JP2007038925A - Unmanned helicopter - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an unmanned helicopter capable of obtaining sufficient transmission/receiving function by reducing electro-magnetic shielding effect to an antenna and a communication equipment. <P>SOLUTION: In the unmanned helicopter 1 mounted with equipment 14 on the outside of a machine body through an equipment mounting stay 18, the stay 18 comprises a non-conductive material. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an unmanned helicopter, and more particularly, to a stay for mounting a device outside a fuselage.

  The unmanned helicopter is used for spraying chemicals such as agricultural chemicals (for example, Patent Document 1), for aerial photography, or for fixed point observation or investigation at a certain point on the ground. The unmanned helicopter is a wireless control device that allows a user to remotely control the aircraft according to the flight state while looking at the aircraft from the ground.

  In such an unmanned helicopter, for example, autonomous flight control that automatically performs optimum flight control in accordance with the operating state of the engine along a flight route arbitrarily set in advance has been put into practical use. When performing such autonomous flight control, detection data and GPS data of the azimuth sensor and attitude sensor (gyro) on the aircraft side are transmitted as digital signals to the ground station, and an autonomous flight control command signal is transmitted from the ground station. Sent to the aircraft by digital signal. The airframe is equipped with an antenna for controlling flight data for autonomous flight.

  On the other hand, an unmanned helicopter equipped with a photographing device such as a camera transmits analog data of a photographed image to the ground station. An image data antenna is provided in the aircraft for this image data communication.

  In addition, a control board composed of an image communication device and a microcomputer storing an autonomous flight program when a GPS device and a camera for detecting the position and speed of the aircraft are installed is mounted on the aircraft. Such an autonomous navigation device such as a GPS device or a control board is housed in an autonomous control box and mounted outside the aircraft.

  Such an autonomous control box is mounted on the outside of the airframe via a stay for mounting the device. Conventionally, this stay has been formed by bending a sheet metal or pipe made of metal such as aluminum, an alloy thereof, or iron in consideration of cost, weight, and productivity. An autonomous control box was attached to this stay via a spring, and it was fixed to the aircraft with bolts and rivets.

  However, conventional stays for mounting devices are made of metal, which is a conductor, so that they have a shielding effect against radio waves and cause deterioration in radio wave transmission / reception performance.

JP 2002-166893 A

  The present invention takes the above-described conventional technology into consideration, and an object thereof is to provide an unmanned helicopter capable of reducing the electromagnetic shielding effect on an antenna and obtaining a good transmission / reception function.

  The invention of claim 1 provides an unmanned helicopter in which equipment is mounted on the outside of the machine body via a stay for equipment attachment, wherein the stay is made of a non-conductive material.

  According to a second aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the device is an autonomous control box that houses an autonomous navigation device.

  The invention of claim 3 is the invention of claim 1, wherein the stay is made of glass fiber FRP.

  According to the first aspect of the invention, since the device mounted outside the machine body is attached via the stay made of a non-conductive material, the electromagnetic shielding effect by the stay is reduced, and a good transmission / reception function is obtained.

  According to the invention of claim 2, the electromagnetic shielding effect of the stay on the antenna provided around the autonomous control box is reduced, and a good transmission / reception function can be obtained.

  According to the invention of claim 3, since the stay is formed by FRP of glass fiber which is a non-conductor, the strength and rigidity are ensured as well as the electromagnetic shielding effect is reduced, and the device is stably and firmly mounted outside the body. Can be fixed.

FIG. 1 is an overall view of an unmanned helicopter according to the present invention.
The unmanned helicopter 1 includes an airframe 4 including a main body 2 and a tail body 3. A main rotor 5 that rotates about the main rotor shaft 21 is provided on the upper portion of the main body 2. A tail rotor 6 and a radio control receiving antenna 22 are provided at the rear of the tail body 3. The main rotor 5 and the tail rotor 6 are each composed of a plurality (two in this example) of rotor blades. A radiator 7 is provided at the front portion of the main body 2, and an engine, an intake system, a main rotor shaft, a fuel tank, and the like are accommodated in the airframe behind the main body 2. Skids 9 are provided on the lower left and right of the main body 2 via support legs 8. A muffler 11 provided in an exhaust pipe 10 connected to an engine in the airframe is disposed at the lower part of the airframe on the front side of the skid 9.

  An orientation sensor 17 based on geomagnetism or the like is provided on the lower surface side of the tail body 3. The direction of the aircraft (east, west, north and south) is detected by the direction sensor 17. The main body 2 is further provided with a posture sensor (not shown) composed of a gyro device.

  A camera device 12 accommodating an infrared camera (or CCD camera) is attached to the lower part of the machine body on the front side of the muffler 11. The camera device 12 rotates about a pan axis (vertical axis), and an internal camera (not shown) can rotate about a tilt axis (horizontal axis). Thereby, the camera can photograph all directions on the ground from the sky.

  A sub radiator 20 is provided below the front end of the main body 2. The sub-radiator 20 is provided for the case where the main radiator 7 has insufficient cooling capacity during fixed-point observation or research flight, which often involves hovering or slow speed flight.

  An autonomous control box 14 is mounted via a stay 18 on the lower rear side of the machine body on the rear side of the skid 9. The support pipe 23 is fixed along the left and right lower parts of the machine body. Brackets 24 are fixed to the left and right support pipes 23. The stay 18 is attached to the bracket 24 via a spring 19 and holds the autonomous control box 14 from the left and right.

An indicator lamp 34 is provided at the rear of the autonomous control box 14. The indicator lamp 34 displays the remaining amount of fuel, an abnormality warning of the fuselage, etc., and makes it visible to the user on the ground.
In the vicinity of the periphery of the autonomous control box 14, an image data antenna 15 for transmitting analog image data to the ground station and a control data antenna 16 for transmitting and receiving digital control data to and from the ground station are provided.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the unmanned helicopter of FIG. In the figure, the camera device 12 is omitted.
As shown in the figure, the image data antenna 15 is provided on the left side in the forward direction of the aircraft, and the steering data antenna 16 is provided on the right side.

  In the unmanned helicopter 1 having the above-described configuration, the stay 18 for attaching the autonomous control box is formed of a non-conductive glass fiber FRP. By using such an FRP stay 18, the electromagnetic shielding effect on the antennas 15 and 16 is reduced, and a good transmission / reception function is obtained. Moreover, since it is FRP, sufficient intensity | strength and rigidity are ensured with the reduction of an electromagnetic shielding effect, and the autonomous control box 14 can be mounted and fixed to the outer side of a fuselage stably and firmly.

  In the above embodiment, the autonomous control box is exemplified as the equipment mounted outside the aircraft, and the stay for mounting the autonomous control box has been described. The present invention can be applied to a stay for attaching a device to be mounted outside the airframe.

FIG. 3 is an internal plan view of the autonomous control box.
An autonomous navigation device 39 is mounted on the bottom plate 25. An image communication device 28 (see FIG. 4) at the lowest position of the autonomous navigation device 39 is provided in contact with the bottom plate 25 via the bracket 27. Cover attachment portions 29 are provided at six locations around the bottom plate 25, and the cover 33 is attached (see FIG. 6). The antenna cable 40 and other cables 41 such as a power source and a harness are arranged in front of the bottom plate 25 and connected to a connector (see FIG. 5) on the outer surface of the bottom plate. 30 is a barometer.

FIG. 4 is an internal rear view of the autonomous control box.
The autonomous navigation device 39 includes an image control device 32 mounted on the bottom plate 25 via a bracket 42, a control board 26 mounted thereon, and a data communication device 31 provided on the lower side of the image control device 32. And an image communicator 28 mounted in contact with the bottom plate 25 via the bracket 27 below the data communicator 31. The control board 26 incorporates a main GPS device. The image control device 32 loaded on the bracket 42 and the control board 26 thereon are covered with an upper plate 46 and fixed to the bracket 42 with rubber bands 47 on both sides.

FIG. 5 is an external view of the bottom plate.
On the front edge side of the bottom plate 25, the antenna connector 35 and the cable connector 36 connected to the antenna cable 40 and the other cables 41 of FIG. 3 are arranged in a line. An indicator lamp 34 made of LEDs is provided at the rear of the bottom plate 25. The indicator lamp 34 displays the remaining amount of fuel, an abnormality warning of the fuselage, etc., and makes it visible to the user on the ground.

FIG. 6 is a left side view of the autonomous control box.
A first switch 37 and a second switch 38 are provided below the bottom plate 25. The first switch 37 is an on / off switch of an external device mounted on a machine body such as a camera device or a ground analysis device using a laser. The second switch 38 is a power switch for autonomous control.

  The present invention can be applied to other unmanned helicopters for spraying agrochemicals or other aerial photographs for surveying.

1 is an overall view of an unmanned helicopter according to the present invention. The front view of the unmanned helicopter of FIG. The internal top view of the autonomous control box which concerns on this invention. The internal rear view of the autonomous control box which concerns on this invention. The external view of the baseplate of the autonomous control box which concerns on this invention. The side view of the autonomous control box which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1: Unmanned helicopter, 2: Main body, 3: Tail body, 4: Airframe, 5: Main rotor, 6: Tail rotor, 7: Radiator, 8: Support leg, 9: Skid, 10: Exhaust pipe, 11: Muffler , 12: Camera device, 14: Autonomous control box, 15: Image data antenna, 16: Steering data antenna, 17: Direction sensor, 18: Stay, 19: Spring, 20: Sub-radiator, 21: Main rotor shaft, 22: Radio control antenna, 23: support pipe, 24: bracket, 25: bottom plate, 27: bracket, 28: image communication device, 29: cover mounting part, 30: barometer, 31: data communication device, 32: image control device 33: cover, 34: indicator lamp, 35: antenna connector, 36: cable connector, 37: first switch, 38: second switch, 39 The autonomous navigation system, 40: antenna cable, 41: cable, 42: Bracket, 46: upper plate, 47: rubber band.

Claims (3)

  An unmanned helicopter in which equipment is mounted outside a machine body via a stay for mounting equipment, wherein the stay is made of a non-conductive material.   The unmanned helicopter according to claim 1, wherein the device is an autonomous control box that houses an autonomous navigation device. The unmanned helicopter according to claim 1, wherein the stay is made of glass fiber FRP.

Images