JP7265776B2 - flying object - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to aircraft.

In recent years, various services using rotary wing aircraft (hereinafter collectively referred to as "aircraft") such as drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that are used for various purposes have been provided. (See, for example, Patent Document 1).

Further, among such flying bodies, there is a flying body disclosed in Patent Document 2, which has a loading portion for loading baggage.

JP 2017-15697 A JP 2017-159751 A

In the case of transporting the cargo described above, the technology described in Patent Document 2 has a safety problem because it has a complicated structure and does not take countermeasures against crosswinds during descent.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an aircraft having a more basic structure and safety measures.

According to the invention,
An aircraft comprising a flight section having a plurality of rotor blades for generating thrust, a leg section, and an arm section connecting the flight section and the leg section,
a fixed wing portion provided on the arm portion and configured by a pair of two swept-back wings;
a mounting portion movably provided along the arm portion between a first position of the arm portion and a second position located behind the first position;
a connecting portion that connects the flying portion and the arm portion so as to be displaceable independently;
You get an aircraft.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an aircraft with a more basic structure and safety measures.

1 is a side view of an air vehicle according to the invention; FIG. FIG. 4 is another side view of an air vehicle according to the invention; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an initial state of the aircraft of FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state of the flying object of FIG. 1 during ascent; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the state of the aircraft of FIG. 1 during flight; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state of the aircraft of FIG. 1 during descent; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing functional blocks of the aircraft of FIG. 1;

The contents of the embodiments of the present invention are listed and explained. The flying object and the flight method of the flying object according to the embodiment of the present invention have the following configurations.
[Item 1]
An aircraft comprising a flight section having rotor blades for generating thrust, a leg section, and an arm section connecting the flight section and the leg section,
a fixed wing portion provided on the arm portion and configured by a pair of two swept-back wings;
a mounting portion movably provided along the arm portion between a first position of the arm portion and a second position located behind the first position;
a connecting portion that connects the flying portion and the arm portion so as to be displaceable independently;
Airplane.
[Item 2]
The aircraft according to item 1,
The fixed wing section is arranged at a position that does not interfere with the range of motion of the flight section in a plan view,
Airplane.
[Item 3]
The aircraft according to item 1 or item 2,
The connecting part has a gimbal structure,
Airplane.

<Details of Embodiment>
Hereinafter, a flying object and a flight method of the flying object according to embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Details of the embodiment according to the present invention>
As shown in FIG. 1, an aircraft 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a flight section 10 having a plurality of rotor blades 16 for generating thrust, a leg section 20, a flight section 10 and a leg section. 20 and a fixed wing provided substantially in the center of the arm 30 . The fixed wing portion is composed of a pair of two swept-back wings 40, 42 having a planar shape that recedes from the root to the wing tip.

The illustrated flying object 1 is drawn in a simplified manner in order to facilitate the description of the structure of the present invention, and detailed configurations such as a control section, for example, are not illustrated. The aircraft 1 has attitude detection means and center-of-gravity movement control means. The attitude detection means detects the attitude of the aircraft. The center-of-gravity movement control means is mounted on the fuselage and moves a heavy object to change the position of the center of gravity of the fuselage. Furthermore, the center-of-gravity movement control means moves the heavy object so that the aircraft takes a predetermined attitude based on the attitude of the aircraft detected by the attitude detection means.

Also, the axes in the figure represent absolute axes. The Z-axis (Z-direction) is vertical, and both the X- and Y-axes are horizontal.

<Details of structure>
The flying section 10 according to this embodiment includes a propeller 16 , a motor 14 that rotates the propeller 16 , and a motor arm 12 that supports the motor 14 .

The propeller 16 rotates by receiving the output from the motor 14 . Rotation of the propeller 16 generates a propulsive force for taking off the aircraft 1 from the starting point, moving it horizontally, and landing it at the destination (details of the flight will be described later). The propeller can be rotated to the right, stopped, and rotated to the left.

Propeller 16 may have any number of blades (rotors) (eg, 1, 2, 3, 4, or more blades). The vane shape can be any shape, such as flat, curved, twisted, tapered, or combinations thereof.

It should be noted that the shape of the wing can be changed (for example, stretched, folded, bent, etc.). The vanes may be symmetrical (having identical upper and lower surfaces) or asymmetrical (having differently shaped upper and lower surfaces).

The airfoil, wing, or airfoil can be formed into a geometry suitable for generating dynamic aerodynamic forces (eg, lift, thrust) as the airfoil is moved through the air. The geometry of the blades can be selected to optimize the dynamic air properties of the blades, such as increasing lift and thrust and reducing drag.

A motor 14 causes rotation of the propeller 16, for example the drive unit may include an electric motor, an engine or the like. The vanes are drivable by a motor and rotate clockwise and/or counterclockwise about an axis of rotation of the motor (eg, a longitudinal axis of the motor).

The vanes can all rotate in the same direction or can rotate independently. Some of the vanes rotate in one direction and others rotate in the other direction. The blades can all rotate at the same number of revolutions, or can each rotate at different numbers of revolutions. The number of rotations can be determined automatically or manually based on the dimensions (eg, size, weight) and control conditions (speed, direction of movement, etc.) of the moving body.

The motor arms 12 are members supporting the motors 14 and the propellers 16, respectively. The motor arm 12 may be provided with a colored body such as an LED to indicate the flight state, flight direction, etc. of the rotorcraft. The motor arm 12 according to this embodiment can be made of a material appropriately selected from carbon, stainless steel, aluminum, magnesium, etc., or alloys or combinations thereof.

In the present embodiment, flight section 10 (see FIG. 1) and arm section 30 are connected via gimbal 60 . Thereby, the flying part 10 and the arm part 30 can be displaced independently. As the gimbal 60, a gimbal or the like that can swing about one axis, two axes, or three axes can be used.

That is, since the orientation of the flying section 10 can be controlled independently of the orientation of the arm section 30, the orientation of the arm section 30 is not affected by the orientation of the flying section 30. At least two gimbals 60 are provided. A gimbal 60 that can be displaced in the axial (X-axis and Z-axis) directions.

The arm portion 30 has two linear shapes, one end of which is connected to the flight portion 10 and the other end of which is connected to the leg portion 20 .

The mounting portion 50 according to this embodiment is provided on the arm portion 30 . The mounting portion 50 is configured to be movable along the arm portion 30 from the first position shown in FIG. 1 toward the second position shown in FIG. The location of the first position can be appropriately changed according to the weight, shape, material, etc. of the object to be mounted.

The mounting portion 50 according to the present embodiment guides the rail-shaped arm portion 30 so as to be displaceable between the first position and the second position. The method of movement may be another method, and any method may be used as long as it is capable of fixing to the first position and the second position and controlling the movement between these positions.

Swept wings 40 and 42 are connected to arm portion 30, respectively. The swept wings 40 and 42 according to the present embodiment are arranged at positions that do not interfere with the range of motion of the flight section 10 in a plan view (X direction) (see FIG. 5).

Next, a method of flying the aircraft according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3 to 6. FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the initial state of the aircraft. The mounting object is mounted on the mounting section 50 . The mounting portion 50 is located at the first position.

In the initial state, the aircraft 1 stands upright with the legs 20 in contact with the ground. In other words, in the initial state, the aircraft 1 is set with the arm portion 30 standing vertically.

In the initial state, an auxiliary arm, an auxiliary leg, or the like may be used to prevent the aircraft 1 from falling.

From the state shown in FIG. 3, the flying object 1 obtains an upward thrust by rotating the propeller 16 of the flight section 10, and rises (rising posture) as shown in FIG.

When the flying body 1 rises to a predetermined height, as shown in FIG. 1, the flying section 10 is displaced approximately 90 degrees in the horizontal direction to change the direction of the body (horizontal posture).

In this state, it is possible to propel the aircraft in the horizontal direction as if it were a propeller airplane. According to such a configuration, it is possible to move to the destination at high speed.

When the aircraft reaches the target airspace, the rotational speed of the propellers 16 is reduced while the aircraft becomes vertical (lowering attitude), and the aircraft shifts to a hovering state. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the orientation of the airframe is returned from the horizontal direction to the vertical direction. At this time, the mounting portion 50 at the first position moves to the second position, and the mounting object also moves accordingly. As the object to be mounted moves, the center of gravity G also shifts toward the legs.

5 and 6 are diagrams showing how the aircraft descends to the destination from above the destination. The mounting object 52 has completely moved to the second position, and the center of gravity G has also moved from the initial position.

Note that if the mounting object 52 is moved to the second position in the horizontal position, the entire arm portion 30 may swing like a pendulum depending on the weight of the mounting object 52 when the mounting object 52 is shifted to the lowered position. Therefore, it is preferable to shift the mounting object 52 after the shift to the lowered posture starts, and more safely, it is preferable to shift to the completely lowered posture.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, even if a cross wind or the like blows during descent, the gimbal 60 allows the flying part to be displaced freely, so that the flying part is not swept sideways. .

In order to efficiently mount the center-of-gravity movement control means on the airframe, there is a method of providing a variable mechanism for the motor arm 12, but such a method is not preferable from the viewpoint of reliability and airframe weight. On the other hand, there is also a method of making the fixed wing part a rectangular wing, which is easier from a manufacturing standpoint, but it is not an absolute requirement for this machine. In this regard, the flying object 1 in this embodiment is intended to change the planar shape of the main wing instead of the motor arm 12 as described above.

The rotorcraft described above has the functional blocks shown in FIG. Note that the functional blocks in FIG. 7 are a minimum reference configuration. A flight controller is a so-called processing unit. A processing unit may have one or more processors, such as a programmable processor (eg, central processing unit (CPU)).

The processing unit has a memory (not shown) and can access the memory. The memory stores logic, code, and/or program instructions executable by the processing unit to perform one or more steps.

The memory may include, for example, removable media or external storage devices such as SD cards and random access memory (RAM). Data acquired from cameras and sensors may be communicated directly to and stored in memory. For example, still image/moving image data captured by a camera or the like is recorded in a built-in memory or an external memory.

The processing unit includes a control module configured to control the state of the rotorcraft. For example, the control module may adjust the spatial orientation, velocity, and/or acceleration of a rotorcraft having six degrees of freedom (translational motions x, y, and z, and rotational motions _θx , _θy , and _θz ). control the propulsion mechanism (motor, etc.) of the rotorcraft. The control module can control one or more of the states of the mount, sensors.

The processing unit can communicate with a transceiver configured to send and/or receive data from one or more external devices (eg, terminals, displays, or other remote controls). The transceiver may use any suitable means of communication such as wired or wireless communication.

For example, the transceiver utilizes one or more of local area networks (LAN), wide area networks (WAN), infrared, wireless, WiFi, point-to-point (P2P) networks, telecommunications networks, cloud communications, etc. be able to.

The transceiver is capable of transmitting and/or receiving one or more of data acquired by sensors, processing results generated by the processing unit, predetermined control data, user commands from a terminal or remote controller, and the like. .

Sensors according to this embodiment may include inertial sensors (accelerometers, gyro sensors), GPS sensors, proximity sensors (eg lidar), or vision/image sensors (eg cameras).

The flying object according to the present invention can be expected to be used as a flying object dedicated to home delivery services in medium and long distances, and as an industrial rotary wing aircraft in wide-area surveillance and reconnaissance/rescue operations in mountainous areas. In addition, the rotary wing aircraft of the present invention can be used in the aircraft-related industry such as multicopter drones, and furthermore, the present invention can be suitably used as an aircraft capable of performing aerial photography missions by mounting a camera or the like. Besides being usable, it can also be used in various industries such as the security field, agriculture, and infrastructure monitoring.

The above-described embodiments are merely examples for facilitating understanding of the present invention, and are not intended to limit and interpret the present invention. It goes without saying that the present invention can be modified and improved without departing from its spirit, and that equivalents thereof are included in the present invention.

In addition, although the example in which the flying section 10 has a plurality of motors 14 has been described in the above-described embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this. The flight section 10 may have a single motor 14 (a so-called single-engine aircraft).

1 flying object 10 flying part 12 motor arm 14 motor 16 propeller (rotor blade)
20 leg portion 30 arm portion 40 upper fixed wing 42 lower fixed wing 50 mounting portion 52 mounted object 60 gimbal (connecting portion)

Claims (3)

An aircraft comprising a flight section having rotor blades for generating thrust, a leg section, and an arm section connecting the flight section and the leg section,
a fixed wing portion provided on the arm portion and configured by a pair of two swept-back wings;
a mounting portion movably provided along the arm portion between a first position of the arm portion and a second position located behind the first position;
a connecting portion that connects the flying portion and the arm portion so as to be displaceable independently;
Airplane. The aircraft according to claim 1,
The fixed wing section is arranged at a position that does not interfere with the range of motion of the flight section in a plan view,
Airplane. The aircraft according to claim 1 or claim 2,
The connecting part has a gimbal structure,
Airplane.

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