JP7296153B2 - flying object - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an aircraft, and more particularly to an aircraft having a cylindrical main body.

In recent years, drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles)
Attempts have been made to deliver parcels using flying vehicles such as the I.V. Patent Literature 1 discloses a delivery system using an aircraft (see Patent Literature 1, for example). The delivery system forms a shipping list for delivering packages autonomously delivered by an air vehicle (drone) to a home delivery destination.

US Patent Publication 2015-0120094 A1

On the other hand, in recent years, there has been an increasing need for indoor flying objects. However, Patent Document 1
is unsuitable for indoor use. In addition, when operating such flying objects, controllers (proportional, etc.) are often used, but this is not realistic when used indoors, and operation requires experience and familiarity. , it is difficult to operate intuitively.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a flying object that can be easily operated and flung indoors.

According to the invention,
a cylindrical main body having an outer peripheral portion and an inner peripheral portion;
a lift generating section provided inside the main body for generating at least an airflow directed downward from above the main body;
a flap portion displaceably provided at a lower portion of the main body portion;
and a control section for controlling a direction of movement by displacing the flap section to change the direction of the airflow.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a flying object that can be easily operated and flung indoors.

1 is a top perspective view of an aircraft according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of an aircraft according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a top view of an aircraft according to an embodiment of the invention; FIG. 1 is a bottom view of an aircraft according to an embodiment of the invention; FIG. 1 is a side cross-sectional view of an aircraft according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 4 is another cross-sectional side view of an aircraft according to an embodiment of the present invention; 1 is a side cross-sectional view showing a flight state of an aircraft according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a side cross-sectional view showing a flight state of an aircraft according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 4 is a side cross-sectional view showing a flight state of an aircraft according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a side cross-sectional view showing a flight state of an aircraft according to another embodiment of the present invention;

The contents of the embodiments of the present invention are listed and explained. An aircraft according to an embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration.
[Item 1]
a cylindrical main body having an outer peripheral portion and an inner peripheral portion;
a lift generating section provided inside the main body for generating at least an airflow directed downward from above the main body;
a flap portion displaceably provided at a lower portion of the main body portion;
a control unit that controls a moving direction by displacing the flap unit to change the direction of the airflow.
[Item 2]
The aircraft according to claim 1,
An omnidirectional camera is provided at least on the top or bottom of the main body,
Airplane.
[Item 3]
The aircraft according to claim 2,
The omnidirectional camera is provided at the center or approximately the center of the upper portion and the center or approximately the center of the lower portion of the main body,
Airplane.
[Item 4]
The aircraft according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The peripheral portion of the body portion is provided with a display portion for providing information,
Airplane.
[Item 5]
The aircraft according to claim 4,
The display part is an organic EL display provided on substantially the entire surface of the outer peripheral part,
Airplane.
[Item 6]
The aircraft according to claim 4 or claim 5,
further comprising an image acquisition unit,
The control unit manages a specific gesture and a specific action in association with each other, displays information related to one gesture on the display unit, and displays the user's behavior acquired by the image acquisition unit according to the one gesture. If it is determined to be the same as, control the flying object to perform the specific action;
Airplane.
[Item 7]
The flying object according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
One or more depth sensors are provided in the outer peripheral portion,
Airplane.
[Item 8]
The aircraft according to claim 7,
The depth sensors are provided at intervals of 120 degrees when the outer circumference is viewed from the information,
Airplane.
[Item 9]
The aircraft according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
The upper and lower surfaces of the main body are formed in a mesh shape,
Airplane.

<Details of Embodiment>
Hereinafter, flying objects according to embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Structure of Airplane>
FIG. 1 is a top view of an aircraft 10 according to this embodiment. As illustrated, the aircraft 1
0 has a main body 100, a flap 110 and an omnidirectional camera 150T (150B).

In addition, the flying object mentioned above is a drone (Drone), a multicopter (Multi C
opter), Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
), RPAS (remote piloted aircraft systems),
Or it may be called UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems).

The body portion 100 has a cylindrical shape with an outer peripheral portion and an inner peripheral portion. As illustrated, the flying object 10 is configured to open vertically (in the Z direction) in the initial state (initial position: landing state).

The outer peripheral portion in the present embodiment is a side portion 1 that can display a predetermined upper side as a display.
02. For example, an organic EL display or the like can be used for the side portion 102, but the present invention is not limited to this.

On the side portion 102, for example, it is possible to display the state of the aircraft 10, content such as moving images, and real-time display of still images or moving images captured by the omnidirectional cameras 150T and 150B. In addition, it is also possible to display the traveling direction of the flying object 10, such as up/down, left/right, and front/rear, which is particularly difficult to grasp due to its cylindrical shape. In this case, for example, the direction of travel may be displayed (color, flashing display, etc.), or left and right may be displayed.

As shown in FIG. 5, the aircraft 10 according to the present embodiment includes a propeller (lift generating section) provided inside the main body 100 for generating at least an airflow directed downward from above the main body 100. 120. In this embodiment, the propeller 120 is a reverse propeller.

In the aircraft 10 according to the present embodiment, the diameter of the propeller 120 is increased to reduce the number of revolutions, and as a result, the noise caused by the rotation of the propeller 120 can be reduced.

In addition, by making the main body 100 cylindrical, it is possible to rectify the airflow generated from the tip of the propeller downward (backward in the direction of travel), thereby improving energy efficiency and suppressing noise.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the upper portion 101 and the lower portion 103 of the body portion 100 have a mesh structure, and efficiently discharge the airflow generated by the propeller 120 .

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, a flap 110 is provided at the lower end of the side portion 102 . The flaps 110 are provided at intervals of 120 degrees. The flap 110 is displaceable inwardly and outwardly (that is, normal to the side surface 102). A control unit (not shown) of the flying object 10 controls the movement direction by displacing the flap unit 110 to change the direction of the airflow. The direction of movement will be described later.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, omnidirectional cameras 150T and 150B are provided at the center of the upper portion 101 and the lower portion 103 of the main body 100, respectively.

A depth sensor 130 is provided on the side portion 102 . Depth sensors 130 are provided at intervals of 120 degrees with respect to side surface 102 .

In the present embodiment, omnidirectional cameras 150T and 150B acquire user's gestures and perform actions associated with the gestures. At this time, the display on the side 102 displays information on whether or not the gesture has been correctly recognized and the action to be performed when the gesture is correctly recognized.

Next, flight conditions will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG. As illustrated, tilting the flap portion 110 causes the aircraft 10 to rotate about the center of gravity G in the XZ plane. At this time, by returning the flap part 110 to the original direction when the aircraft 10 is tilted in the state shown in FIG. F acts on the flying object 10 .

In the structure shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the flap portion 120 alone cannot generate a force in the yaw direction (rotational direction with the Z axis as the axis of rotation). In this case, by changing the vertical rotation speed of the contra-rotating propeller 120 (by making it different), it can be rotated in the desired yaw direction.

By providing three flap portions 110, it becomes possible to move in all directions by a resultant force.

Next, a modified example of the flap portion 110 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. FIG. As shown, one of the three flap portions 110 (of which two flap portions 110 are not shown) according to the present embodiment is provided at the center of the lower portion of the aircraft 10 . In this case as well, when the flap portion 110 is tilted, the aircraft 10 rotates about the center of gravity G in the XZ plane. At this time, by returning the flap portion 110 to the original direction when the aircraft 10 is tilted to the state shown in FIG. A force F having a directional component acts on the flying object 10 .

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 10, two of the three flap portions 110 (of which, one flap portion 110 is not shown) according to the present embodiment are arranged at the bottom of the aircraft 10 in the y direction. are placed adjacent to each other. The aircraft 10 rotates in the XY plane (in the yaw direction) by alternately tilting the front flap portion 110f and the rear flap portion 110b in the y direction. In this case, the number of propellers 120 may be one (that is, they may not be contra-rotating propellers).

In any of the above cases, if there are at least three flaps 110, the aircraft 10 can move in all directions.

The above-mentioned rotorcraft mainly refers to those that move in the air, but also includes rotorcraft that have functions that combine uses such as land use and underwater use.

The rotorcraft described above includes, for example, a flight controller, a memory, a transceiver, a motor, an E
It may be configured by hardware such as SC, propeller, battery, and various sensors.

The flight controller consists of a programmable processor (e.g., central processing unit (C
PU)) can have one or more processors.

The flight controller has a memory (not shown) and can access the memory. The memory stores logic, code, and/or program instructions executable by the flight controller 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 images taken with a camera, etc.
Moving image data is recorded in the built-in memory or external memory.

The flight controller 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 flight controller 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 transmitter/receiver receives data obtained from sensors, processing results generated by the flight controller,
One or more of predetermined control data, user commands from a terminal or remote controller, etc. can be sent and/or received.

Sensors according to the present embodiment include inertial sensors (acceleration sensors, gyro sensors), GPS sensors, proximity sensors (eg, lidar), vision/image sensors (eg, cameras), and other physical sensors, depending on their uses. can contain. Furthermore, chemical sensors such as ion sensors, bioaffinity sensors, gas sensors, other electrochemical sensors, and optical sensors may be included.

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.

10, 10', 10'' Airplane 100 Main body 101 Upper part 102 Side part 103 Lower part 110 Flap 120 Propeller 150T, 150B Spherical camera

Claims (6)

a body having an outer periphery and an inner periphery;
a lift generating portion provided inside the main body portion for generating an airflow directed downward from at least the upper side of the main body portion;
a flap portion provided at a lower end portion of a side surface of the main body portion so as to be displaceable in a normal direction of the side surface;
a control unit that performs control to change the direction of the airflow generated by the lift generating unit by displacing the flap unit;
A display part having a longitudinal direction along the circumferential direction is provided on the outer peripheral part of the main body part ,
The display unit displays a display indicating the traveling direction of the flying object ,
Airplane. The aircraft according to claim 1,
The display part is an organic EL display provided on substantially the entire surface of the outer peripheral part,
Airplane. The aircraft according to claim 1 or 2,
further comprising an image acquisition unit,
The control unit manages a specific gesture and a specific action in association with each other, displays information related to one gesture on the display unit, and displays the user's behavior acquired by the image acquisition unit according to the one gesture. If it is determined to be the same as, control the flying object to perform the specific action;
Airplane. The aircraft according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The lift generating unit is a plurality of reversing propellers provided inside the main body,
Airplane. The aircraft according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The body portion is cylindrical in shape,
Airplane. The aircraft according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
Three flap portions are provided in the circumferential direction of the body portion,
Airplane.

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