JP2019188946A - Unmanned aircraft - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a parachute device capable of preventing an unmanned aircraft from being dragged by a parachute after the unmanned aircraft falls using the parachute, as well as to provide the unmanned aircraft with the parachute device.SOLUTION: A parachute device for an unmanned aircraft comprises: a parachute having an umbrella part and multiple string parts; and parachute disable means for preventing an airframe after landing from being dragged by the parachute. The parachute disable means cuts off the multiple string parts, leaving a part of the multiple string parts. Thereby, the parachute device and the unmanned aircraft of the invention can solve the problem.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to safety technology for unmanned aerial vehicles.

  Patent Document 1 below discloses a parachute device for a small unmanned aerial vehicle.

International Publication No. 2015/059703 Pamphlet

  In recent years, small unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with parachutes have emerged as one of the safety features. By properly operating an appropriate parachute device according to the weight of the aircraft and the flight altitude, damage caused by a crash can be reduced even if an unrecoverable problem occurs during the flight. On the other hand, the weight of small unmanned aerial vehicles is often as light as several to several tens of kilometers, and the aircraft after the parachute descends may be dragged by a parachute that has received a gust of wind. This problem is more likely to occur as the parachute deceleration effect increases. Parachutes and aircraft that are blown by a gust of wind may cause secondary disasters at the point where they arrive.

  In view of the above problems, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a parachute device capable of preventing an unmanned aircraft after the parachute descends from being dragged by the parachute, and an unmanned aircraft including the same.

  In order to solve the above problems, a parachute device for an unmanned aerial vehicle according to the present invention includes a parachute having an umbrella part and a plurality of string parts, and a parachute neutralization means for preventing the aircraft after landing from being dragged by the parachute. The parachute disabling means operates automatically or remotely after landing of the unmanned aircraft, and separates the umbrella part from the fuselage or cuts a part of the plurality of string parts. To do.

  After landing on an unmanned aerial vehicle with a parachute descending, the parachute function is disabled by separating the parachute umbrella part from the fuselage or cutting a part of multiple string parts to prevent air from accumulating in the umbrella part. can do. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the unmanned aircraft after the parachute descending from being dragged by the parachute.

  In particular, the parachute neutralization means preferably cuts a part of the plurality of string portions.

  Of the multiple parachute parts, for example, by cutting the remaining string part while only one is connected to the fuselage, the parachute function is disabled and the parachute is prevented from being blown by the wind. Is done. Thereby, the secondary disaster by a parachute can be prevented more reliably. At this time, the string part of the parachute is cut except for one, and the umbrella part loses the function of accumulating air. Therefore, even if the parachute is blown by a gust, the parachute does not generate enough traction to drag the unmanned aircraft.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the parachute apparatus of the present invention further includes a landing detection unit capable of detecting the landing of the unmanned aircraft and a power source.

  Since the parachute device has its own landing detection means and power source, even if the control function and power source of the unmanned aircraft are completely silenced due to trouble during flight, the parachute is disabled by detecting the landing of the aircraft alone Can be realized.

  The parachute device according to the present invention further includes an abnormality detection unit that detects an abnormality in a flight operation, and an automatic parachute deployment unit that automatically deploys the parachute when the abnormality detection unit detects an abnormality. Is preferred.

  The time it takes for the aircraft to hit the ground after an irreparable trouble occurs during flight is at most a few seconds to a few tens of seconds. Since the parachute device independently detects abnormalities in flight operation and automatically deploys the parachute, the success rate of the soft landing by the parachute can be increased.

  The unmanned aerial vehicle of the present invention includes the parachute device of the present invention.

  Moreover, the unmanned aerial vehicle of the present invention may include one or a plurality of rotor blades, and the parachute automatic deployment means may forcibly stop the rotor blades.

  If the rotor blades are driven when the parachute is deployed, the umbrella part or the string part may be caught in the rotor blades, and the parachute may not be normally deployed. Such a trouble can be avoided beforehand because the parachute device can forcibly stop the rotor blades.

  Thus, according to the parachute device and the unmanned aircraft of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the unmanned aircraft after the parachute descending from being dragged by the parachute.

It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the unmanned aerial vehicle concerning embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the 1st aspect of a parachute invalidation means. It is a schematic diagram which shows the 2nd aspect of a parachute invalidation means. It is a block diagram which shows the modification of the control method of a parachute apparatus.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described. The following embodiment is an example of the multicopter 10 which is an unmanned aerial vehicle having a plurality of horizontal rotary wings. In the present invention, “unmanned” of “unmanned aircraft” means “no pilot is on board”, and so-called passenger drones (passenger drones) on which passengers board as payloads are also included in the present invention. Included in “unmanned aircraft”.

<Basic configuration>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the multicopter 10. The flight function of the multicopter 10 is from a flight controller FC as a control unit, a plurality of rotors R, an ESC 27 (Electric Speed Controller) as a drive circuit of a brushless motor 81 constituting the rotor R, and a driver (transmitter 41). It comprises a receiver 42 that receives a steering signal, and a battery 29 that supplies power to them. In addition to this, the multicopter 10 of this example includes a parachute device 50 that deploys the parachute 51.

  The flight controller FC has a control device 20 which is a microcontroller. The control device 20 includes a CPU 21 that is a central processing unit, and a memory 22 that includes a storage device such as a RAM, a ROM, and a flash memory.

  The flight controller FC further includes a flight control sensor group S including an IMU 23 (Inertial Measurement Unit), a GPS receiver 24, an altitude sensor 25, and an electronic compass 26, which are connected to the control device 20. Has been.

  The IMU 23 is a sensor that detects the inclination of the airframe of the multicopter 10, and mainly includes a triaxial acceleration sensor and a triaxial angular velocity sensor. A barometric pressure sensor is used for the altitude sensor 25 of this example. The altitude sensor 25 calculates the altitude above sea level (altitude) of the multicopter 10 from the detected barometric altitude. As another aspect of the altitude sensor 25, for example, there is a method of obtaining a ground altitude by directing a distance measuring sensor using, for example, a laser, infrared rays, or ultrasonic waves to the ground surface. A triaxial geomagnetic sensor is used for the electronic compass 26 of this example. The electronic compass 26 detects the azimuth angle of the nose of the multicopter 10. The GPS receiver 24 is precisely a navigation satellite system (NSS) receiver. The GPS receiver 24 acquires the current longitude and latitude values from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) or the Regional Navigation Satellite System (RNSS).

  With these flight control sensor groups S, the flight controller FC can acquire position information of its own aircraft, including the longitude and latitude of the aircraft, altitude, and azimuth of the nose, in addition to the tilt and rotation of the aircraft. Has been.

  The control device 20 has a flight control program FS that is a program for controlling the attitude and basic flight operation of the multicopter 10 during flight. The flight control program FS adjusts the rotational speed of each rotor R based on the information acquired from the flight control sensor group S, and causes the multicopter 10 to fly while correcting the posture and position disturbance of the airframe.

  The control device 20 further includes an autonomous flight program AP that is a program for autonomously flying the multicopter 10. In the memory 22 of the control device 20, a flight plan FP, which is a parameter in which the destination of the multicopter 10, the longitude and latitude of the waypoint, the altitude and the speed during the flight, and the like are specified, is registered. The autonomous flight program AP can fly the multicopter 10 autonomously according to the flight plan FP using an instruction from the transmitter 41 or a predetermined time as a start condition.

  Thus, the multicopter 10 of this example is an unmanned aerial vehicle having an advanced flight control function. However, the unmanned aerial vehicle of the present invention is not limited to the form of the multicopter 10, for example, an aircraft in which some sensors are omitted from the flight control sensor group S, or can fly by only manual operation without an autonomous flight function. Airframes can also be used.

<Parachute device>
The parachute device 50 of the present example includes a parachute 51 having a canopy (umbrella part) and a plurality of suspension ropes (string parts), a deployment mechanism 53 for deploying the parachute 51, and all or part of the suspension ropes from the body of the multicopter 10. The cutting mechanism 54 for separating, the servo 55 for operating the deployment mechanism 53 and the cutting mechanism 54, the control device 52 which is a microcontroller for controlling the operation of the servo 55, the IMU 521 connected to the control device 52, and supplying power to them The battery 59 is a power source dedicated to the parachute device 50.

  As will be described below, in the parachute device 50 of this example, the cutting mechanism 54 is a parachute neutralization unit that prevents the parachute 51 from being dragged by the parachute. Further, the IMU 521 is an inertial measurement device mainly composed of a triaxial acceleration sensor and a triaxial angular velocity sensor, like the IMU 23 of the flight controller FC. The IMU 521 of this example serves both as a landing detection unit that detects the landing of the multicopter 10 and an abnormality detection unit that detects an abnormality in the flight operation of the multicopter 10. The deployment mechanism 53 and the control device 52 are parachute automatic deployment means for automatically deploying the parachute 51 when an abnormality occurs in the flight operation.

  The control device 52 of this example includes a unique IMU 521 and a battery 59 in addition to the IMU 23 and the battery 29 of the multicopter 10. Thereby, even when the function of the multicopter 10 and the power source are completely silenced, the control device 52 can independently detect the free fall of the aircraft and can automatically deploy the parachute 51. The time from when an unrecoverable trouble occurs during the flight of the multicopter 10 until the aircraft collides with the ground is at most several seconds to several tens of seconds. Since the parachute device 50 independently detects the abnormal flight operation and automatically deploys the parachute 51, it is possible to deploy the parachute 51 promptly at the start of free fall. The success rate of has been increased.

  In addition, although the parachute apparatus 50 of this example is set as the structure which expand | deploys the parachute 51 on condition of the free fall of a body, the conditions which expand | deploy the parachute 51 automatically can be set arbitrarily. Further, if it is possible to detect a condition for automatically deploying the parachute 51, an abnormality detection unit other than the IMU 521 may be employed.

  Further, in this example, the parachute automatic deployment means is configured only by the functions and mechanisms of the parachute device 50, but the control device 52 is realized by software, such as determining whether the parachute 51 needs to be deployed or instructing deployment. The function can be provided outside the multicopter 10. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, an operation management system 41b (UTM: UAV Traffic Management) for monitoring telemetry data from the multicopter 10 and the parachute device 50 is provided with these functions, and an instruction to deploy the parachute 51 is given to the operation management system. It can be considered that the transmission is automatically performed from 41b to the parachute device 50.

  The control device 52 further manages the conduction from the battery 29 to the ESC 27 of the multicopter 10 with a power MOSFET 523 (hereinafter simply referred to as “FET 523”). When the control device 52 deploys the parachute 51, the power supply to the ESC 27 is stopped and the rotor R is forcibly stopped.

  If the rotor R is rotating when the parachute 51 is deployed, a part of the parachute 51 may be caught in the rotor R and the parachute 51 may not be deployed normally. In the multicopter 10 of this example, such a trouble is avoided beforehand because the parachute device 50 can forcibly stop the rotor R.

  In addition, although the parachute apparatus 50 of this example stops the rotor R by stopping the electric power supply to ESC27, the method of stopping the rotor R is not restricted to this. For example, it is considered possible to stop the rotor R also by stopping the power supply to the control device 20 of the flight controller FC. Further, the means for controlling the conduction of electric power is not limited to an electronic means such as the FET 523. For example, the electric wire and the lead wire on the multicopter 10 side may be mechanically disconnected or cut. In addition, since the multicopter 10 of this example is a rotary wing aircraft, the parachute device 50 desirably has a forced stop function of the rotor R, but such a function is not essential in the present invention.

  The deployment mechanism 53 of this example uses a spring 531 to inject the parachute 51. The spring 531 is stored in a container (not shown) together with the parachute 51 in a compressed state, and the container is locked so as not to be opened. When the control device 52 rotates the servo 522 in one direction, the lock is unlocked, and the parachute 51 is released out of the container by the restoring force of the spring 531.

  The specific structure of the deployment mechanism 53 is not limited to the one in this example, and may be a mechanism that injects the parachute 51 using, for example, gas or explosives. Further, in the deployment mechanism 53 of this example, the parachute 51 is forcibly discharged from the container using the spring 531 in order to deploy the parachute 51 quickly. For example, the lock of the container in which the parachute 51 is stored is automatically released. It is also conceivable that the structure is simply unlocked (the parachute 51 is released by its own weight, air resistance at the time of crash, centrifugal force, etc.).

  The cutting mechanism 54 of this example has a latch 541, and the latch 541 connects the suspension line of the parachute 51 to the container of the parachute 51 or the body of the multicopter 10. When the control device 52 rotates the servo 522 to the other side, the latch 541 is unlocked, and all or a part of the suspension rope is separated from the airframe.

  The specific structure of the cutting mechanism 54 is not particularly limited, and any mechanism is provided on the condition that the canopy of the parachute 51 can be separated from the body of the multicopter 10 or a part of the suspension rope can be cut. Can also be adopted. In addition, the “part of the plurality of string portions” in the present invention means that it is not all of the string portions.

<Operation of cutting mechanism>
(First aspect)
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a first mode in which the cutting mechanism 54 disables the function of the parachute 51.

  When the parachute device 50 detects a free fall of the multicopter 10 during flight, the parachute device 50 automatically injects the parachute 51. The ejected parachute 51 is landed on the ground G in a state where the canopy 511 is developed by the force of air and the body is suspended by the suspension cable 512.

  Here, the multicopter 10 of this example is a lightweight aircraft of about 10 kilometers, and when the parachute 51 receives a strong crosswind after the parachute descending of the multicopter 10, the aircraft is dragged by the parachute 51 and flies unpredictably. There is a risk. If the destination of the parachute 51 or the aircraft is, for example, a roadway or a track, or if the parachute 51 is entangled with an electric wire, a serious secondary disaster may occur.

  The control device 52 detects the landing of the aircraft from the output value of the IMU 521 and immediately disconnects the entire suspension rope 512 from the aircraft of the multicopter 10. Thereby, the entire parachute 51 including the canopy 511 is separated from the airframe, and even if the parachute 51 receives a gust of wind, there is no possibility that the airframe is dragged by this.

  In this example, the IMU 521 is used as the landing detection means of the airframe, but it is considered possible to detect the landing using only the acceleration sensor, for example. In addition, any means can be adopted as the landing detection means of the present invention regardless of electronic means / mechanical means, provided that it is possible to detect that the airframe that has descended the parachute has landed.

  Further, the control device 52 does not need to detect the landing of the aircraft and immediately cut the suspension rope 512. For example, the control device 52 only hangs when the sign indicating that the landing aircraft is dragged by the parachute 51 is detected from the output value of the IMU 521. The cord 512 may be cut. Furthermore, the cutting mechanism 54 does not need to be able to automatically cut the suspension rope 512, and, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, based on the operator's judgment of monitoring telemetry data from the multicopter 10 or the parachute device 50. You may cut | disconnect the suspension rope 512 by remote control from the operation management system 41b.

(Second aspect)
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a second mode in which the cutting mechanism 54 disables the function of the parachute 51.

  When the parachute device 50 detects a free fall of the multicopter 10 during flight, the parachute device 50 automatically injects the parachute 51. The ejected parachute 51 is landed on the ground G in a state where the canopy 511 is developed by the force of air and the body is suspended by the suspension cable 512.

  The control device 52 detects the landing of the aircraft from the output value of the IMU 521 and immediately disconnects all the other suspension ropes 512 from the aircraft, leaving only one of the suspension ropes 512. As a result, the canopy 511 of the parachute 51 cannot collect air, and no traction force that drags the multicopter 10 is generated even when blown by a crosswind. And since the suspension rope 512 is connected to the airframe of the multicopter 10, only the parachute 51 is prevented from being swept away by the wind. Thereby, the secondary disaster by the parachute 51 is prevented more reliably.

  In this example, the suspension rope 512 that is left connected to the fuselage is the suspension rope 512 that is also used during the parachute descent of the multicopter 10, but, for example, a string portion that is different from the suspension rope 512 is parachuteed. It is good also as an aspect cut | disconnected from the airframe like the 1st aspect, leaving it connected to 51 and leaving this connected to the airframe.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, the unmanned aerial vehicle of the present invention is not limited to the multicopter 10, and may be a helicopter, a fixed wing aircraft, or even a VTOL aircraft (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) on condition that it is unmanned. Good.

10 multicopter (unmanned aircraft), R rotor (rotary wing), 50 parachute device, 51 parachute, 11 canopy (umbrella part), 512 suspension rope (string part), 52 control device (automatic parachute deployment means), 521 IMU ( Landing detection means, abnormality detection means), 53 deployment mechanism (parachute automatic deployment means), 531 spring, 54 cutting mechanism (parachute neutralization means), 541 latch, 522 servo motor, 523 FET, 59 battery (power source)

In order to solve the above problems, a parachute device for an unmanned aerial vehicle according to the present invention includes a parachute having an umbrella part and a plurality of string parts, and a parachute neutralizing means for preventing the aircraft after landing from being dragged by the parachute. The parachute neutralizing means cuts the other string portions while leaving a part of the plurality of string portions .

After landing on an unmanned aerial vehicle with a parachute descending, the parachute function is disabled by separating the parachute umbrella part from the aircraft or by cutting some of the string parts to prevent air from accumulating in the umbrella part. can do. And, for example, the parachute is blown by the wind while disabling the function of the parachute by cutting off the remaining string part, for example, by connecting only one of the parachute parts to the aircraft. Is prevented. Thereby, the secondary disaster by a parachute can be prevented more reliably. At this time, the string part of the parachute is cut except for one, and the umbrella part loses the function of accumulating air. Therefore, even if the parachute is blown by a gust, the parachute does not generate enough traction to drag the unmanned aircraft.

The parachute device according to the present invention further includes a landing detection unit capable of detecting the landing of the unmanned aircraft and a power source, and the parachute neutralization unit automatically operates after the landing of the unmanned aircraft. Is preferred.

Claims (6)

A parachute device for unmanned aerial vehicles,
A parachute having an umbrella part and a plurality of string parts;
A parachute neutralization means for preventing the aircraft after landing from being dragged by the parachute,
The parachute neutralization means operates automatically or remotely after landing of the unmanned aircraft, and separates the umbrella part from the fuselage or cuts a part of the plurality of string parts. Parachute device.   The parachute device according to claim 1, wherein the parachute neutralizing unit cuts a part of the plurality of string portions. Landing detection means capable of detecting the landing of the unmanned aircraft;
The parachute device according to claim 1, further comprising a power source. An anomaly detection means for detecting anomalies in flight operation;
The parachute device according to claim 1, further comprising: a parachute automatic deployment unit that automatically deploys the parachute when the abnormality detection unit detects an abnormality.   An unmanned aerial vehicle comprising the parachute device according to any one of claims 1 to 4. One or more rotor blades;
A parachute device according to claim 4,
The unmanned aerial vehicle characterized in that the parachute automatic deployment means can forcibly stop the rotor blades when the parachute is deployed.

Images