the development of the bottom portion Sometimes it is possible to prevent the dropping off of one of the semi-cylindrical bodies. Further, by immobilizing the transport container to the lower part of the small unmanned aerial vehicle relative to the lower part of the small unmanned airplane, the swing of the transport container during hovering can be minimized.

  The transport container has a main body having a cylindrical outer shape when the bottom is closed, and two lids closing the openings at both ends of the main body, and the main body is either The two halves of the lower half of the two halves constitute the bottom, and the upper end of each half is It is rotatably supported along a circumferential direction of the fixed shaft by a fixed shaft which is a common shaft disposed parallel to the upper end, and the two half cylinders are simultaneously and symmetrically It is preferable that the trajectory is deployable.

  By rotatably supporting the two half cylinders (and the bottom plate portion) with one fixed shaft, the structure is simplified as compared with the case where each half cylinder is supported by different shafts. , It becomes easy to control the expansion operation of these semi-cylindrical bodies at one place.

  Further, the main body portion has an outer shape in the form of a rectangular tube when the bottom portion is closed, and each of the half cylinders has an L-shaped cross section as viewed from any one of the openings, and the two bottom plates It is preferable that convex tooth parts provided alternately along the longitudinal direction are formed at the tip of the part, and when the bottom part is closed, the tooth parts of the two bottom plates are engaged.

  The main body is constituted by two semi-cylindrical bodies of L-shaped cross section, and the teeth provided at the tip of each bottom plate are engaged with each other to increase the bending rigidity of the main body in each planar direction. .

  In addition, the transfer container further has a synchronization mechanism for synchronizing the opening and closing operations of the two semi-cylindrical bodies, and the synchronization mechanism is a fixed link piece which is a link piece in which a long hole is formed and two movable link pieces. And a movable shaft which is a common shaft inserted into the elongated holes of all the link pieces, the fixed link piece being the fixed shaft, and the two movable link pieces being the respective half cylinders. The fixed link pieces are respectively arranged at an angle at which the elongated holes extend in the vertical direction, and the movable link pieces among the elongated holes are fixed to the upper end portion of the outer peripheral surface. It is preferable to arrange at a symmetrical angle with respect to the fixed link piece so that only the inserted part overlaps with the long hole of the fixed link piece.

  When the transport container has the above-mentioned synchronization mechanism, the opening and closing angles of the two half cylinders can be centrally determined at the position of the movable shaft in the long hole of the fixed link. Thereby, when one of the half cylinders is opened and closed, the other half cylinder is also opened and closed in conjunction with the operation, and the synchronization of the opening and closing timing, the opening and closing speed, and the opening angle of these two half cylinders is performed. Secured structurally.

  Further, two fixed link pieces are disposed at predetermined intervals along the axial direction of the fixed shaft, and each movable link piece is disposed between the two fixed link pieces in the axial direction. Is preferred.

  The configuration in which each movable link piece is sandwiched between two fixed link pieces can prevent the tilt of the movable shaft, and can improve the stability of the operation of the synchronization mechanism.

  Further, it is preferable that the actuator is connected to only one of the two half cylinders.

  Only one of the half cylinders is opened and closed by the actuator, and the other half cylinder follows the operation of the one half cylinder by the synchronization mechanism. The bottom plate portion can be opened and closed simultaneously and in a symmetrical trajectory.

  Further, at least one of the two lids is a rotary lid rotatably supported on the fixed shaft in the circumferential direction about the fixed shaft, and the rotary lid is an elastic member. The rotary lid is always urged toward the main body side, the rotation of the rotary lid is restricted at the position where the opening is closed, and the rotary lid is pulled away from the transport container against the biasing force of the elastic member. It is preferable to be able to rotate.

  If you need to open the semi-cylindrical part of the transport container to accommodate the dumped material when storing the dumped goods in the transport container, work the small unmanned airplane all over the machine or turn off the transport container from the small unmanned airplane Have to work. When the transport container is provided with the rotary lid, the dumped material can be stored in the transport container from the opening with the rotary lid opened, and the storage operation of the dumped material can be made efficient.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the camera which faces vertically downward at the time of closing of the said bottom part is arrange | positioned at the said bottom part.

  The dumped material accommodated in the transport container is dropped vertically below the bottom by the expansion of the bottom. By arranging a camera for shooting vertically downward at the bottom of the transport container, the operator can adjust the airborne position of the small unmanned aerial vehicle while confirming the dropping position of the dropped object from the image taken with the camera It becomes. This makes it possible to significantly improve the accuracy of the droppings.

  As described above, according to the vertical dropping apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to drop the dropped object vertically downward from the small unmanned aerial vehicle to the target point.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of the vertical drop apparatus concerning embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of a vertical drop apparatus. It is a perspective view of a conveyance container. It is a front view of a conveyance container. It is a side view of a conveyance container. It is a front view which shows expansion | deployment operation | movement of a conveyance container. It is an explanatory view showing structure and opening-and-closing operation of a lid. It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of the vertical drop apparatus concerning other embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the vertical drop apparatus concerning other embodiment.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a vertical drop apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The vertical drop apparatus of the present embodiment is an apparatus that moves to a fire point by remote control by wireless communication, and drops a fire extinguisher vertically downward from above the fire point.

(Outline of configuration of vertical dropper)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a vertical dropper 90 according to the present embodiment. The vertical drop apparatus 90 mainly includes a multicopter 91 which is a small unmanned airplane equipped with a plurality of rotary wings 911 and a transfer container 92 fixed to the lower part thereof so as not to be relatively movable. The multi-copter 91 moves to a position just above the fire point according to the operator's instruction, and expands the transfer container 92 in the air while hovering, whereby the spherical fire extinguisher 93 contained in the transfer container 92 (droplet) To the fire point. Here, "relative movement impossible" means that the multicopter 91 and the transport container 92 are integrally connected by an indeformable member, and there is no room where they can move independently. As a result, the swing of the transfer container 92 during hovering of the multicopter 91 is minimized. Although the multicopter 91 in the present embodiment is provided with six rotary wings 911, the number of rotary wings 911 may be four.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the vertical dropper 90. As shown in FIG. The multicopter 91 mainly has a flight controller 83 that controls the attitude and flight operation of the multicopter 91 in the air, a plurality of rotary wings 911 that generate lift on the multicopter 91 by rotating, and a pilot (transceiver 81) , And a battery 84 for supplying power thereto.

  The flight controller 83 includes a controller 831 which is a microcontroller. The control device 831 includes a CPU which is a central processing unit, a RAM / ROM which is a storage device, and a PWM controller which controls the DC motor 86. The DC motor 86 is a plurality of outer rotor type DC brushless motors, and rotary blades 911 are attached to the output shaft of each DC motor 86. An ESC (Electric Speed Controller) 85 is disposed for each DC motor 86, and controls the rotational speed of each DC motor 86 based on an instruction from the PWM controller.

  The flight controller 83 also includes a sensor group 832 and a GPS receiver 833, which are connected to the controller 831. The sensor group 832 of the multicopter 91 includes an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor (angular velocity sensor), an atmospheric pressure sensor, a geomagnetic sensor (electronic compass), and the like.

  The RAM / ROM of the control device 831 stores a flight control program in which a flight control algorithm at the time of flight of the multicopter 91 is implemented. The controller 831 uses the information acquired from the sensor group 832 to control the attitude of the multicopter 91 in a constant manner by the flight control program. The flight operation of the multicopter 91 may be manually performed by the pilot, or may be implemented autonomously by separately implementing an autonomous flight program in which flight plans such as GPS coordinates, altitude, flight routes, etc. are parameterized. It is also good.

  The transport container 92 is provided with a servo 70 (actuator) which is a drive source for opening and closing the transport container 92. The servo 70 is connected to the PWM controller of the control device 831. The dropping control program registered in the RAM / ROM of the control device 831 operates the servo 70 according to an instruction from the driver (transceiver 81) to open and close the transfer container 92. The expansion operation of the transport container 92 by the servo 70 may be automatically performed, for example, on the condition that the multicopter 91 has arrived at a preset coordinate position.

(Configuration outline of transport container)
The configuration of the transfer container 92 will be described below using FIGS. 3 to 5. 3 is a perspective view of the transport container 92, FIG. 4 is a front view of the transport container 92, and FIG. 5 is a side view of the transport container 92. As shown in FIG. The terms “front” and “rear” in the transport container of the present invention refer to the relative positional relationship in the Z-axis direction shown in the coordinate axis display of each drawing, and the transport container 92 shown in FIG. Here, "front" refers to the left side, and "rear" refers to the right side. Similarly, “left” and “right” are relative positional relationships in the X-axis direction, and mean the left and right of the transfer container 92 shown in FIG. 4. “Upper” and “down” are relative positional relationships in the Y-axis direction, and mean the upper and lower sides of the transfer container 92 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

  The transport container 92 mainly has a main body 20 having a rectangular cylindrical outer shape, a drive for opening and closing the lid 30 which is a two rectangular plate member closing the opening at both ends of the main body 20, and the main body 20 The servo 70 which is the source, the synchronization mechanism 60 which synchronizes the opening and closing operation of the right half cylinder 21 and the left half cylinder 22 described later, and the fixed unit 50 which connects the transport container 92 and the multicopter 91 so as to make relative movement impossible. It is configured.

(Structure of the main unit)
The main body 20 includes a right half cylinder 21 and a left half cylinder 22 which are two half cylinders divided into right and left as viewed from any opening of the main body 20. , 22 each have an L-shaped cross section as viewed from the same opening (see FIG. 6).

  The right bottom plate portion 21 a and the left bottom plate portion 22 a, which are lower halves of the right half cylinder 21 and the left half cylinder 22, constitute a bottom portion 20 a of the transport container 92. In each of the bottom plate portions 21a and 22a, when the end on the other side of the bottom plate portion 21a or 22a is the front end and the end on the opposite side is the rear end, the upper surface of each bottom plate portion 21a or 22a is the rear end Are inclined downward at the same inclination angle toward the tip. Further, convex tooth portions 21d and 22d alternately provided along the longitudinal direction are formed at the tip of each of the bottom plate portions 21a and 22a, and these tooth portions 21d and 22d are closed at the bottom portion 20a. Sometimes they are meshed with each other.

  In the present embodiment, the inclination angle of each of the bottom plate portions 21a and 22a is 45 degrees, but the inclination angle of the bottom plate portions 21a and 22a is the same as the shape of the dropping object, provided that the two bottom plate portions have the same inclination angle. You may change suitably according to a magnitude | size. The half cylinders 21 and 22 in the present embodiment are L-shaped in cross section in order to enhance the bending rigidity in the planar direction of the main body 20a, and the tooth portions at the tips of the bottom plates 21a and 22a Although 21d and 22d are configured to be engaged, such a shape or structure is not essential. Each semi-cylindrical body may be semicircular or polygonal in cross section according to the shape and size of the dropping object, provided that it has a cylindrical shape when the bottom is closed. Similarly, the upper surfaces of the bottom plate portions 21a and 22a do not have to be flat surfaces, and a curved surface or a plurality of flat surfaces whose inclination angles are gradually reduced from the rear end to the front end It may be a continuous surface.

  A fixed shaft 40, which is a common shaft disposed parallel to the upper end portions, is provided at the upper end portions of the half-cylinders 21 and 22. In the vicinity of the upper end of the outer peripheral surface of each semi-cylindrical body 21, 22, connection pieces 21c, 22c consisting of three plate members are provided at both ends in the longitudinal direction of each semi-cylindrical body 21, 22 and in the middle thereof. Each is arranged. The upper end portions of the half cylinders 21 and 22 are rotatably supported by the fixed shaft 40 by the connection pieces 21c and 22c. Since the two half cylinders 21 and 22 are rotatably supported by one fixed shaft 40, the structure of the main body 20 is simplified, and the unfolding operation of these half cylinders 21 and 22 is one It is easy to control in place.

  Further, on the outer peripheral surface of each semi-cylindrical body 21, 22, a plate-like member extending around the corner of each semi-cylindrical body 21, 22 at the same position as the connecting piece 21c, 22c in the longitudinal direction The reinforcing ribs 21b and 22b are provided, and the rigidity of the half-cylinders 21 and 22 is reinforced by the reinforcing ribs 21b and 22b.

(Configuration of fixed unit)
The fixing unit 50 according to the present embodiment includes an arm 52, a rod 51, a horizontal plate 53, and a servo fixing plate 54 described below. The arm portion 52 is a pair of plate-like members fixed to both ends in the axial direction of the fixed shaft 40, and two arms extending at a symmetrical angle upward in the left and right directions with the fixed shaft 40 as the base end. It has an arm. The rod-like body 51 is two round pipes arranged in parallel with the axial direction of the fixed shaft 40, and both ends thereof are supported by the tip of the arm of the front and rear arms 52, respectively. The horizontal plates 53 are two plate members disposed behind the rod-like members 51 and connecting the rod-like members 51 in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction thereof. The servo fixing plate 54 is a plate-like member disposed so that the end face is opposed to the longitudinal direction in the longitudinal direction of the lateral plates 53. The position of the servo 70 is fixed by being attached to the servo fixing plate 54. The fixing unit 50 may be any unit as long as it can fix the transport container 92 to the lower part of the multicopter 91 so as not to move relatively, and can be appropriately changed according to the outer shape of the multicopter 91.

(Configuration of servo)
The servo 70 is a drive source for opening and closing the transfer container 92 as described above. An arm portion 71 extending radially outward is attached to the output shaft of the servo 70. The arm portion 71 (and the output shaft) pivots in the vertical direction within a predetermined angle range in accordance with an instruction from the multicopter 91. The tip end of the arm portion 71 is connected to the right half cylinder body 21 via the connecting shaft 72, whereby the right half cylinder body 21 pivots in the opening direction and the closing direction in conjunction with the vertical movement of the arm portion 71. Do. The left half cylinder 22 is pivoted in the opening direction and the closing direction in conjunction with the operation of the right half cylinder 21 by the synchronization mechanism 60 described later.

  Both ends of the connecting shaft 72 are connected by ball joints to the tip of the arm portion 71 and the connecting piece 21 c on the rear side of the right half cylinder 21. Further, the shaft body of the connecting shaft 72 is formed by circumferentially rotatably connecting the two halves divided at the center in the axial direction, whereby the ball joints at both ends can also be relatively rotated in the circumferential direction. It is assumed. The driving force of the servo 70 is converted by the connecting shaft 72 from vertical movement of the arm 71 around the output shaft of the servo 70 to vertical movement of the right half cylinder 21 around the fixed shaft 40. Being transmitted.

(Configuration of synchronization mechanism)
The synchronization mechanism 60 includes a fixed link piece 61 and a movable link piece 62 which are flat link pieces in which an elongated hole is formed along the longitudinal direction, and a common shaft inserted in the elongated holes of all the link pieces. The fixed link piece 61 is fixed to the fixed shaft 40, and the movable link piece 62 is fixed to the upper end vicinity part in the outer peripheral surface of each half-cylinders 21 and 22, respectively.

  The fixed link piece 61 is composed of a front fixed link piece 611 and a rear fixed link piece 612 arranged at a predetermined interval along the axial direction of the fixed shaft 40, and these fixed link pieces 611 and 612 have their lengths The holes 611a and 612a (612a are not shown) are disposed at an angle extending in the vertical direction.

  The right movable link piece 621 which is the movable link piece 62 of the right half cylinder body 21 and the left movable link piece 622 which is the movable link piece 62 of the left half cylinder body 22 , 22c, which are integrally formed with those disposed at the center in the longitudinal direction of the respective half-cylinders 21, 22. Thus, the right movable link piece 621 and the left movable link piece 622 rotate around the fixed shaft 40 in the circumferential direction of the fixed shaft 40 when the half cylinders 21 and 22 are opened and closed.

  The right movable link piece 621 and the left movable link piece 622 are disposed between the two fixed link pieces 611 and 612 in the axial direction of the fixed shaft 40. Among the elongated holes 621a and 622a of the movable link pieces 621 and 622, only the portion through which the movable shaft 63 is inserted overlaps the elongated holes 611a and 612a of the two fixed link pieces 611 and 612. They are arranged at symmetrical angles in the circumferential direction of 20. By arranging the movable link pieces 621 and 622 between the two fixed link pieces 611 and 612, the tilt of the movable shaft 63 is prevented, and the stability of the operation of the synchronization mechanism 60 is enhanced.

(Structure of lid)
The structure of the lid 30 for closing the openings at both ends of the main body 20 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 5 and 7. The lid 30 is formed of two plate-like members substantially in the same shape as the opening of the main body 20, and the lid 30 is rotatably supported at both ends of the fixed shaft 40. The lid 30 comprises a front rotary lid 31 arranged at the front end of the fixed shaft 40 and a rear rotary lid 32 arranged at the rear end, and these rotary lids 31 and 32 are elastic members The coil springs 311 and 321 are constantly urged toward the main body 20 by the coil springs 311 and 321.

  Hereinafter, the front rotary lid 31 will be mainly described, but the structure of the front rotary lid 31 described below is the same as for the rear rotary lid 32. At the upper end of the front rotation lid 31, there is formed a connection piece 31a provided with a hole through which the fixed shaft 40 is inserted. The front rotation lid 31 is rotatably supported in the circumferential direction around the fixed shaft 40 by inserting the fixed shaft 40 through the connection piece 31 a.

  As shown in FIG. 7, on the end face of the connection piece 31a side (the front rotation lid 31 side) at the base end of the arm 52, a positioning projection 313 is formed which is a projection projecting toward the connection piece 31a. . When the front rotation lid 31 is disposed at an angle at which the opening of the main body portion 20 is closed, the positioning hole 312 in which the positioning protrusion 313 is fitted is provided at the portion of the connecting piece 31a corresponding to the formation position of the positioning protrusion 313. It is formed. Thereby, when the opening of the main body portion 20 is closed, the rotation of the front rotation lid 31 is restricted, and can be rotated by being pulled away from the transport container 92 against the biasing force of the coil spring 311.

  When accommodating the fire extinguisher 93 in the transfer container 92, if it is necessary to unfold the main body 20 of the transfer container 92 and store the extinguisher 93, the multicopter 91 is turned over with the airframe, or the multicopter is operated. It is necessary to remove the transport container 92 from 91 and work. Since the transport container 92 includes the rotary lids 31 and 32, the fire extinguisher 93 can be accommodated in the transport container 92 from the opening with the rotary lids 31 and 32 opened, and the operation of housing the fire extinguisher 93 is efficient. It is done. In addition, although it is set as the rotation lid which can open and close both of two lids 30 in this embodiment, a rotation lid may be only any one of these.

(Conveying container expansion operation)
The expansion operation of the transfer container 92 will be described below with reference to FIG. The conveyance container 92 of FIG. 6 is abbreviate | omitting the display of the front rotation lid 31 which is the front lid 30, and the fixed unit 50 for convenience of explanation.

  While the multicopter 91 is landing, one of the rotary lids 31 and 32 of the transfer container 92 is opened to accommodate the fire extinguisher 93 in the transfer container 92, and the multicopter 91 is made to fly to the fire point. As mentioned above, the flight to the fire point may be performed manually by the pilot using the transceiver 81 or may be made to fly automatically by an autonomous flight program.

  When the multicopter 91 arrives directly above the dropping position of the fire extinguisher 93 at the fire point, the multicopter 91 is hovered at that position until the position of the fire extinguisher 93 in the transport container 92 settles down. Since the multicopter 91 is an unmanned airplane, there is no restriction for the purpose of securing the safety of the pilot with respect to the approach to the fire point. Therefore, the multicopter 91 can be brought close to the fire point to the limit as long as deformation and burnout of the airframe do not occur.

  The upper surfaces of the bottom plate portions 21a and 22a in the present embodiment are inclined surfaces whose entire surfaces are flat surfaces, and since these inclined surfaces are inclined at the same inclination angle, the fire extinguisher 93 has two bottom plate portions 21a and 22a. It is stably placed on the border line. When the position of the fire extinguisher 93 in the transport container 92 is settled, the drop control program read into the RAM of the control device 831 is expanded to the servo 70 via the PWM controller according to the instruction from the operator (transceiver 81). Send

  When the servo 70 receives the deployment signal, the servo 70 pulls the right half cylinder 21 upward via the arm portion 71 and the connecting shaft 72. When the right half cylinder 21 is pulled upward, the right movable link piece 621 of the right half cylinder 21 tilts toward the left half cylinder 22 so that the angle of the long hole 621a approaches the horizontal position, The movable shaft 63 is pushed downward in the long holes 611 a and 612 a of the fixed link piece 61. When the movable shaft 63 moves down the long holes 611a and 612a of the fixed link piece 61, the left movable link piece 622 of the left half cylinder 22 interlocks with it so that the angle of the long hole 622a approaches the horizontal position. Tilt to the right half cylinder 21 side. As a result, the two half-cylinders 21 and 22 (two bottom plates 21a and 22a) are developed at the same time and in symmetrical trajectories.

  The transport container 92 has the synchronization mechanism 60, so that the opening and closing angles of the two half cylinders 21 and 22 can be centrally determined by the position of the movable shaft 63 in the long holes 612a and 622a of the fixed link 61. Become. Thereby, when any one of the two half cylinders 21 and 22 is opened and closed, the other half cylinder is also opened and closed in conjunction with the operation, and the opening and closing timing of these two half cylinders 21 and 22; Synchronization of the opening / closing speed and the opening / closing angle is structurally secured.

  Thus, from the state where the transport container 92 in which the bottom portion 20a is deployable is fixed to the multicopter 91 including the plurality of rotary wings 911 and the multicopter 91 is hovered, the same inclination constituting the bottom portion 20a of the transport container 92 By expanding the two inclined bottom plate portions 21a and 22a with a symmetrical locus at the same time, it is possible to prevent the fire extinguisher 93 from rolling off from any of the bottom plate portions 21a and 22a when the bottom portion 20a is expanded. The fire extinguisher 93 housed in the transport container 92 can be dropped vertically downward.

  In the transport container 92 of the present embodiment, the servo 70 is connected only to the right half cylinder 21 to avoid having a plurality of drive sources, and the left half cylinder 22 is synchronized with the right half cylinder by the synchronization mechanism 60. Although it is configured to follow the opening and closing operation of 21, it is of course possible to adopt a configuration in which the respective semi-cylindrical members 21 and 22 are respectively provided with the servo 70, and the synchronization mechanism 60 is omitted to use, for example, a rotary encoder. It is also possible to electronically control synchronization of the two half cylinders 21 and 22 separately by feedback control or the like.

(Other embodiments)
Below, other embodiment concerning the vertical drop apparatus of this invention is described. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a vertical dropper 90b according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the vertical dropper 90b. In the following description, components having the same or the same functions as those of the previous embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as those of the previous embodiment, and the detailed description thereof is omitted.

  In addition to the configuration of the vertical dropper 90 according to the previous embodiment, the vertical dropper 90b is provided with a camera unit 88 facing vertically downward when the bottom 20a is closed on the right bottom plate 21a of the right half cylinder 21. There is. As a result, the pilot can adjust the dropping position while visually confirming the position where the fire extinguisher 93 is expected to fall at the fire point with the video taken by the camera unit 88. This makes it possible to significantly improve the accuracy of the firefighting bullet 93 during manual operation.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various change is possible in the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention. For example, although the vertical drop apparatus 90, 90b in the embodiment is used for the application of dropping the fire extinguisher 93 to the fire point, the dropped material of the vertical drop apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the fire extinguisher 93, and its use is also a fire It is not limited to The vertical drop apparatus of the present invention can be widely applied in applications where it is necessary to drop solids from above with certain accuracy to a predetermined position on land or water.

90, 90b Vertical Dropper 91 Multicopter (Light UAV)
911 Rotor 92 Transport container 93 Fire extinguisher (dropped material)
20 body part 20a bottom part 21 right half cylinder (half cylinder)
21a Right bottom plate (bottom plate)
21d Tooth part 22 left half cylinder (half cylinder)
22a Left bottom plate (bottom plate)
22d Tooth portion 30 Lid 31 Front rotation lid 31a Coupling piece 311 Coil spring (elastic member)
312 positioning hole 313 positioning projection 40 fixed shaft 50 fixed unit 60 synchronization mechanism 61 fixed link piece 611 front fixed link piece 611a long hole 612 rear fixed link piece 612a long hole 62 movable link piece 621 right movable link piece 621a long hole 622 left movable Link piece 622a Long hole 63 Movable shaft 70 Servo (actuator)
88 Camera unit

Claims (8)

A small unmanned airplane with multiple rotors,
A transport container capable of containing and dropping products;
And an actuator for operating the transport container.
The transfer container is fixed to the lower part of the small unmanned airplane relative to the lower part of the small unmanned airplane,
The bottom portion of the transfer container is constituted by two bottom plate portions arranged side by side in the width direction,
In each of the bottom plate portions, when the other end on the side of the bottom plate which is the other is a front end and the end on the opposite side is a rear end,
The upper surface of each bottom plate portion is inclined downward at the same inclination angle from the rear end toward the front end,
Wherein two of the bottom plate portion simultaneously, and Ri deployable der in a symmetrical trajectory,
The transport container has a main body having a cylindrical outer shape when the bottom is closed, and two lids closing the openings at both ends of the main body,
A vertical drop apparatus characterized in that at least one of the two lids is a rotary lid rotatably supported in a circumferential direction about the stationary shaft on a stationary shaft which is a shaft. . The main body portion has two half cylinders divided into right and left as viewed from any one of the openings;
The lower half of the two halves form the bottom,
The upper end of the respective half-cylindrical body, said fixed shaft is a common shaft which is parallel with the upper end portion, and is rotatably supported along the circumferential direction of the fixed shaft,
The vertical throwing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the two semi-cylindrical bodies can be deployed simultaneously and in symmetrical trajectories. The main body portion has a rectangular cylindrical outer shape when the bottom portion is closed,
Each of the half cylinders has an L-shaped cross section as viewed from any one of the openings;
The tips of the two bottom plates are formed with convex tooth portions provided alternately along the longitudinal direction,
The vertical drop apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the teeth of the two bottom plates are engaged when the bottom is closed. A small unmanned airplane with multiple rotors,
A transport container capable of containing and dropping products;
And an actuator for operating the transport container.
The transfer container is fixed to the lower part of the small unmanned airplane relative to the lower part of the small unmanned airplane,
The bottom portion of the transfer container is constituted by two bottom plate portions arranged side by side in the width direction,
In each of the bottom plate portions, when the other end on the side of the bottom plate which is the other is a front end and the end on the opposite side is a rear end,
The upper surface of each bottom plate portion is inclined downward at the same inclination angle from the rear end toward the front end,
The transport container has a main body having a cylindrical outer shape when the bottom is closed, and two lids closing the openings at both ends of the main body,
The main body portion has two half cylinders divided into right and left as viewed from any one of the openings;
The lower half of the two halves form the bottom,
An upper end portion of each of the semi-cylindrical members is rotatably supported along a circumferential direction of the fixed shaft by a fixed shaft which is a common shaft disposed parallel to the upper end portion.
The two semi-cylindrical bodies can be deployed in simultaneous and symmetrical trajectories,
The transfer container further includes a synchronization mechanism that synchronizes the opening and closing operations of the two half cylinders,
The synchronization mechanism has a fixed link piece and two movable link pieces that are link pieces in which an elongated hole is formed, and a movable shaft that is a common shaft inserted into the elongated holes of all these link pieces. ,
The fixed link piece is fixed to the fixed shaft, and the two movable link pieces are fixed to the upper end vicinity portion of the outer peripheral surface of each half cylinder, respectively.
The fixed link pieces are disposed at an angle at which the elongated holes extend in the vertical direction,
Each of the movable link pieces is disposed at a symmetrical angle with respect to the fixed link piece such that only a portion of the elongated hole through which the movable shaft is inserted overlaps the long hole of the fixed link piece Vertical dropping device characterized by The two fixed link pieces are arranged at predetermined intervals along the axial direction of the fixed shaft,
The vertical drop apparatus according to claim 4, wherein each of the movable link pieces is disposed between the two fixed link pieces in the axial direction. 5. The vertical drop apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the actuator is connected to only one of the two half cylinders. The rotating lid is always urged toward the main body by an elastic member,
The rotation of the rotary lid is restricted at the position where the opening is closed,
The vertical drop apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the rotary lid is rotatable by being pulled away from the transport container against the biasing force of the elastic member. The vertical drop apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a camera facing vertically downward when the bottom is closed is disposed at the bottom.

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