KR20180050069A - Automatic charging system for unmanned aerial vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an automatic charging system of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). In particular, due to a docking station formed in a doughnut-shaped mounting groove structure in which a central part and an outer part protrude and the entire area therebetween is recessed, a bent landing gear of a UAV is mounted on a correct position for wireless charging. Moreover, transmission and reception sensors are installed in the docking station and the UAV, a flying UAV calculates a position of the shortest distance from the docking station and then performs descent flight for landing. Accordingly, the UAV is able to be precisely landed on the docking station while minimizing an error occurring when depending on only a global positioning system (GPS), thereby providing an effect of automatically charging a UAV, whose battery charging amount is exhausted, at high charging efficiency.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to an automatic charging system for an unmanned airplane,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic charging system for an unmanned aerial vehicle, and more particularly to an automatic charging system for an unmanned aerial vehicle, The docking station and the unmanned airplane are each provided with a transmission / reception sensor, so that a point at the shortest distance from the docking station can be derived from the unmanned airplane in flight, and then descended for landing Thereby enabling a landing on a docking station with a minimum amount of error that may occur when relying solely on GPS, thereby enabling an automatic charging system of an unmanned aerial vehicle capable of automatically charging a unmanned airplane having a battery charge exhaustion with a high charging efficiency .

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) generally refer to airplanes that fly autonomously without a pilot on board or by remote control from a remote location. Recently, they are called drone, It is becoming widespread and its demand is continuously increasing.

In addition, it has been widely used in a variety of fields such as military use, fire and disaster rescue, photography, and the like. In recent years, various attempts and researches have been actively conducted to use a drone for commercial purpose such as a courier service.

Such a drone can fly through the sky by rotating a plurality of propellers using the power of a battery installed in the main body. Since the consumption of the battery greatly increases while the plurality of propellers are rapidly rotated for flight, There is a problem that it is difficult to enlarge the flying distance.

Accordingly, when the disposable battery is normally mounted on the dron, it is possible to fly the drones only for about 10 minutes. Therefore, in order to fly for a long time, the disposable battery has to be constantly replaced. There is a problem that the battery must be periodically charged. In addition, since the limit of the time and distance to fly the charged charge amount is not significantly different from the case of using the disposable battery, Had to terminate the flight, and it was still difficult to fly the dron for a long time or for long distance for commercial purposes.

Accordingly, in recent years, as disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-1655874, when the preset charging time arrives while checking the remaining amount of the battery in real time, the user can fly to the charging station located closest to the charging station, Thus, a flight management system having a smart charging function has been proposed in which the unmanned aerial vehicle can be applied to a wide variety of fields while diversifying the role of the unmanned aerial vehicle by enlarging the flight range of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

However, in the Korean Patent No. 10-1655874, the contact type charging method in which the terminal of the unmanned aerial vehicle is connected to the electrode provided in the charging station for charging is adopted, and when the terminal contact is not made correctly, There is a problem that it is difficult to secure the reliability of the charging when automatic charging by automatic flight is performed without the intervention of an administrator.

Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0998872 discloses a remote control mobile unit capable of automatically transferring a remote control mobile unit to a circular flat platform at a position where automatic charging is performed on a hemispherical charging platform, An automatic charging system has been proposed.

However, in this Korean Patent No. 10-0998872, charging can be performed without direct contact between terminals, and a remote control mobile unit landing on a charging platform formed with a hemispherical charging platform moves to an accurate charging point The remote control mobile unit that has fallen on the hemispherical landing portion has to be pulled by force of magnetic field generated by the magnetic field generating portion so that the remote control mobile unit is tilted by an unexpected excessive force Thereby increasing the risk that the battery will not be fully charged.

Accordingly, the need for a new automatic charging system that ensures the reliability of wireless charging without the need for administrator intervention, by automatically and safely landing the autonomous, unmanned airplane accurately and safely to a specific point on the charging docking station, Will continue to be a premise to expand utilization.

Korean Patent No. 10-1655874 Korean Patent No. 10-0998872 Korean Patent No. 10-1651600

The present invention allows a bending landing gear of a UAV to be seated in a precise position for wireless charging by a docking station having a donut-shaped seating groove structure in which the center and the outside are protruded and the entire area between them is concaved In addition, the docking station and the UAV have transmission and reception sensors, respectively, to derive the shortest distance from the docking station to the docking station and descend for landing, thereby minimizing errors The present invention also provides an automatic recharging system for an unmanned aerial vehicle that enables a pilot to land on a docking station, thereby automatically charging the unmanned aerial vehicle with a high charging efficiency.

An automatic charging system for a UAV, which solves the above problems,

A docking station for forming a structure in which a central portion and an outer portion are protruded and a seating groove formed by a concave region therebetween to allow a landing gear of a UAV to be seated; A charging unit installed in the docking station and having a coil for charging the charging coil for supplying power to the charging unmanned airplane provided in the unmanned airplane landing on the seating groove; And a power supply unit for stabilizing and outputting power supplied to the charging unit.

Further, in the present invention, the unmanned airplane landed on the docking station and supplied with power is provided with a landing portion extending from the bottom of the dron body and contacting with the ground during landing; The landing unit includes a landing gear having both ends bent along a curved shape of a seating groove having a concave area and a support for connecting the landing gear to the dron body.

In addition, the present invention may further comprise a real time location tracking system (RTLS) capable of transmitting and receiving signals between the docking station and the UAV, and calculating a straight line distance between the docking station and the UAV; Wherein the real time location tracking system comprises: a first sensor installed at the docking station for transmitting a signal upward; a second sensor installed at the unmanned airplane and receiving a signal transmitted from the first sensor; And a control module that calculates a position of a docking station to land by deriving a point that is the shortest straight line distance from the docking station based on a signal transmitted from the first sensor by the sensor.

The charging unit may include a spiral charging coil wound around a bottom surface of the seating groove of the docking station, a charge receiving unit provided in the unmanned airplane to receive electric power supplied from the transmission coil by magnetic resonance, And the charging receiving coil is installed in the landing gear.

The charging unit may include a first induction coil mounted on a bottom surface of the center protruding portion of the docking station and a second induction coil disposed below the drone main body of the unmanned airplane, And charging is performed by a magnetic induction method.

According to the present invention, the bending landing gear of the UAV can be seated in a precise position for wireless charging by a docking station having a donut-shaped seating groove structure in which the center and the outside are protruded and the entire area between them is concave So that it is possible to stably land on the docking station regardless of the direction in which the front face of the dron is directed.

In addition, the present invention provides a docking station structure in which the landing gear landing position of the unmanned airplane is mechanically guided by the donut-shaped seating groove structure of the docking station and the shortest distance derived by the transmitting / It is possible to minimize the error that occurs when the GPS is dependent only on the GPS by calculating the landing point.

Further, since the present invention enables precise landing at a specific point on the docking station, it is possible to wirelessly charge the vehicle by not only wireless charging by a magnetic resonance method but also magnetic induction method which is superior in charging efficiency.

1 is a perspective view of an automatic charging system of an unmanned aerial vehicle in which an unmanned aerial vehicle is landing according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state where an unmanned airplane landed on a docking station according to the present invention; FIG.
3 is a perspective view of a docking station according to the present invention;
FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram showing the determination of the position of a docking station to be landed by data transmission and reception in first and second sensors installed in an unmanned air vehicle and a docking station according to the present invention; FIG.
5 is a plan sectional view of a docking station showing an example of installation of a charging coil for charging for charging according to the present invention.
6 is a cross-sectional view of a docking station showing an installation example of an induction coil for charging in accordance with the present invention;

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an automatic filling system of a UAV, showing that the UAV is landing according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the UAV landing on the docking station according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a docking station according to FIG.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an automatic filling system for an unmanned aerial vehicle according to the present invention includes a landing groove formed as a recessed region between a central portion and an outer portion, A docking station 100 for receiving the docking station 100 and a coil for charging the docking station by supplying power to the charging reception coil provided in the unmanned aircraft for landing in the docking station 220, 310, and 320, and a power supply unit (not shown) that stabilizes the power supplied to the charging unit and outputs the stabilized power.

The unmanned airplane landing on the docking station 100 and supplied with power is a conventional drones 10 capable of vertical landing and landing by rotating a propeller by a power source stored in a rechargeable battery. And a propeller unit 30 connected to the periphery of the drone main body and providing power for flight while rotating, and a control unit for controlling the operation of the drones 20, And a landing portion extending from the bottom surface of the dron body to be in contact with the ground during landing. The driving unit includes a motor that is activated by a signal generated by the control unit and rotates the wing provided on the propeller unit.

However, as described later, the landing unit includes a landing gear 50 having both ends bent along a curved shape of a seating groove formed as a concave region, and a support base 40 connecting the landing gear to the dron body .

That is, since the landing gear 50 is formed by bending both ends along the curved shape of the seating groove 110, the landing gear 50 can land precisely in the seating groove regardless of the direction in which the UAV is pointing .

1 and 3, the docking station 100 includes a housing having a seating groove 110 on which a landing gear can be placed while the UAV is landing, the seating being recessed on the top surface, When the landing gear is excessively pushed to one side of the seat groove, the center protrusion 120 is protruded at the center of the groove 110, so that the landing gear slides down on the curved surface of the center protrusion, .

Accordingly, the outer surface of the docking station 100 and the central portion of the docking station 100 are protruded from the seating groove, and the outer surface of the seating groove forms a curved surface to reach the outer surface of the docking station, A curved surface is formed so as to reach the central projection. The landing gear 50 of the unmanned aerial vehicle, which sinks around the seating groove, forms a smooth curved surface both inside and outside of the seating groove 110. The landing gear 50 slides on the inner or outer curved surface of the seating groove, It is possible to land at the correct position.

In this simple hemispherical structure, if the bottom surface of the landing gear is not very slippery, the docking station is not likely to slip down to the most concave portion. In this case, There is a risk of itself falling over.

Therefore, in the docking station 100, a concave seating groove 110 is formed to provide a position where the landing gear is to be placed. By forming the protruded center protrusion 120 inside, the position of the landing gear can be guided to the outside position of the seat groove, so that the unmanned airplane can dock while making a precise landing on the seat groove.

In addition, the concave seating groove 110 in which the landing gear of the UAV can be placed has a substantially annular or donut shape surrounding the entire central projection 120, so that the direction in which the landing gear of the UAV is oriented It is desirable to make stable landing in an annular seating groove in any direction.

Since the landing gear 110 of the unmanned airplane is configured to have a substantially annular shape or a donut shape, the landing gear 50 of the unmanned airplane is formed so as to have a bent shape with both ends facing inward .

It is preferable that the docking station 100 and the UAV 10 further include a real time location system (RTLS) capable of receiving signals and calculating mutual linear distances. By providing the real-time position tracking system (RTLS) as described above, the position of the docking station is calculated based on the shortest straight line distance derived by the real-time position tracking system after arriving at the docking station with the position information acquired by the GPS, Landing becomes possible. Accordingly, it is possible to minimize the error of several meters that may occur when relying only on GPS.

To this end, the docking station 100 is provided with a first sensor 410 for transmitting signals upward, a second sensor 420 for receiving a signal transmitted from the first sensor, So that the unmanned aircraft can send and receive signals after arriving at the docking station depending on the GPS. In this case, a first sensor for transmitting a signal may be provided in the unmanned air vehicle. However, considering that a constant power source is consumed for signal transmission, a first sensor for transmitting a signal to a docking station that can receive a power supply more easily is provided .

The docking station 100 may also be connected to the docking station 100 by means of a signal received from the first sensor 410 by the second sensor 420, The control module 430 may further include a control module 430 for calculating a position of the control unit 430. [

At this time, the shortest straight line distance from the docking station calculated in step 430 to the control module is calculated by multiplying the point that is the shortest straight line distance based on the signals transmitted between the first sensor and the second sensor while flying in a zigzag manner around one docking station 4, a plurality of docking stations are installed over a certain range, and a second sensor provided in the unmanned airplane arriving at the periphery of the docking station includes a first sensor The docking station may be configured to derive a docking station to be landed by the triangulation method or the like as it is determined that the docking station is closest to the sensor.

In this way, the position of the docking station for landing can be determined more accurately by minimizing the error of the GPS due to the signals directly transmitted and received between the sensors provided to the docking station and the UAV, The landing point of the landing gear is guided to the seating groove by the outer circumferential surface of the inner central projection and the curved surface of the seating groove outer side, and the landing gear can be seated accurately in the region where the wireless charging efficiency is high.

As shown in FIG. 5, the charging unit includes a helical charging coil 210 wound around a bottom surface of a seating groove of the docking station, and a power supply unit 210 for receiving power supplied from the transmission coil by magnetic resonance And a charge receiving coil 220 provided in the UAV.

At this time, it is preferable that the charging transmission coil 210 is installed on the bottom surface of the seating groove 110 where the landing gear of the UAV is placed, and the charging receiving coil 220 has a distance Is provided on the bottom surface of the landing gear (50) closest to the landing gear (50).

In addition, since the battery packed with the power supplied from the charge receiving coil is mounted on the landing gear 50, the distance between the charging coil for charging and the battery is minimized, It is desirable to achieve maximum charging efficiency while performing wireless charging.

When the wireless charging is performed by the magnetic resonance method using the charging coil 210 and the charging coil 220, the charging can be performed even if the coils are located relatively far from each other. It is needless to say that it may be provided in the drones main body instead of the bottom surface of the gear.

As shown in FIG. 6, the charging unit includes a first induction coil 310 mounted on a bottom surface of a central protrusion of the docking station, and a second induction coil 320 disposed below the dragon body of the unmanned aerial vehicle The first induction coil 310 and the second induction coil 320 may be configured to be able to charge and supply electric power by the magnetic induction method between the first induction coil 310 and the second induction coil 320 which are located close to each other while landing on the docking station.

In the case of wireless charging by the magnetic induction method, charging can be performed at a high efficiency up to about 90% as compared with the wired charging method. However, since charging can be performed only when the mutual induction coils are located at a short distance within several centimeters, It was not easy to make a precise landing to a position where the induction coil was present, which made it difficult to apply.

However, in the docking station, the position of the docking station to be landed can be more precisely obtained by applying the RTLS system. In addition, the seating groove to which the landing gear of the UAV is contacted moves on the outer peripheral surface of the central protrusion And the first induction coil 310 is installed on the upper portion of the center protrusion 120 so that the distance between the first induction coil 310 and the unmanned airplane can be shortened, The drone main body 20 is further provided with the induction coil portion 60 on which the second induction coil 320 is mounted so that the distance between the induction coils can be maintained within several centimeters, The efficiency can be improved.

The power supply unit is configured to supply power to the charging coil 210 and the first induction coil 310 forming the charging unit stably so that power can be continuously supplied to the first induction coil 310 by an external outlet or the like . In the case where the docking station is installed at a location where it is difficult to continuously supply external power, the energy storage system (ESS: Energy Storage System), which stores electric power and can stably supply the electric power to the charging coil or the first induction coil, ).

As described above, by supplying the power source stably by the ESS or the like in the power supply unit, the charge receiving coil of the unmanned airplane or the second induction coil of the unmanned airplane, which receives the power via the charge transmission coil or the first induction coil, It is possible to proceed with charging.

Therefore, when the remaining capacity of the unmanned aerial vehicle is low, the aircraft relying on the geographical information acquired through the GPS travels around the docking station, Continuity can be ensured. The docking station enables the automatic charging of the unmanned airplane during the flight so that the flight time and the flight distance can be increased in spite of the limitation of the battery, thereby enabling commercial use of the unmanned airplane.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope of the present invention.

100: docking station 110:
120: central protrusion
210: charging coil for charging 220: charging coil for charging
310: first induction coil 320: second induction coil
410: first sensor 420: second sensor
430: Control module
10: Drone 20: Drone body
30: Propeller section 40: Support
50: landing gear 60: induction coil part

Claims (7)

A docking station for forming a structure in which a central portion and an outer portion are protruded and a seating groove formed by a concave region therebetween to allow a landing gear of a UAV to be seated;
A charging unit installed in the docking station and having a coil for charging the charging coil for supplying power to the charging unmanned airplane provided in the unmanned airplane landing on the seating groove; And
And a power supply unit for stabilizing and outputting power supplied to the charging unit. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the unmanned airplane landed on the docking station and supplied with power is provided with a landing portion extended from the bottom surface of the dron body and contacting the ground during landing;
Wherein the landing unit includes a landing gear having both ends bent along a curved shape of a seating groove made of a concave region and a support for connecting the landing gear to the dron body. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the docking station has a center protrusion formed at the center of the seating groove so as to protrude higher than an outer portion of the seating groove. 3. The method of claim 2,
The docking station and the UAV are further provided with a real time location tracking system (RTLS) capable of receiving signals and calculating mutual straight line distances;
Wherein the real time location tracking system comprises: a first sensor installed at the docking station for transmitting a signal upward; a second sensor installed at the unmanned airplane and receiving a signal transmitted from the first sensor; And a control module for calculating a position of a docking station for landing by deriving a point at a shortest straight line distance from the docking station based on a signal transmitted from the first sensor by the sensor. system. 5. The method of claim 4,
The charging unit may include a spiral charging coil for charging the spool in the bottom of the seating groove of the docking station and a charging coil for charging the charging unit for receiving power supplied from the transmission coil by magnetic resonance And the automatic charging system of the unmanned aerial vehicle. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein said charging coil for charging is installed in said landing gear. 5. The method of claim 4,
The charging unit may include a first induction coil mounted on a bottom surface of the center protruding portion of the docking station, a second induction coil disposed below the drone body of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and a magnetic induction coil between the first induction coil and the second induction coil, The automatic charging system of the unmanned airplane in which charging is performed by the method.

Images