JP2007038930A - Camera device of pilotless helicopter - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a camera device reducing shaking in a fore-and-aft direction of a camera body mounted on a pilotless helicopter, and intercepting radiant heat of a muffler from the camera body. <P>SOLUTION: The camera device 30 of the pilotless helicopter 1 is equipped with the muffler 19 connected to an exhaust pipe 18 on a lower side of a machine body 4, and made from the camera body 16 elastically suspended on the lower side of the machine body 4 in front of the muffler 4 through right and left suspending brackets 31, 31. At a rear portion of a camera body 16, the camera body 16 is supported elastically to the machine body 4. A heat shielding supporting plate 32 intercepting heat from the muffler 19 is provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a camera device mounted on an unmanned helicopter.

  Conventionally, an unmanned helicopter that can be remotely operated while an operator looks at the aircraft has been used to spray pesticides from the sky, and take aerial photographs or videos. In recent years, it is possible to fly unmanned helicopters out of the operator's field of view using GPS, so it is possible to take pictures of places where manned helicopters are difficult to approach, such as volcanoes and disaster sites. And unmanned helicopters are active. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an unmanned helicopter that sprays chemicals such as agricultural chemicals, and Patent Document 2 discloses an unmanned helicopter that takes aerial photographs and the like.

  In an autonomous navigation type unmanned helicopter, a data communication device that transmits aircraft data from the aircraft side to the ground side and receives a steering command signal transmitted from the ground side is mounted on the aircraft. In addition, a camera device for maneuvering, monitoring, and observing the aircraft is mounted on the lower surface in front of the aircraft. These data communication devices, camera devices, and the like are attached via a bracket by fixing a bracket to a pipe provided on the lower surface of the machine body.

  Due to the nature of helicopters, the attitude of the aircraft is likely to be disturbed due to the influence of wind and the like, and the attitude change during flight is large due to the structure. For this reason, the camera device is easily shaken and images and videos are easily shaken. To prevent this, the camera device is attached to the bracket via a damper that absorbs the shaking of the airframe. Conventionally, brackets fixed to the airframe are attached to both sides of the camera device via dampers. Thereby, the shake of the aircraft in the left-right direction is absorbed by the damper, but there is no means for absorbing the shake in the front-rear direction, and there is a problem that the camera device easily swings in the front-rear direction.

Further, a muffler is provided at a position near the rear of the camera device on the lower surface of the airframe. For this reason, the temperature of the camera device rises due to the radiant heat of the muffler and the exhaust pipe, which may affect the malfunction of the electronic components in the camera device and the life of the components.
JP 2002-166893 A JP 2002-293298 A

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above prior art, and aims to provide a camera device that reduces shaking in the front-rear direction of the camera body mounted on the unmanned helicopter and blocks the radiant heat of the muffler from the camera body. To do.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera body having a muffler connected to an exhaust pipe on the lower side of the fuselage, and elastically suspended from the lower side of the fuselage in front of the muffler via left and right suspension brackets. In the unmanned helicopter camera device, the unmanned helicopter is provided with a heat shielding support plate for elastically supporting the camera body with respect to the fuselage at the rear part of the camera body and shielding heat from the muffler A camera apparatus is provided.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the heat shield support plate has a substantially triangular shape or a trapezoidal shape with the top portion directed rearward, and is bridged between the left and right suspension brackets. A spring is provided, and the camera body is elastically supported via the spring.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the rear part of the camera body is elastically supported with respect to the airframe, so that the vibration of the airframe in the front-rear direction is absorbed and the vibration of the camera body is reduced. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent blurring of images and videos to be taken.

  Further, by providing the heat shielding support plate, the radiant heat of the muffler and the exhaust pipe is shielded without reaching the camera body, thereby preventing the temperature of the camera body from rising. Thereby, it becomes possible to fly even if the temperature is quite high.

  In addition, since the heat-insulating support plate serves both as absorption of shaking in the front-rear direction and heat insulation from the muffler, it can be realized with a simple configuration and a minimum increase in weight.

  According to the invention of claim 2, the effect of the invention of claim 1 can be realized by the heat shielding support plate having a simple structure.

  FIG. 1 is a side view of an unmanned helicopter according to the present invention.

  The helicopter 1 has an airframe 4 composed of a main body 2 and a tail body 3. A main rotor 5 is provided at the top of the main body 2, and a tail rotor 6 is provided at the rear of the tail body 3. A radiator 7 is provided at a front portion of the main body 2, and an engine, an intake system, a main rotor shaft, and a fuel tank are accommodated in the main body 2 behind the radiator 7. Skids 9 are provided on the left and right lower parts of the main body 2 in the substantially central part of the airframe 4 via support legs 8. A muffler 19 provided in an exhaust pipe 18 connected to an engine (not shown) in the airframe 4 is disposed below the airframe above the front end of the skid 9.

  A control panel 10 is provided on the upper rear side of the main body 2. The control panel 10 displays check points before flight, self-check results, and the like. The display on the control panel 10 can also be confirmed at the ground station.

  An autonomous control box 12 is mounted on the lower part of the airframe behind the skid 9. The autonomous control box 12 accommodates a GPS control device necessary for autonomous control, a data communication device and an image communication device communicating with the ground, a control board incorporating a control program, and the like. Autonomous control is based on flight data such as the position and speed of the aircraft, aircraft data such as the attitude and direction of the aircraft, and operating state data such as engine speed and throttle opening. It is selected automatically or according to a command from the ground station, and optimal steering control is performed according to the driving state.

  The unmanned helicopter 1 can fly by such autonomous control. Further, the operator can manually operate the remote controller based on the flight status and various operation state data transmitted from the airframe 4 while visually confirming the flight status.

  A camera device 30 is provided below the front end of the main body 2. The camera device 30 includes a camera body 16 in which a camera such as an infrared camera is housed in a camera cover, a suspension bracket 31 and a heat shielding support plate 32 that elastically attach the camera body 16 to the body 4. The camera body 16 is attached by elastically suspending and supporting the camera body 4. That is, the left and right suspension brackets 31 are fixed to the pipe 15 extending in the front-rear direction at the lower part of the body 4, and the suspension brackets 31 are attached to both sides of the camera body 16 via dampers. Further, a heat shield support plate 32 is attached to the rear part of the camera body 16 via a spring. The camera body 16 can rotate around the pan axis in the vertical direction and shoot in any direction left and right, and the camera in the camera cover can rotate around the tilt axis and shoot in any direction of elevation and depression. Is possible. Thereby, all directions on the ground can be taken from the sky. In addition, since the left and right dampers and the rear springs are elastically supported with respect to the body 4, it is possible to absorb the shaking of the body 4 in the left and right directions and the front and rear directions and to perform shooting with less blur.

  A data antenna 13 for transmitting and receiving control data (digital data) such as the driving state data and flight command data necessary for the automatic control to and from the ground station is provided around the autonomous control box 12 from the aircraft side. Mounted by hanging. Further, an image data antenna 14 for transmitting image data of analog data photographed by the camera device 16 to the ground station is attached in a drooping manner from the body side. An indicator lamp 11 is provided at the rear of the autonomous control box. The indicator lamp 11 displays the remaining amount of fuel, the abnormality of the aircraft, etc., and makes it visible to the operator on the ground.

  An orientation sensor 20 based on geomagnetism is provided on the lower surface side of the tail body 3. The orientation sensor 20 detects the direction of the aircraft from north, south, east, west, and north. The main body 2 is further provided with a posture sensor (not shown) composed of a gyro device.

  A main GPS antenna 21 and a sub GPS antenna 22 are provided on the upper surface side of the tail body 3. The rear end portion of the tail body 3 is provided with a radio control receiving antenna 23 that receives a command signal from a radio control device.

  2 and 3 are views showing the camera device 30 of the present invention and its surroundings. FIG. 2 is a perspective view, and FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the camera device 30 and the muffler 19. Hereinafter, the camera device 30 will be described in detail.

  The camera device 30 of the present invention includes a camera body 16 including a camera and a camera cover that covers the camera, two suspension brackets 31 and 31 that elastically support the left and right sides of the camera body 16, and suspension brackets 31 and 31. It is formed of a heat insulating support member 32 that is stretched between them and elastically holds the back of the camera body 16 via a spring 33.

  The camera body 16 can rotate around the vertical pan axis, and the camera (not shown) can rotate around the tilt axis within the camera cover.

  In the lower part of the main body 2 of the unmanned helicopter 1, two pipes 15 extending in the front-rear direction of the airframe 4 are provided for attaching various devices. The camera body 16 is attached via a vibration damping damper (not shown) by suspension brackets 31 and 31 fixed near the front end of the pipe 15. That is, both the left and right sides of the camera body 16 are supported by being suspended from the body 4. As a result, the shaking of the body 4 in the left-right direction is absorbed, and blurring of an image or video taken by the camera body 16 is reduced.

  Further, a heat shield support plate 32 is attached above the camera body 16. As shown in FIG. 3, the heat shield support plate 32 has a substantially triangular planar shape, and both left and right side portions are fixed to the suspension brackets 31, 31, respectively. A top portion 32a of the heat shielding support plate 32 is formed by bending a substantially triangular flat plate portion 32b in a substantially right angle direction, and the top portion 32a is attached to the rear portion of the camera body 16 via a vibration isolating spring 33. That is, the rear part of the camera body 16 is elastically supported with respect to the body 4. Thereby, the shaking of the body 4 in the front-rear direction is absorbed, and the shaking of the camera body 16 is suppressed.

  The heat-insulating support plate 32 is, for example, an aluminum plate material subjected to chrome plating, and is disposed between the muffler 19 and the exhaust pipe 18 and the camera body 16 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. By applying a chrome plating process to the heat shield support plate 32, the radiant heat from the muffler 19 and the exhaust pipe 18 is reflected to prevent the temperature of the camera body 16 from rising. The surface treatment of the heat-shielding support plate 32 is not limited to the chrome plating treatment, but is a surface treatment that has an effect of shielding the heat to the camera body 16 by improving the reflectivity, for example, pasting a material that reflects heat on the surface. Other means may be used as long as it exists.

  The present invention is applicable not only to unmanned helicopters for aerial photography, but also to camera devices mounted on flying objects such as manned helicopters and other aircraft.

The side view of the unmanned helicopter concerning the present invention. The perspective view which shows the circumference | surroundings of the camera apparatus of this invention. The top view which shows the camera apparatus and muffler of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1: Helicopter, 2: Main body, 3: Tail body, 4: Airframe, 5: Main rotor, 6: Tail rotor, 7: Radiator, 8: Support leg, 9: Skid, 10: Control panel, 11: Indicator light , 12: Autonomous control box, 13: Data antenna, 14: Image data antenna, 15: Pipe, 16: Camera body, 18: Exhaust pipe, 19: Muffler, 20: Direction sensor, 21: Main GPS antenna, 22: Sub GPS antenna, 23: receiving antenna for radio control, 30: camera device, 31: bracket for suspension, 32: heat shield support plate, 32a: top portion, 32b; flat plate portion, 33: spring.

Claims (2)

An unmanned helicopter camera comprising a camera body which is provided with a muffler connected to an exhaust pipe on the lower side of the fuselage, and is elastically suspended and supported via left and right suspension brackets on the lower side of the fuselage in front of the muffler In the device
A camera device for an unmanned helicopter, characterized in that a heat shielding support plate for shielding the heat from the muffler is provided at a rear portion of the camera body to elastically support the camera body with respect to the airframe. The heat-shielding support plate has a substantially triangular shape or trapezoidal shape with the top portion facing rearward, and spans between the left and right suspension brackets, and includes a spring on the top portion, and the camera is interposed via the spring. The unmanned helicopter camera device according to claim 1, wherein the main body is elastically supported.

Images