JP7391289B1 - Unmanned aerial vehicle transport box catcher - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To easily hold and release an unmanned aerial vehicle transport box. There was a need for a transport box catcher that could directly catch transport boxes. Furthermore, in order to protect the servo motor, there was a problem in that it was necessary to prevent a load from being directly applied to the servo motor.
[Solution] In order to use the transport box for drone logistics, transport box catcher arms fixed to the main legs fixed to the lower frame of the drone are attached to the left and right sides, the arms are closed to hold the transport box, and the lower part is closed. Open it and drop the transport box from here.
The transport box is self-supported by the arm using the elastic force of the spring 6, and when the arm is closed, no force is applied to the servo motor.
[Selection diagram] Figure 1

Description

An unmanned flying vehicle is called a drone.
The present invention relates to a transport box catcher for using a drone for logistics purposes.

In recent years, delivery services using unmanned flying vehicles such as drones are starting to emerge.
Patent Documents 1 to 3 have been proposed as home delivery service technologies using unmanned flying vehicles.
Traditional home delivery services primarily involve land transportation, with products packaged in cardboard boxes and delivered.
Regarding drones, similarly, a flying vehicle has been disclosed that can load a transport box, land the drone upon arrival at the transport destination, detach the transport box, and perform home delivery.

JP2022-85900 JP2020-59483 JP2017-105242

The prior art shows a structure in which an arm is attached to the drone and is held in place by pinching it from the left and right sides, but the transport box is unstable because the vertical direction of the transport box is not maintained and the clamps are not effective during operation. Put it away. Furthermore, when the arms are opened, the transport box gets caught on one arm due to the difference in sliding resistance between the left and right arms and the bottom of the box, and there is a problem in that the transport box does not fall straight down.

This is a device for gripping a transport box to be transported by an unmanned flying vehicle, in which a hinge 4 is attached between the main legs 2 of the unmanned flying vehicle, the hinge 4 is used as a rotational fulcrum to open and close, and the arm 5 for gripping the transport box is vertically moved. The rotation fulcrum is provided near the upper end of the arm 5, and the rail 11 that regulates the falling posture of the transport box is located at a position that does not interfere with the opening/closing operation of the arm 5, and the contact surface of the rail 11 with the transport box. is attached so that it is flush with the inside surface on which the arm 5 moves, so that when the arm 5 opens and the transport box falls, it does not contact the transport box moving left and right and tilt excessively. and let it fall.
Furthermore, the upper and lower parts of the arm 5 are bent inward at about 90 degrees, the lower bent part receives the bottom of the transport box and supports the load, the spring 6 is attached downward to the upper bent part, and the lower bent part , the transport box 13 is self-supported by the elastic force of the spring 6 at the top.

If a cardboard box is used as the transport box, the arm can directly catch the cardboard box. Since the cardboard box is self-held by the arm, there is little risk of it falling mid-flight even if the servo motor 7 breaks down, and it becomes possible to drop the cardboard box straight to the delivery destination without tilting it. In this case, there is no need to intentionally collect the paper, unlike a special transport box, and it can be incorporated into normal paper recycling, reducing costs.

Front view of transport box catcher when closed Front view of transport box catcher when opened Cross-sectional view of transport box catcher when closed Enlarged view of transport box catcher hinge Enlarged view of plate spring attached to rail Front view of the transport box installed in the drone (when gripping) Side view of the transport box installed in the drone (when gripping)

Embodiments of the invention will be described based on examples with reference to the drawings.
In FIGS. 1 and 2, two main legs 2 are attached to the left and right sides of a drone lower frame 1, and are connected to a secondary leg 12 at the lower end.
A hardware 3 for attaching a hinge 4 for moving an arm 5 is attached to this main leg, one side of the hinge 4 is fixed to the hardware 3, and the other side is attached to the arm 5.
The arm 5 has an upper part 5A and a lower end 5B bent into a U-shape, a spring 6 is attached to the upper part 5A, and a lower part 5B receives the lower surface of the transport box 13 to prevent it from falling.
A horn 9 is attached to the upper part 5A of the arm 5, and is connected to the servo motor 7 and servo horn 8 fixed to the lower frame 1 by a rod 14. By rotating the servo motor 7, the arm 5 is pulled and the lower part 5B is connected. It is now possible to open it.
The hinge 4 of the arm 5 is located on the upper side near the top surface of the transport box 13, so that the upper part of the transport box does not move from side to side.
FIG. 4 shows an enlarged view of the hinge part.
The position of the hinge 4 is important; it must be placed above the top surface of the transport box and close to the top surface of the transport box. To set the transport box 13 on the drone, push up the transport box 13 from below, compress the spring 6, and rotate the servo motor 7 using a signal from a transmitter (not shown) to close and hold the arm.
Once the arm 5 is closed, the transport box 13 is held against the lower part 5B of the arm 5 by the force of the spring 6, and no force is applied to the servo motor 7.
Furthermore, the servo motor 7 can be servo-locked by rotating it nearly 180 degrees, and can be double-locked with the self-holding mechanism, so that the force applied to the transport box 13 during the drone flight is not transmitted to the servo motor 7. There is no such thing. Therefore, there is no danger that the transport box 13 will fall during flight.
To drop the cargo after landing, the horn of the servo 7 is rotated, the rod 14 is pulled, and the lower part of the arm 5 is opened around the axis of rotation of the hinge 4.
At that time, the transport box 13 gets caught on either the left or right arm 5 due to the sliding resistance difference between the lower surface of the transport box 13 and the lower part 5B of the arm 5, and does not fall straight down. Therefore, the rail 11 fixed to the left and right main legs 2 is attached, and the hinge At position 4, the upper part of the transport box is prevented from moving left and right, the middle part of the transport box is prevented from moving left and right by the rails 11, and the transport box 13 is prevented from tilting and dropped straight.
In FIG. 3, the arm 5 has an opening 16 through which the rail 11 passes.
As shown in FIG. 5, a rubber or arcuate plate spring 17 may be sandwiched between the sliding surface of the rail 11 and the transport box 13 to create frictional resistance, thereby reducing the falling speed of the transport box.
FIG. 6 shows a front view of the transport box assembled into the drone.
FIG. 7 shows a side view of the transport box assembled into the drone.

1 Unmanned aerial vehicle lower frame 2 Main landing gear 3 Main landing gear and hinge connection hardware 4 Hinge 5 Arm 6 Spring 7 Servo motor 8 Servo horn 9 Arm horn 10 Main landing gear and rail connection hardware 11 Rail 12 Secondary landing gear 13 Transport box (cardboard box)
14 Rod 15 Ground 16 Arm rail opening 17 Bow-shaped plate spring attached to the rail 18 Propeller 19 Motor 5A Upper part of the arm bent into an L-shape 5B Lower part of the arm bent into an L-shape

Claims (2)

This is a device for gripping a transport box to be transported by an unmanned flying vehicle, in which a hinge 4 is attached between the main legs 2 of the unmanned flying vehicle, the hinge 4 is used as a rotational fulcrum to open and close, and the arm 5 for gripping the transport box is vertically moved. The rotation fulcrum is provided near the upper end of the arm 5, and the rail 11 that regulates the falling posture of the transport box is located at a position that does not interfere with the opening/closing operation of the arm 5, and the contact surface of the rail 11 with the transport box. are attached to the left and right main legs 2 so as to be on the same plane as the inside surface on which the arm 5 moves, and when the arm 5 opens and the transport box falls, it comes into contact with the transport box moving left and right. A transport box catcher for logistics use that is characterized by being able to drop boxes without tilting them excessively. The upper and lower parts of the arm 5 according to claim 1 are bent inward at about 90 degrees, the lower bent part receives the bottom of the transport box and supports the load, the spring 6 is attached downward to the upper bent part, and the lower part is bent inward at about 90 degrees. 2. The transport box catcher according to claim 1, wherein the transport box 13 is self-held by the bent portion of the transport box 13 and the elastic force of the upper spring 6.

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