WO2024154655A1

WO2024154655A1 - Winch system

Info

Publication number: WO2024154655A1
Application number: PCT/JP2024/000553
Authority: WO
Inventors: 成隆倉持; 幸佑野平
Original assignee: 株式会社Liberaware
Priority date: 2023-01-20
Filing date: 2024-01-12
Publication date: 2024-07-25
Also published as: JP2024102949A; JP2024149573A

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a winch system capable of easily carrying out control of a fuselage suspended by a cable and control of the cable. [Solution] A winch system according to the present disclosure comprises: an electric winch connected to a cable that suspends a fuselage provided with a thrust generation unit; a reception unit that receives a manipulation signal from a manipulation device; and a signal generation unit that generates a winch operation signal, which gives instructions for operation of the electric winch, on the basis of the manipulation signal received by the reception unit, wherein the manipulation signal includes information on an ascent instruction or a descent instruction for the fuselage, and the signal generation unit generates a winch operation signal, which includes information for a winding instruction, on the basis of the ascent instruction, and generates a winch operation signal, which includes information for a winding instruction, on the basis of the descent instruction.

Description

Winch System

This disclosure relates to a winch system.

　Conventionally, there is a known method of inspecting the inside of a facility by suspending a camera from above with a cable or the like. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a device that suspends a camera from the top opening of a shaft to check the state of corrosion inside the shaft.

JP 2016-223164 A

In addition, if a drone equipped with a camera is suspended from a cable to inspect a facility, it would be difficult to control the drone and perform operations such as winding and unwinding the cable at the same time.

The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above problems, and its purpose is to provide a winch system that can easily control the aircraft suspended by the cable and the cable.

According to the present disclosure, an electric winch connected to a cable that suspends an airframe having a thrust generating unit;
A receiving unit that receives a control signal from a control device;
a signal generating unit that generates a winch operation signal that instructs an operation of the electric winch based on the operation signal received by the receiving unit,
the control signal includes information on an instruction to ascend or descend for the aircraft,
A winch system is provided, characterized in that the signal generating unit generates the winch operation signal including winding instruction information based on the ascent instruction, and generates the winch operation signal including pay-out instruction information based on the descent instruction.

The present disclosure provides a winch system that can easily control the aircraft suspended by the cable and the cable itself.

FIG. 1 illustrates a side view of a system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the winch system according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of the configuration of the aircraft according to the embodiment. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of a deflection suppression device according to the embodiment; FIG.

Below, a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. Note that in this specification and drawings, components having substantially the same functional configurations are designated by the same reference numerals to avoid redundant description.

＜Overview＞
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an inspection system 1 (hereinafter, also simply referred to as the "system") according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The system 1 according to the present embodiment can be used for various purposes, such as various inspections and repairs of chimneys, various manufacturing furnaces, structures, equipment, piping, etc., or checking instruments in factories, etc. The target facility is not particularly limited, but can be a facility with an opening at the top. In the example of FIG. 1, the inner wall W can be photographed and inspected with a camera of a machine body 10 suspended in the internal space A of the target facility.

As shown in FIG. 1, the system 1 includes an aircraft 10, a cable 20 that suspends the aircraft 10 from above, an electric winch 30 that reels out and winds up the cable 20, and a control device 40 that controls the aircraft 10 and the electric winch 30.

The aircraft 10 in this example is an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) that can fly without being suspended by a cable 20, and can be controlled to any position and any attitude. The aircraft 10 can ascend (levitate), descend, hover (stop in the air), move horizontally forward, backward, left and right, and turn, using the thrust obtained from the thrust generating unit 11. Note that since the aircraft 10 is supported by the cable 20, it is not necessary for it to obtain upward thrust from the thrust generating unit 11. The aircraft 10 is not limited to this, and may have a structure that is unable to levitate under its own power.

The aircraft 10 comprises a thrust generating unit 11 and a main body 12 that supports the thrust generating unit 11. The main body has a frame as a support structure and a cover that protects electronic components provided on the frame. The frame that constitutes the main body is not particularly limited, but may be made of any one of carbon fiber resin, glass fiber resin, magnesium, magnesium alloy, aluminum, aluminum alloy, steel, titanium, or other materials, or a combination of these.

The thrust generating unit 11 includes, for example, a plurality of rotors, a motor for rotating the rotors, a battery for supplying power, and the like. Each rotor constituting the thrust generating unit can generate an upward thrust, and by changing the rotation direction of the rotors, a downward thrust can also be generated. The thrust generating unit can also generate thrust for translation (horizontal movement) in the front-rear and left-right directions. The thrust generating unit can also generate thrust in the turning direction. The thrust generating unit can also change the direction (attitude) and inclination of the aircraft. In this embodiment, the rotors are provided at four locations around the aircraft (one on each side of the front and rear), but the present invention is not limited to this example, and the rotors may be provided at six or eight locations around the aircraft. The number of rotors provided can be changed as appropriate depending on the structure, shape, equipment, size, etc. of the aircraft 1.

The frame of the airframe 10 supports components related to rotor control and power, such as a circuit board, a flight controller, an ESC (Electric Speed Controller), sensors, and a battery. A control circuit including a flight controller may be mounted on the frame. The battery supplies power to the motor, the camera, and the sensors, and the flight controller controls the motor rotation speed and the like. The flight controller may have one or more processors 23b, such as a central processing unit (CPU) or a programmable processor such as an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array). The flight controller has a memory and is accessible to the memory. The memory stores logic, code, and/or program instructions that the flight controller can execute to perform one or more steps. The memory or other storage unit may include a separable medium or an external storage device, such as an SD card or a random access memory (RAM). Data acquired from the camera/sensor may be directly transmitted to and stored in memory. For example, still image/video data captured by the camera is recorded in an internal or external memory. The flight controller includes a control module configured to control the state of the aircraft 10. For example, the control module controls the motor of the aircraft 10 via the ESC to adjust the spatial arrangement, speed, and/or acceleration of the aircraft 10 having six degrees of freedom (translational motion x, y, and z, and rotational motion θx, θy, and θz). The sensor may include, for example, an inertial sensor (an inertial measurement unit such as an IMU (Inertial Measurement Sensor)), an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, a GPS sensor, a wind sensor, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a pressure sensor, an altitude sensor, a proximity sensor such as a LiDAR (Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging), or a vision/image sensor other than a camera. The sensor may be mounted on the flight controller or may be provided outside the flight controller. The camera may be any camera. For example, the camera may be an infrared camera, a stereo camera, or the like, in addition to a general camera. For example, the camera may include a camera for use in self-position estimation and a camera for capturing an image of a target.

The attitude of the aircraft 10 may be controlled by a flight controller based on inputs obtained from appropriate sensors. The attitude control of the aircraft 10 may be performed by adjusting the thrust obtained from the thrust generating unit 11, or by moving the cable 20 in the vertical direction or the horizontal direction (front/back, left/right, diagonal), or both. Specifically, when a target value is set so that the attitude of the aircraft 10 with respect to the horizontal direction is 0 degrees, the feedback control of the attitude may be to control the number of rotations of each rotor, or to control the horizontal and vertical movement of the cable 20. This makes it possible to suppress the horizontal movement of the aircraft 10 and more reliably maintain the attitude even if the attitude of the aircraft 10 tilts due to the influence of wind or drift. The number of rotors that generate thrust is not particularly limited, but it is preferable that the number of rotors is four or more in order to make the attitude of the aircraft 10 more stable. The thrust generating unit may be realized by a mechanism other than rotors.

Furthermore, when rotating the aircraft 10 along a horizontal plane (so-called rotation around a yaw axis perpendicular to the horizontal plane), this may be achieved by twisting the cable 20 or by controlling the rotation of the rotors. Rotation control around the yaw axis using the rotors can be achieved, for example, by making the rotation directions of each of the four rotors different, thereby making it possible to rotate the aircraft 10 around the yaw axis. Specifically, the rotation directions of the two rotors (first rotors) on the right front and left rear sides are made counterclockwise, and the rotation directions of the rotors (second rotors) on the left front and right rear sides are made clockwise, and the first rotor and second rotor are controlled to have different rotation speeds, thereby making it possible to rotate the aircraft 10 around the yaw axis. The rotation directions of the first rotor and the second rotor may be opposite to each other.

The aircraft 10 is equipped with one or more cameras, and can capture images of the surroundings of the aircraft 10 and obtain image data (including still images and videos). The cameras may be installed in any orientation, including up and down, front and back, left and right, of the aircraft 10, and there are no particular limitations on their position on the aircraft 10. For example, they can be installed on the front side of the aircraft 10, facing forward (so that the shooting direction is toward the front of the aircraft).

The aircraft 10 has a communication unit for transmitting and receiving signals to the control device 40 and other external devices. The aircraft 10 can transmit data acquired by cameras, sensors, etc. to external devices including the control device 40 via the communication unit. The data acquired by the aircraft 10 may be stored in a memory unit provided in the aircraft 10, or may be transmitted to and stored in an external device. The communication unit can use any appropriate communication means such as wired communication or wireless communication. The communication unit can use one or more of any communication methods such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), infrared, wireless, WiFi, a point-to-point (P2P) network, a telecommunications network, and cloud communication.

The flight controller receives control signals from the control device 40 via the communication unit, and controls the thrust generating unit 11 based on the control signals, thereby controlling operations such as movement and rotation. It is also possible to operate the camera in response to signals from the control device 40. Camera operation includes starting and stopping filming, zooming, changing the camera orientation, etc. It is also possible to control various sensors and lights provided on the aircraft 10 based on control signals from the control device 40. It is preferable that the center of gravity of the aircraft 10 is located approximately in the center of the aircraft 10 in a planar view, but this is not limited to this.

As shown in FIG. 3, a rotary joint 7 may be provided on the cable 20. The rotary joint 7 is configured to be freely rotatable, and the rotation (twist) of the cable 20 connected to one side of the rotary joint 7 (e.g., the lower side of FIG. 3) is not transmitted to the cable 20 connected to the other side of the rotary joint 7 (e.g., the upper side of FIG. 3). With this configuration, even if the aircraft rotates around the yaw axis, the cable 20 does not twist, so it is not affected by reaction forces in the torsional direction, making it easier to control the aircraft. The position of the rotary joint 7 is not particularly limited and can be provided at any position, but it is preferable to provide it in the main part 50 near the connection part 52.

Also, as shown in FIG. 3, a weight 8 may be provided on the cable 20. By providing the weight 8, the aircraft and the cable 20 are less susceptible to the effects of air currents, improving stability. Even if the weight 8 is provided, the aircraft is supported by the cable 20, so there is almost no effect on the battery consumption when controlling the aircraft. The weight 8 may be located above or below the rotary joint 7, or may be integrated with the rotary joint 7. The position of the weight 8 is not particularly limited, and it may be provided at one or multiple positions on the main part 20a of the cable 20, each branch part 20b, the connection part 20c, or any position on the aircraft.

Also, as shown in FIG. 3, the aircraft may be provided with a light 9 that emits light. The position and orientation of the light 9 are not particularly limited, but it is preferable that the light 9 is arranged so as to illuminate the shooting direction and shooting range of the camera 6. In the illustrated example, the light 9 is provided so as to illuminate the front of the aircraft in correspondence with the camera 6 that shoots the front of the aircraft. In the illustrated example, the light 9 is located above the camera 6, but it may be located below, to the left, or to the right of the camera 6.

One end of the cable 20 is connected to the aircraft 10, and the other end is connected to the electric winch 30. The cable 20 suspends and supports the aircraft 10. The cable 20 may, for example, branch midway and be connected to the four corners at the top of the main body 12 of the aircraft 10, or it may be connected to the center of the main body without branching.

The material that constitutes the cable 20 is not particularly limited. The cable 20 may be made of, for example, fiber, metal, or hard plastic, and may be made of different materials in parts, or may have other rods, plates, etc. installed in parts.

The cable 20 may include a power cable capable of supplying power, a communication cable capable of transmitting and receiving signals, etc. (see reference numeral 21 in FIG. 3). This allows power to be supplied from a power supply unit provided on the electric winch 30 side to the machine 10, data such as control signals to the machine 10 to be transmitted, and conversely, various data such as image data to an information processing device provided on the electric winch 30 side from the machine 10.

The electric winch 30 constitutes a winch system S together with a communication unit (receiving unit) 31 that receives a control signal from the control device 40, and a control unit (signal generating unit) 32 that generates a winch operation signal that instructs the operation of the electric winch 30 based on the control signal received by the communication unit 31. The winch system S may also include other components such as a memory unit. The communication unit 31 may be capable of transmitting signals from the electric winch 30 to the control device 40, the aircraft 10, and other external devices, or may be configured to only receive signals without transmitting them. The control unit 32 generates a winch operation signal based on the control signal from the control device 40 while referring to information stored in advance in a memory unit (not shown), and controls the motor that constitutes the electric winch 30. The winch operation signal includes information such as the rotation direction, rotation speed, and rotation angle of the motor. By controlling the motor with the winch operation signal, it is possible to start, stop, or change the speed of unwinding and winding the cable 20. The electric winch 30 includes a motor and a power supply unit for rotating the motor. The power supply unit may be, for example, an external power supply or a rechargeable battery. The electric winch 30, electronic components, battery, etc. provided in the winch system S are preferably covered by a waterproof case, waterproof cover, etc.

The winch system S includes a support section 33 that supports the electric winch 30, and a guide section 34 that guides the cable 20. The support section 33 includes a base section 33a such as a tripod that can be placed on the ground, the top surface of a facility, etc., a support section 33b extending from the base section 33a, and an arm section 33c extending from the support section 33b. The support section 33b and the arm section 33c are provided with one or more guide rollers as the guide section 34. In this example, guide rollers are provided at the connection section between the support section 33b and the arm section 33c, and at the tip of the arm section 33c. The base section 33a, the support section 33b, and the arm section 33c may be folded so that the whole can be carried compactly. The support section 33b and the arm section 33c may be made to be able to extend and retract, rotate, tilt in any of the forward/backward/left/right/up/down directions, and be bent. This allows the positions of the cable 20 and the aircraft 10 to be controlled in a plan view. The operations of the support 33b and the arm 33c may be controlled by the control unit 32 based on a control signal from the control device 40, or may be manually extended, rotated, tilted, bent, etc. For example, the position of the aircraft 10 can be moved in the extension direction of the arm 33c by extending the arm 33c in the extension direction of the arm 33c, which extends horizontally. At that time, the electric winch 30 may be controlled to pay out the cable 20 so that the height of the aircraft 10 does not change.

The support pillar 33b is provided with a connecting portion to which a wire, string, etc. can be connected to prevent the support pillar 33 from tipping over. The connecting portion may be, for example, ring-shaped, hook-shaped, or have another connecting structure. By extending the wire connected to the connecting portion on the opposite side to the arm pillar 33c and connecting it to the ground or another heavy object, it is possible to prevent the support pillar 33 from tipping over towards the arm pillar 33c due to the weight of the arm pillar 33c and the aircraft body 10. The connecting portion is preferably provided from the center to the upper portion of the support pillar 33b.

Here, if the cable 20 is bent when the electric winch 30 winds the cable 20, the cable 20 may become tangled and irregularly wound on the electric winch 30. Therefore, in this example, as shown in FIG. 4, a deflection suppression device 35 is provided on the support portion 33b to prevent the cable 20 from being bent when the electric winch 30 winds the cable 20. The deflection suppression device 35 is located on the upper side of the electric winch 30, and by sandwiching the cable 20 between the first roller 35a and the second roller 35b, the tension of the cable 20 between the electric winch 30 and the deflection suppression device 35 is maintained. This suppresses the deflection of the cable 20 wound by the electric winch 30 and prevents irregular winding. In this example, the first roller 35a is rotatably fixed to the first support portion 35c, and the second roller 35b is rotatably fixed to the second support portion 35d. The second support portion 35d is held so as to be swingable (rotatable) around the rotation axis 35e relative to the first support portion 35c, and the second support portion 35d is biased toward the first support portion 35c by a biasing member such as a spring. By opening the second support portion 35d in a direction away from the first support portion 35c, the cable 20 can be sandwiched between the first roller 35a and the second roller 35b or removed. It is preferable that an anti-slip portion such as rubber or elastomer is provided on the outer surface of at least one of the first roller 35a and the second roller 35b.

The length of the cable 20 can be adjusted by winding and unwinding the electric winch 30. Depending on the length (unwinding amount) of the cable 20, the aircraft 10 moves up and down, and for example, the shooting height of the camera can be changed. The installation location of the electric winch 30 is not particularly limited, and may be inside or outside the flight environment. Also, for example, by installing guide rollers above the aircraft 10 to support the cable 20, the electric winch 30 can be placed below the aircraft. For example, the position of the electric winch 30 may be on the ground outside or inside the facility to be inspected.

The electric winch 30 performs control of winding, payout, etc. based on input from the control device 40, but may also be partially controlled autonomously according to a program, etc.

The control signal from the control device 40 includes, for example, information on an instruction to raise or lower the aircraft 10. The signal generating unit 32 generates a winch operation signal including information on a winding instruction based on an instruction to raise, and generates a winch operation signal including information on a payout instruction based on an instruction to lower. This allows the electric winch 30 to automatically wind up the cable 20 and raise the aircraft 10 simply by the pilot tilting the control stick provided on the control device 40 to one side, or by sliding an operation icon displayed on a touch panel to one side, to instruct the aircraft 10 to rise. Similarly, the electric winch 30 can automatically pay out the cable 20 and lower the aircraft 10 simply by the pilot manually operating the control device 40 to instruct the aircraft 10 to descend.

The control device 40 transmits control signals to control the thrust generating unit 11 of the aircraft 10, and can be, for example, a transmitter/receiver (radio transmitter) for controlling a normal unmanned aerial vehicle, or an information processing device such as a smartphone or tablet terminal, but is not limited to these.

The control device 40 can control the operation of the thrust generating unit 11 and the electric winch 30 of the aircraft 10. The control device 40 can transmit control signals (control instruction information) to the communication unit provided in the aircraft 10 and the receiving unit 31 connected to the electric winch 30. The control signals include information instructing the aircraft 10 to ascend, descend, stop, move horizontally forward, backward, left, right, and diagonally, turn left and right, etc. In other words, the control signals can include information to control the orientation of the aircraft 10 and information to control the parallel position (horizontal position) of the aircraft 10.

The control device 40 can also transmit signals to control the cameras, sensors, etc. installed on the aircraft 10, such as control instruction signals to start and stop shooting, operate the zoom, change the camera direction, control various sensors installed on the aircraft 10, and turn lights on and off.

The control device 40 has an input unit that accepts manual operation by the user (operator). The input unit can be, for example, a pair of rod-shaped control sticks on the left and right, a rotary dial, a push button, various icons displayed on a touch panel screen, or a microphone for voice input, but is not limited to any particular input unit that can accept input from the user. The control device 40 may be capable of transmitting control signals based on travel route information or an autonomous flight program based on sensing (for example, a GCS (Ground Control Station)).

In the system of this embodiment, a single control device 40 can simultaneously control the aircraft 10 and the electric winch 30. This facilitates operations to control the position and attitude of the aircraft 10 suspended by the cable 20. Furthermore, by performing work with the aircraft 10 suspended by the cable 20, it is possible to prevent the aircraft 10 from falling or becoming unable to be recovered within the facility. Furthermore, by suspending it by the cable 20, the thrust generating unit 11 of the aircraft 10 does not need to generate an upward thrust greater than its own weight, reducing battery consumption and enabling long-term use. Furthermore, there is no need to control the aircraft 10 when hovering in the air, making it easier to control.

The present embodiment has been described above, but the above embodiment is intended to facilitate understanding of the present invention and is not intended to limit the interpretation of the present invention. The present invention may be modified or improved without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and equivalents thereof are also included in the present invention.

In the above embodiment, when the aircraft is suspended by the tether, the thrust generating unit generates an upward force (thrust force DF2) that is smaller than the force of gravity G acting on the aircraft, thereby reducing the strain on the cable 20 (see FIG. 3), but this is not limited thereto, and the thrust generating unit may also generate a downward force on the aircraft. The thrust generating unit may also temporarily generate an upward force (thrust force DF2) that is larger than the force of gravity G acting on the aircraft.

In the above embodiment, the autonomous control is described as being performed by the flight controller of the aircraft, but the present technology is not limited to this example. In other words, this autonomous flight control method is not limited to an example in which processing is performed at the edge of the aircraft, but may be one in which the above-mentioned correction processing is performed remotely by another autonomous control device, the processing results are transmitted to the aircraft, and the drive unit is controlled based on these results. In other words, the main hardware that executes this autonomous flight control method is not particularly limited, and the above-mentioned functional units may be executed by multiple hardware. The same applies to the control unit 32 of the electric winch 30.

Furthermore, the effects described in this specification are merely descriptive or exemplary and are not limiting. In other words, the technology disclosed herein may achieve other effects that are apparent to a person skilled in the art from the description in this specification, in addition to or in place of the above effects.

Note that the following configurations also fall within the technical scope of the present disclosure.
(Item 1)
an electric winch connected to a cable that suspends an aircraft having a thrust generating unit;
A receiving unit that receives a control signal from a control device;
a signal generating unit that generates a winch operation signal that instructs an operation of the electric winch based on the operation signal received by the receiving unit,
the control signal includes information on an instruction to ascend or descend for the aircraft,
The winch system is characterized in that the signal generating unit generates the winch operation signal including winding instruction information based on the ascent instruction, and generates the winch operation signal including pay-out instruction information based on the descent instruction.
(Item 2)
A support portion that supports the electric winch;
The winch system according to claim 1 , further comprising: a guide portion that guides the cable.
(Item 3)
The winch system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control signal includes information for controlling the orientation of the aircraft.
(Item 4)
The winch system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control signal includes information for controlling a parallel position of the aircraft.

Reference Signs List 1 Winch system 10 Airframe 20 Cable 30 Electric winch 31 Receiving unit 32 Signal generating unit 40 Control device

Claims

an electric winch connected to a cable that suspends an aircraft having a thrust generating unit;
A receiving unit that receives a control signal from a control device;
a signal generating unit that generates a winch operation signal that instructs an operation of the electric winch based on the operation signal received by the receiving unit,
the control signal includes information on an instruction to ascend or descend for the aircraft,
The winch system is characterized in that the signal generating unit generates the winch operation signal including winding instruction information based on the ascent instruction, and generates the winch operation signal including pay-out instruction information based on the descent instruction.
A support portion that supports the electric winch;
The winch system according to claim 1 , further comprising: a guide portion that guides the cable.
The winch system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the control signal includes information for controlling the orientation of the aircraft.
The winch system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the control signal includes information for controlling the parallel position of the aircraft.