DE102021208671B3 - Process for de-icing vehicles using drones - Google Patents

Abstract

In order to provide a method for heat treatment, in particular for de-icing, of surfaces (110) with at least one drone (20), which enables efficient de-icing of electric vehicles, it is proposed to provide at least one drone (20), the at least one drone ( 20) has a heating device (23), wherein the heating device (23) directly heats a downdraft (A) during operation of the at least one drone (20) or a surface (110) by the heating device (23).

Description

The invention relates to a method for heat treatment, in particular for de-icing, of surfaces with at least one drone. Furthermore, the invention relates to a drone and an arrangement for carrying out the method.

Depending on the area, there may be snowfall in the winter months due to the weather. As a result, parked vehicles are adversely affected by the snow and ice formation. To ensure road safety, vehicles must be cleared of snow and ice before driving. In addition to manual removal of snow and ice, for example by so-called ice scrapers, mechanical de-icing methods are also known. For example, an auxiliary heater can be installed in the vehicle in order to increase the interior temperature and also the temperature of a window ventilation and to melt the snow and ice on the vehicle windows. This enables auxiliary heating by pre-heating the air conditioning circuit, usually using a diesel burner in the front of the vehicle, which defrosts the windows from the inside. However, such parking heaters harbor a fire hazard and cannot be used in electric vehicles due to the lack of fuel.

Furthermore, electrically heatable windscreens and rear windows are known, which can melt snow and ice using Joule heat. Depending on the traffic situation, especially in the dark, the thin wires in the windscreen can reflect headlight beams from oncoming vehicles and thus dazzle the driver, especially in challenging traffic situations. In addition, the operation of an electrically heated windscreen and rear window affects the range of an electric vehicle.

In the DE 10 2016 124 311 A1 describes an autonomous inspection system for overhead cables. The inspection system uses drones with end effectors to perform inspection work on the overhead cables. The drone's end effector can be used to spray compressed air or liquids to clear snow or debris.

contaminants are used. From the DE 11 2017 006 758 T5 a jump start system using a drone for broken down vehicles is known. The drone has two end effectors for providing starting energy for vehicles with internal combustion engines. the DE 11 2017 007 735 T5 describes a system for vehicle inspection of vehicle interiors. A drone inspects the cleanliness of a vehicle interior between two autonomous journeys by a robo-taxis.

WO 2020/043 555 A1 proposes an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is equipped with a heat source to melt ice on surfaces, in particular wind rotors.

Likewise in the CN 1 08 061 015 A proposed a UAV to de-ice rotor blades using remote control of the UAV. The UAV has a microwave generator.

US 2018/0 291 579 A1 proposes a UAV having at least one melting device with which the UAV can melt snow and ice in the vicinity of the UAV. In this case, the melting device has a radio transceiver for receiving instructions from the user of the UA.

US 2018/0 194 464 A1 discloses a method for high-volume cleaning services that works with a drone. A washing solution is used, which is carried by the drone in a tank and distributed to the object to be cleaned by a distribution device. The drone follows a preconfigurable route and can wirelessly transmit moving images of the cleaning process recorded by the camera.

The object of the invention is to provide a method for efficiently de-icing electric vehicles. This object is achieved by the features specified in claims 1 and 7. Further advantageous configurations of the invention are described in the dependent claims.

According to one aspect of the invention, a method for heat treating, in particular for de-icing, surfaces with at least one drone is provided. The at least one drone has a heating device. The heating device directly heats a downdraft during operation of the at least one drone or a surface by the heating device.

According to a further aspect of the invention, an arrangement is provided which has at least one vehicle and at least one drone. The vehicle may preferably be an icy or snow-covered vehicle. The arrangement is set up to carry out the method according to the invention.

In this case, the at least one surface can be heated indirectly by a heated downdraft from the drone or directly by heating the surface by means of radiant heat. The heat treatment of the at least one surface can preferably be carried out in sections. For this purpose, the surface can be divided into a large number of surface sections and then successively flown over by the drone.

The downdraft or so-called downwash of the drone corresponds to the air flow directed in the direction of gravity, which is necessary to lift the drone. The downdraft can be heated, for example, by heated rotor blades or by additional devices, such as heated grids. Infrared radiation or microwave radiation, for example, can be used to apply radiant heat to the surface in order to heat the surface.

The drone may fly just above or at the at least one surface to use the heated "downwash" airflow to defrost or defrost the surface. The at least one surface can preferably be a vehicle window, such as a front window, side window or rear window. Alternatively or additionally, the heat treatment of the surface can also be used in materials engineering, for example for drying or heating large-area laminates or for de-icing aircraft wings. A positive side effect is that the airflow can also remove snow from the surface of a vehicle, eliminating the need to sweep the vehicle. A user of the drone can thus find his vehicle free of snow and ice before departure. The process means that neither diesel for a parking heater nor electrical energy from a traction battery in an electric vehicle is required.

According to the invention, the downdraft is heated by a heating device designed as at least one heated rotor blade or by a heating device designed as a heated grid, with the heat produced by the heating device being conducted through rotor blades of the drone during flight by means of a downdraft of the drone to the surface. This measure allows the heating device to apply heat indirectly to the surface. A rotor blade or an exhaust grille can be heated using electrical heating elements or heating wires to transfer the heat to the downdraft before it hits the surface. In this way, a continuous flow of heat from the heating device to the surface can be produced.

The exhaust air grille can, for example, be a grille arranged below the rotor blades of the drone, which is designed to be heatable in its entirety or in certain areas.

The heating device can preferably be preheated in advance, in particular during or at the end of a charging process for the drone, provided that the distance between the surface or a vehicle and the drone is below a limit value. This can extend the flight duration of the drone.

According to a further exemplary embodiment, the surface, in particular a vehicle surface, is detected based on measurement data received from a drone-side sensor system and is controlled during flight in order to treat the surface with heat. The drone can thus implement automated control of the vehicle surfaces. For this purpose, the measurement data of the sensor system can be received and evaluated by a drone-side or drone-external control unit. A previously trained artificial intelligence or a predefined algorithm can take over the control and stabilization of the drone based on the measurement data.

The drone may enable constant heat dissipation and reliable surface de-icing when a flight speed and/or hovering time over a surface portion of the surface is controlled based on a heating power of the heater and based on environmental conditions. A wind direction, wind speed, ambient temperature, precipitation and the like in the form of ambient conditions can be taken into account when controlling the drone.

According to a further embodiment, the at least one drone is controlled by a drone-side control unit or by an external server unit or by a vehicle-side control unit which has at least one surface for heat treatment. In this way, the drone can be controlled based on control commands from a control device arranged in the drone to carry out the heat treatment.

In an alternative embodiment, an external server unit, such as a cloud, can communicate with the drone-side control unit via a wireless communication link and transmit control commands.

In an additional embodiment, the drone can be controlled remotely by a user or by a vehicle-mounted control unit.

The vehicle control unit can also use the vehicle sensors to register the drone in order to precisely control the vehicle surfaces.

The drone can implement functions that go beyond heat treatment if the downdraft of the at least one drone is used to at least partially remove loose snow and/or dust from the surface. This measure can reduce the energy required for de-icing the surface and the duration of the heat treatment.

According to a further embodiment, data of a position and an extent of at least one surface are received or determined. The drone flies over the at least one surface, with the heat treatment of the surface being carried out by activating the heating device. Preferably, during the heat treatment, the drone is spaced from the at least one surface in the height direction or at least temporarily positioned on the surface. Especially at high wind speeds, the drone can be optimally stabilized by setting it down on the surface during the heat treatment. In doing so, the distance between the heating device and the surface can also be minimized and the efficiency can be increased.

According to a further aspect of the invention, a drone for the heat treatment of at least one surface, in particular a vehicle surface, is provided. The drone has a sensor system for determining measurement data and a control device for receiving the determined measurement data. The sensor system may include camera sensors, LIDAR sensors, radar sensors, ultrasonic sensors, crosswind sensors, GNSS sensors, and the like.

According to the invention, the drone has a heating device for heating a downdraft of the drone or for directly heating the at least one surface.

The heat output of the heating device can preferably be set or regulated by the drone-internal control device or the drone-external server unit. As a result, a temperature of the downdraft or the heat treatment can be precisely controlled.

With the integrated or arranged heating device, the drone can control surfaces manually or automatically and heat treat them with the help of the heating device. Efficient de-icing of vehicle surfaces is thus possible

According to the invention, the heating device is designed as at least one heated rotor blade and/or as at least one heated grid arranged in an air flow from at least one rotor blade or as a radiant heater.

The heating device and in particular heating elements of the heating device can be arranged on the rotor blade or integrated into the rotor blade. The heating elements can be designed in the form of electrical resistance heaters or as heating wires in order to heat the air flow or the downdraft. The at least one rotor blade can consist of a material with improved thermal conductivity, such as a thermally conductive plastic or a fiber composite material mixed with appropriate additives.

• 1 eine schematische Darstellung einer Fahrzeuganordnung gemäß einer ersten Ausführungsform der Erfindung,
• 2 eine schematische Darstellung einer Fahrzeuganordnung gemäß einer zweiten Ausführungsform der Erfindung,
• 3 eine schematische Darstellung einer Fahrzeuganordnung gemäß einer dritten Ausführungsform der Erfindung, und
• 4 eine schematische Darstellung einer Fahrzeuganordnung gemäß einer vierten Ausführungsform der Erfindung.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings. Show it:

• 1 a schematic representation of a vehicle arrangement according to a first embodiment of the invention,
• 2 a schematic representation of a vehicle arrangement according to a second embodiment of the invention,
• 3 a schematic representation of a vehicle arrangement according to a third embodiment of the invention, and
• 4 a schematic representation of a vehicle arrangement according to a fourth embodiment of the invention.

In the figures, the same structural elements each have the same reference numbers.

the 1 shows a schematic representation of a vehicle arrangement 10 according to a first embodiment of the invention. through the in 1 and the embodiments of the vehicle arrangement 10 illustrated in the following figures, a method for heat treatment according to the invention is illustrated.

The vehicle assembly 10 includes a vehicle 100 and a drone 20 . The vehicle assembly 10 may include a plurality of vehicles 100 that are de-iced by one or more drones 20 . The heat treatment performed by the drone 20 is illustrated using deicing as a simplified example.

A customer or a user 200 can, for example, own the drone 20 or access a service which the drone provides at least temporarily. This can be done, for example, by a Smartphone or a computer of the user 200 done.

The drone 20 is used for the heat treatment of at least one surface 110. In the exemplary embodiment shown, a plurality of surfaces 110 configured as vehicle windows are illustrated.

Furthermore, the drone 20 has a sensor system 21 for determining measurement data and a control unit 22 for receiving the determined measurement data. The sensor system 21 can have camera sensors, LIDAR sensors and the like, for example, in order to determine measurement data about the surroundings of the drone 20 and to enable automated navigation.

In the exemplary embodiment shown, the drone 20 has a heating device 23 for heating a downdraft A of the drone 20 . The heating device 23 consists of several electrically heatable rotor blades 24 of the drone 20. If the rotor blades 24 are heated, they heat the downdraft A. The drone 20 can then use the heated downdraft A for de-icing or defrosting by flying over the surfaces 110 accordingly .

The controller 22 of the drone 20 can preferably access a weather database of a weather service 120 in order to determine environmental conditions such as wind direction, wind speed, ambient temperature and the like. Alternatively, an external server unit 130 can access the weather service 120 and transmit the corresponding environmental conditions to the control device 22 . The user 200 can access the drone 20 directly or via the external server unit 130 . The arrows illustrate the possible communication connections or communication paths.

For example, the user 200 can receive information about a probable icing of vehicle windows via an app on the smartphone. The drone 20 can then be charged in advance and start a de-icing flight before the planned departure. The drone 20 can be in contact with a vehicle-side control unit 102 in order to implement simplified localization. In addition, the vehicle-side control unit 102 can access measurement data from the vehicle-side sensor system 101 in order to localize the drone 20 and, depending on the design, direct or remotely control it.

The panes or surfaces 110 of the vehicle 100 are detected by means of the drone-side sensor system 21 . Due to its function, the drone 20 produces air currents or downdrafts A during its flight, which flow downwards. The downdraft A is heated by heated rotor blades 24 .

$$\text{Q1}=\mathrm{0,00648}\text{kg*2kJ}/\text{kgK*}\left(\text{0}°\text{C}-20°\text{C}\right)=\mathrm{0,259}\text{kJ}$$

The amount of heat Q1 required to heat an ice sheet to melt water temperature is calculated according to the following equation: $$\text{Q1}={\text{m}}_{\left(\text{ice}\right)}*{\text{cp}}_{\left(\text{ice}\right)}*\Delta \text{T}$$

$$\text{Q1}=0.00648\text{kg*2kJ}/\text{kgK*}\left(\text{0}°\text{C}-20°\text{C}\right)=0.259\text{kJ}$$

The mass m _(eis) is estimated based on a windshield with a thickness of 5 mm and an area of 1.44*0.9 m.

$$\text{Q2}=\mathrm{0,00648}\text{kg*334kJ}/\text{kg}=\mathrm{2,164}\text{kJ}$$

When calculating the amount of heat required, the heat of fusion Q2 must also be taken into account. The heat of fusion Q2 is determined using the following equation: $$\text{Q2}={\text{m}}_{\left(\text{ice}\right)}*\Delta {\text{H}}_{\left(\text{water}\right)}$$

$$\text{Q2}=0.00648\text{kg*334kJ}/\text{kg}=\mathrm{2,164}\text{kJ}$$

Consequently, an amount of heat of Q1+Q2=2.423 kJ must be provided by heater 23 to defrost an exemplary windshield. This corresponds to an electrical power of 0.673 Wh, assuming a 70% efficiency of the heating device 23, an electrical power of about 1 Wh is required. In comparison to this, a commercially available drone has a battery capacity of more than 40 Wh and can therefore provide the electrical power for the heating device 23 without modifications.

In the 2 1 is a schematic illustration of a vehicle arrangement 10 according to a second embodiment of the invention. In contrast to the first exemplary embodiment, the drone 20 is not at a distance from the surfaces 110 in the height direction H during the heat treatment, but can be supported on the surface 110 designed as a front pane. As a result, a distance D between the heating device 23 and the surface 110 is minimized.

the 3 shows a schematic representation of a vehicle arrangement 10 according to a third embodiment of the invention. In contrast to the exemplary embodiments already described, here the downdraft A is not heated by heated rotor blades 24, but rather by a grid 25 that is heated at least in certain areas. The heated grid 25 is arranged opposite to the vertical direction H below the rotor blades of the drone 20 net, whereby the downdraft A can pass through the heated grid 25 and is thus heated to a higher temperature.

In the 4 a fourth exemplary embodiment of the vehicle arrangement 10 according to the invention is shown. In contrast to the exemplary embodiments described, the heating device 23 is designed as a radiant heater 26 which implements a direct heat treatment of the surfaces 110 . The radiant heater 26 is designed, for example, as an infrared emitter, which is rigidly or pivotably attached to the drone 20 .

reference list

100

vehicle

101

on-board sensors

102

on-board control unit

110

surface / vehicle surface

120

weather service

130

external server unit

200

user

10

vehicle arrangement

20

drone

21

drone-side sensor system

22

drone-side controller

23

heating device

24

rotor blade

25

heated grid

26

radiant heating

A

downdraft

D

Distance between heater and surface

Claims (8)

Method for heat treatment, in particular for de-icing, of surfaces (110) with at least one drone (20), wherein the at least one drone (20) has a heating device (23), with the heating device (23) generating a downdraft (A) in a Operation of the at least one drone (20) or a surface (110) is heated directly by the heating device (23), wherein the downdraft (A) is used as at least one heated rotor blade (24) or as a heated grid (26) designed heating device (23) is heated, the heat produced by the heating device (23) being conducted through rotor blades of the drone (20) during flight by means of a downdraft (A) of the drone (20) onto the surface (110). procedure after claim 1 , Wherein the surface (110), in particular a vehicle surface, is detected based on received measurement data from a drone-side sensor system (21) and controlled in flight in order to treat the surface (110) with heat. Procedure according to one of Claims 1 until 2 wherein a flight speed and/or hovering time over a surface portion of the surface (110) is controlled based on a provided heating power of the heating device (23) and based on environmental conditions. Procedure according to one of Claims 1 until 3 , wherein the at least one drone (20) is controlled by a drone-side control unit (22) or by an external server unit (130) or by a vehicle-side control unit (102) which has at least one surface (110) for heat treatment. Procedure according to one of Claims 1 until 4 , wherein the downdraft (A) of the at least one drone (20) is used to at least partially remove loose snow and/or dust from the surface (110). Procedure according to one of Claims 1 until 5 , wherein data on a position and an extension of at least one surface (110) are received or determined, the at least one surface (110) being flown over by the drone (20), the heat treatment of the surface (110) being carried out by activating the heating device (23 ) is carried out, wherein during the heat treatment the drone (20) is spaced from the at least one surface (110) in the height direction (H) or is at least temporarily positioned on the surface (110). Drone (20) for the heat treatment of at least one surface (110), in particular a vehicle surface, having a sensor system (21) for determining measurement data and a control unit (21) for receiving the determined measurement data, characterized in that the drone (20) has a heating device (23) for heating a downdraft (A) of the drone (20) or for directly heating the at least one surface (110), the heating device (23) being at least one heated rotor blade (24) and/or at least one in a Air flow from at least one rotor blade arranged heated grid (25) or as a radiant heater (26) is configured. Arrangement comprising at least one vehicle and having at least one drone according to claim 7 , wherein the arrangement to a is directed, a method according to any one of Claims 1 until 6 to execute.

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