JP6732666B2 - Unmanned aerial vehicle - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an unmanned aerial vehicle such as a small unmanned helicopter or an unmanned aerial vehicle that flies by remote control.

Conventionally, as this type of unmanned aerial vehicle, for example, the one shown in Patent Document 1 is known. The unmanned aerial vehicle described in Patent Document 1 is composed of a body, a plurality of arms extending radially from the body, a plurality of motors attached to the arms and arranged at equal intervals, and a plurality of propellers horizontally rotated by the motors. It is equipped with a rotor. Further, this unmanned aerial vehicle is capable of remote control by receiving an operation command signal corresponding to the manual operation by the operator transmitted by the remote control means.

According to this unmanned aerial vehicle, the rotation speed, tilt angle, and tilt direction of the rotor of the unmanned aerial vehicle can be changed by the operator's manual operation, and vertical takeoff and landing, hovering, horizontal flight in any direction, and control of flight speed. Is possible.

However, since the unmanned aerial vehicle having the above configuration is manually operated by the operator, it is difficult to control the position/posture when flying the unmanned aerial vehicle at a position close to the wall-shaped structure, and the unmanned aerial vehicle is There is a risk of colliding with a wall-like structure and eventually crashing.

Further, when the unmanned aerial vehicle flies at a position close to the wall-shaped structure, the flight attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle may not be stable due to the turbulence of the air flow generated by the rotation of the rotor of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

In addition, since the unmanned aerial vehicle must tilt with respect to the flight direction when flying horizontally, the unmanned aerial vehicle is stable against the wall-shaped structure even if the unmanned aerial vehicle approaches the wall-shaped structure. I cannot maintain my posture.

JP, 2016-199144, A

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and its technical problem is to provide an unmanned aerial vehicle that can stabilize the flight attitude even when flying at a position close to a wall-shaped structure. To do.

In order to effectively solve the above-mentioned technical problems, an unmanned aerial vehicle of the present invention is an unmanned aerial vehicle body that enables remote control of flight, an expansion/contraction means attached to the aerial vehicle body, and a wall-shaped structure. According to the expansion/ contraction amount measuring means for measuring the relative position of the flying body with respect to the wall-like structure by measuring the expansion/contraction amount of the expansion/contraction means in contact with an object, and the measurement data by the expansion/contraction amount measuring means. And a stretch control unit that stretches the stretch unit so as to maintain an arbitrary distance between the aircraft body and the wall-shaped structure.

Another unmanned aerial vehicle of the present invention is an unmanned aerial vehicle body that enables remote control of flight, an expansion/contraction means attached to the aerial body, and a relative position of the aerial body with respect to a wall-shaped structure. Measurement means for measuring various positions, and expansion/contraction control means for expanding/contracting the expansion/contraction means so that the aircraft body maintains an arbitrary distance with respect to the wall-shaped structure in accordance with the measurement data by the measurement means. The measuring means includes a contact sensor for detecting whether or not the expanding and contracting means is in contact with the wall-shaped structure, and the expansion and contraction control means is that the expanding and contracting means is in contact with the wall-shaped structure. It is constructed so as to adjust the expansion/contraction amount of the expansion/contraction means when is detected by the detection signal from the contact sensor.

The expansion/contraction means may include a protrusion member that protrudes to the outside of the aircraft body and has a variable stroke amount.

Further, in the present invention, preferably, the expansion/contraction control means includes a determination means for determining that the expansion/contraction means is in contact with the wall-shaped structure based on a detection signal from a contact sensor and for starting expansion/contraction of the expansion/contraction means. It will be.

According to the unmanned aerial vehicle of the present invention, the expansion/contraction of the expansion/contraction means controlled by the expansion/contraction control means in accordance with the relative position of the flight body to the wall-shaped structure measured by the measurement means causes the expansion/contraction of the flight body and the wall Since an arbitrary distance can be maintained between the unmanned aerial vehicle and the structure, the flight attitude can be stabilized when the unmanned air vehicle flies at a position close to the wall-shaped structure.

It is a perspective view showing the state where the unmanned aerial vehicle concerning the embodiment of the present invention is flying in the position near the wall-like structure. 1 is a block diagram of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a side view showing the state where the unmanned aerial vehicle concerning the embodiment of the present invention is flying in the position near the wall-shaped structure. It is explanatory drawing which shows a mode until an unmanned air vehicle which concerns on embodiment of this invention takes off and lands.

Next, the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, an unmanned aerial vehicle 10 according to the present embodiment includes a small unmanned aerial vehicle body 20 capable of vertical takeoff and landing and horizontal flight in an arbitrary direction. The attached expanding/contracting means 30, the measuring means 40 for measuring the relative position of the aircraft body 20 with respect to the wall-like structure 70, and the arbitrary distance between the aircraft body 20 and the wall-like structure 70 are maintained. The expansion and contraction means 30 is expanded and contracted as described above. Further, the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 can be remotely operated by receiving the operation command signal 61 corresponding to the manual operation by the operator transmitted by the remote operation means 60.

Examples of the wall-shaped structure 70 to which the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 according to the present embodiment is adjacent include a wall surface of a concrete structure.

The aircraft body 20 according to the present embodiment includes a body 21, a plurality of arms 22 radially extending from the body 21, motors attached to the arms 22 and arranged at equal intervals, and horizontally rotated by the motors. A plurality of rotors 23 each including a propeller are provided, and vertical takeoff and landing, hovering, horizontal flight in an arbitrary direction, and flight speed control are possible depending on the rotation speed and inclination direction of the rotor 23.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a drive control means 24, a communication means 25, etc. are mounted on the machine body 21 of the flight body 20. The drive control means 24 stabilizes the attitude of the flying body 20 by controlling the drive of each rotor 23. The communication unit 25 receives the operation command signal 61 transmitted from the remote operation unit 60 and reflects it on the control of the drive control unit 24.

The expansion/contraction means 30 includes a tubular member 31 and a rod 32 which is arranged on the inner circumference of the tubular member 31 so as to be capable of reciprocating in the longitudinal direction. Examples of the expansion/contraction means 30 according to the present embodiment include an electric cylinder in which a tubular member 31 and a rod 32 are screwed with each other, and a rotational movement of the tubular member 31 by an electric motor is converted into an axial reciprocating movement. Are listed.

One end (hereinafter, referred to as a tip) 33 of the rod 32 is located outside the flying body 20 and a contact sensor 41 described later is attached to the rod 32. Then, the distal end 33 of the rod 32 can be brought into contact with the wall-shaped structure 70 via the contact sensor 41 by the relative displacement (stroke) of the rod 32 in the longitudinal direction with respect to the tubular member 31.

The measuring means 40 measures the relative position of the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 with respect to the wall-shaped structure 70. The unmanned aerial vehicle 10 according to the present embodiment has the contact sensor 41 and the determining means as the measuring means 40. 43 and a scale 42 are mounted. Here, the relative position of the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 with respect to the wall-shaped structure 70 specifically refers to the horizontal position of the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 in the side surface space of the wall-shaped structure 70. The scale 42 in the present embodiment corresponds to the expansion/contraction amount measuring means described in the claims.

The contact sensor 41 is attached to the tip 33 of the rod 32, outputs a detection signal of the contact load of the expansion/contraction means 30 with respect to the wall-shaped structure 70, and outputs this detection signal to the determination means 43.

The determination unit 43 determines whether or not the contact sensor 41 attached to the tip 33 of the rod 32 of the expansion/contraction unit 30 contacts the wall-shaped structure 70 based on the detection signal from the contact sensor 41.

The scale 42 measures the stroke amount of the rod 32 in the expansion/contraction means 30, measures this stroke amount as distance data between the wall-shaped structure 70 and the unmanned air vehicle 10, and transmits the measurement data to the expansion/contraction control means 50. To do. The greater the stroke amount of the rod 32 measured from the scale 42, the greater the distance between the wall-shaped structure 70 and the unmanned aerial vehicle 10. Here, examples of what is used as the scale 42 according to this embodiment include a magnetic linear encoder and an optical linear encoder.

The expansion/contraction control unit 50 projects the rod 32 of the expansion/contraction unit 30 from the tubular member 31 based on the distance data between the unmanned air vehicle 10 and the wall-shaped structure 70 transmitted from the scale 42 and the contact sensor 41. The retracting means 30 is controlled so as to keep an arbitrary distance between the wall-shaped structure 70 and the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 by storing it.

The remote operation means 60 includes a communication means 62 and an operation lever or the like (not shown) that receives an operation by the operator. Then, the remote control means 60 transmits an operation command signal 61 to the communication means 25 of the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 via the communication means 62 when the operator operates the operation lever.

Next, the operation of the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

First, the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 vertically takes off from the position (A) shown in FIG. 4 by the operation command signal 61 of the remote control means 60, and the rod 32 of the expansion/contraction means 30 faces forward in the flight direction. , Approaching the wall-shaped structure 70 while horizontally flying to the position (B) shown in FIG. At this time, the rod 32 of the expansion/contraction means 30 attached to the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 is positioned outside the aircraft body 20, and is fixed to an arbitrary length whose projection length from the tubular member 31 is known. Has been done.

When the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 flies toward the wall-shaped structure 70, the contact sensor 41 at the tip 33 of the rod 32 eventually contacts the wall-shaped structure 70 and outputs a detection signal.

Next, the determination unit 43 determines that the wall-shaped structure 70 and the expansion/contraction unit 30 are in contact with each other by the input of the contact load detection signal from the contact sensor 41 attached to the tip 33 of the rod 32 of the expansion/contraction unit 30.

Next, the determination unit 43 triggers the measurement operation by the scale 42, and the scale 42 of the expansion/contraction unit 30 is in contact with the wall-shaped structure 70 via the contact sensor 41 at the tip 33 of the rod 32 of the expansion/contraction unit 30. The stroke amount of the rod 32 is measured. The distance between the wall-shaped structure 70 and the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 is measured from this stroke amount, and the measurement result is transmitted to the expansion/contraction control means 50.

Then, based on the measurement result transmitted from the scale 42, the expansion/contraction control means 50 expands or contracts the rod 32 in the expansion/contraction means 30. For example, when it is necessary to separate the relative distance of the aircraft body 20 from the wall-shaped structure 70 from the preset projecting length of the expansion/contraction means 30, the expansion/contraction control means 50 extends the rod 32 in the expansion/contraction means 30.

In the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 according to the present embodiment, the state of the wall-shaped structure 70, etc., after the expansion/contraction control means 50 expands/contracts the expansion/contraction means 30 based on the measurement results transmitted from the scale 42 and the contact sensor 41. The state of the surface of the wall-shaped structure 70 and the like may be checked by an inspection device (not shown) for checking. An example of the inspection device is a camera that confirms the state of the surface of the wall-shaped structure 70.

After the required work by the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 is completed, the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 flies away from the position (B) shown in FIG. 4 toward the position (C). At this time, the output value of the detection signal of the contact load between the rod 32 of the expansion/contraction means 30 and the wall-shaped structure 70 becomes zero, so that it is confirmed that the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 has separated from the wall-shaped structure 70. You can Therefore, it is possible to safely land the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 at a position away from the wall-shaped structure 70 toward the position (A).

As described above, according to the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 according to the present embodiment, the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 flies at a position close to the wall-shaped structure 70 by bringing the expansion/contraction means 30 into contact with the wall-shaped structure 70. As a result, the flight attitude can be stabilized.

Further, according to the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 according to the present embodiment, it is possible to measure that the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 has reached the predetermined distance from the wall-shaped structure 70 by the detection signal output from the contact sensor 41. Therefore, when the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 flies at a position close to the wall-shaped structure 70, it does not collide with the wall-shaped structure 70.

Further, according to the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 according to the present embodiment, the distance between the wall-shaped structure 70 and the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 is measured by the scale 42, and the wall-shaped structure 70 is measured according to the measurement result. The expansion/contraction control means 50 can expand/contract the rod 32 in the expansion/contraction means 30 so as to maintain an arbitrary distance from the flying body 20.

The device configuration of the unmanned aerial vehicle 10 according to the present embodiment is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, by mounting the expansion/contraction control means 50 on the remote operation means 60, the remote operation means 60 may control the expansion/contraction means 30.

10 Unmanned Air Vehicle 20 Aircraft Main Body 21 Aircraft 22 Arm 23 Rotor 24 Drive Control Means 25 Communication Means 30 Stretching Means 31 Cylindrical Member 32 Rod 33 Tip 40 Measuring Means 41 Contact Sensor 42 Scale 43 Judging Means 50 Stretching Control Means 60 Remote Operation Means 61 Operation command signal 62 Communication means 70 Wall-like structure

Claims (3)

An unmanned aircraft body that enables remote control of flight,
Expansion and contraction means attached to the aircraft body,
Expansion/ contraction amount measuring means for measuring the relative position of the aircraft body with respect to the wall-shaped structure by measuring the expansion/contraction amount of the expansion/contraction means in contact with the wall-shaped structure,
The expansion amount measuring means in accordance with the measurement data by, unmanned air vehicles and a telescopic control unit for the flying body is expanding and contracting the extendable means to keep any distance with respect to the wall-like structure. An unmanned aircraft body that enables remote control of flight,
Expansion and contraction means attached to the aircraft body,
Measuring means for measuring the relative position of the aircraft body with respect to the wall-shaped structure,
An expansion/contraction control unit that expands/contracts the expansion/contraction unit so that the aircraft body maintains an arbitrary distance with respect to the wall-shaped structure according to the measurement data by the measurement unit.
Equipped with
The measuring means includes a contact sensor for detecting whether or not the expanding and contracting means is in contact with the wall-shaped structure,
An unmanned air vehicle constructed such that the expansion/contraction control unit adjusts the expansion/contraction amount of the expansion/contraction unit when the contact signal of the expansion/contraction unit with the wall-shaped structure is detected by a detection signal from a contact sensor. The unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the expansion/contraction means includes a protruding member that protrudes to the outside of the aircraft body and has a variable stroke amount.

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