JP7508116B2 - Drone-based load handling device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a load handling device consisting of a drone and an arm connected to its bottom.

The applicant and inventors of this case have been actively researching and developing balancer-type load handling devices for many years, and are manufacturing and selling the devices based on the results of their research. Figure 1 shows an overview of the load handling device manufactured and sold by the applicant.
This is a load-handling device in which horizontally rotating arms 14, 15 are connected to the tip side of an articulated arm mechanism consisting of a first arm 11, a second arm 12, and a connecting link 13, and a load section 16 equipped with a hook or the like for holding a load is provided at the lower end of the horizontally rotating arms 14, 15. A drive source 18 is provided to provide a rotational driving force to the rotation axis (support) P of the horizontally rotating arms 14, 15 having the load section 16, and the load section 16 is moved horizontally without inertia within a horizontal plane using the output of the drive source 18 (Patent Documents 1 to 3).

The above-mentioned load handling device is provided with a drive source 18 and an operating unit 17 for controlling its operation, so that the load supported by the load section 16 provided at the lower end of the horizontal rotation arms 14, 15, which are inverted L-shaped when viewed from the side, can be held at the desired height in a pseudo-weightless state and moved horizontally without inertia.
For this reason, as a crane-like articulated assisting device with a simple structure, it has come to be widely used in various work sites, such as for transferring containers, loading machine tools, and assembling engines.

However, the following problems have been recognized as inherent problems in this type of balancer type load handling device.
First, in order to support the horizontally rotating arm, it is essential to fix the support pillar P to the floor or ceiling. Therefore, the load handling device is always fixed in a predetermined place and cannot be moved arbitrarily.
In addition, the range in which the load supported by the load unit can be moved is limited to the range in which the arm can be extended. Specifically, the area surrounded by the dashed line in Fig. 1 is the movable range of the load unit. For this reason, the use of the load handling device is limited to the specific use envisioned at the time of installation, and once installed, it is difficult to divert it to other uses.

On the other hand, attempts to use drones to carry out various tasks have been made in various fields, and there are also a number of technologies related to using drones to handle loads.
Patent Literature 4 describes a drone dolly in which a drone unit with multiple propellers is attached to the underside of the base of the dolly and openings are provided in the parts of the base that correspond to the propellers. This drone dolly is said to reduce the burden on workers who transport heavy loads.
Furthermore, Patent Document 5 describes an article moving system in which a lifting mechanism and a drone are connected by a wire, and the drone holding an article is lifted up by winding the wire and moved to a predetermined position.

However, in these methods of transporting goods, drones are used to either transport the goods by air or to reduce the weight of the loaded goods. Therefore, the power of the drone only needs to be large enough to transport the goods by air or small enough to reduce the load of the loaded goods, and there is no need to adjust the power according to the weight of the load.
In other words, it was not anticipated that drones would be used to handle objects by adjusting output power according to the weight of the object and holding the object at a specified height in a pseudo-weightless state.

JP 2005-170563 A Patent No. 4546747 Patent No. 4669801 Patent No. 6376580 JP 2019-18757 A

The present invention aims to solve the problems of the conventional balancer-type load handling devices described above and to provide a load handling device with excellent characteristics. In other words, the problem to be solved is to provide a load handling device that does not require fixing the support pillars to the floor or ceiling surface and can handle loads without being restricted in its range of motion.

The load handling device using a drone according to the present invention is a device that is composed of a drone and an arm connected to its lower part, the arm having an operation unit at its lower part for controlling the flight state of the drone and a load unit at its lower end for holding a load. When using the device, the load held by the load unit is lifted by the drone and held at a predetermined height, and the necessary work is performed on the load by utilizing the pseudo-weightless state realized by the lifting by the drone.
The control unit is detached from the arm and can wirelessly control the flight state of the drone. The control unit also includes a control device that adjusts the output of the drone according to the weight of the load during each operation of lifting the load, holding it in the air for handling, and transporting it to a specified location.
In addition to the main rotor, the drone preferably includes a balance control rotor that performs pitching control as an auxiliary rotor for controlling rotation, and may further include an attitude control rotor that performs rolling control and an anti-torque rotor that performs yawing control.

According to the load handling device of the present invention, a load supported on a load section provided at the lower end of an arm is lifted by a drone and held at a predetermined height. This creates a pseudo-weightless state for the lifted load, allowing an operator (worker) of the device to move the load to any location in three-dimensional space near the load handling device and along any route, and perform any handling process, such as assembling an engine or loading it into a machine tool.
The load handling device of the present invention can be used for various purposes other than the above-mentioned factory work, for example, in the initial rescue operation at the scene of a natural disaster, such as transporting injured people and removing obstacles.

In particular, it is no longer necessary to fix the support to the floor or ceiling, as was necessary in the conventional balancer type load handling device, and the movable range is not limited to the extendable range of the arm.
Therefore, the degree of freedom in work content can be improved significantly compared to when work is carried out using a conventional balancer type load handling device.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a conventional balancer type load handling device. FIG. 2 shows an outline of the type A load handling device of the present invention, where (a) is a side view and (b) is a plan view seen from above. FIG. 3 shows an outline of the B-type load handling device, with (a) being a side view and (b) being a plan view. FIG. 4 shows an outline of a C-type load handling device, with (a) being a side view and (b) being a plan view.

The following describes a specific embodiment of the load handling device using a drone of the present invention.

(Drone)
In the load handling device of the present invention, it is preferable to use one of the following three types of drones. Note that yawing, pitching, and rolling, which will be described below, are names that distinguish the rotation of the drone from the viewpoint of the rotation axis. Yawing means rotation around the up-down axis, pitching means rotation around the left-right axis, and rolling means rotation around the front-rear axis.

The type of load handling device (Type A) shown in Figure 2 uses the simplest type of drone, and is equipped with multiple (four) main rotors 1 connected to the drone's frame F, and an arm 2 is connected to the drone's center of gravity so that the load is applied to the center of the drone. The arm 2 has an operating unit 3 at its bottom that controls the flight state of the drone, and a load unit 4 at its lower end that holds the load.

The drone used by the load handling device (Type B) of the type shown in Figure 3 has multiple (four) main rotors 1 connected to a frame F, which perform rolling control, yawing control, and pitching control, and a balance control rotor 5 that performs auxiliary pitching control.
In addition, the drone used by the load handling device (C type) of the type shown in Figure 4 is equipped with a single-axis main rotor 1 connected to a frame F, and as auxiliary rotors that perform rotation control, an attitude control rotor 6 that performs rolling control, an anti-torque rotor 7 that performs yawing control, and a balance control rotor 5 that performs pitching control.

Each type of load handling device has the following characteristics:
First, the drone used in the A-type load handling device has the load at the center of the drone, making it easy to control the roll. However, since the worker operates the load handling device directly below the drone, the worker is subject to all of the drone's wind pressure.

In the drones used in the B-type and C-type load handling devices, the arm 2 having the load section 4 that holds the load is connected to a part that is offset from the center of the drone, so the worker is hardly exposed to the wind pressure of the drone. However, since the drone is more likely to rotate, it is necessary to control the drone to suppress rotation. Specifically, in order to balance the weight of the load supported on one end of a virtual balance beam (balance beam) with the main rotor part as a fulcrum, it is necessary to provide a balance control rotor 5 that generates a downward lift force at the other end and controls pitching.
In the load handling device introduced in the prior art, the weight of the load held by the load section 16 at the lower end of the horizontally rotating arms 14, 15 was balanced by a balance weight, a motor, etc., to handle the load. The load handling devices of types B and C of the present invention can be said to handle loads with a mechanism that is mechanically similar to the balancers of the prior art.

In addition, the drone used in the C-type load handling device of Figure 4 has a single main rotor 1, so it requires control similar to that of a helicopter.
That is, the main rotor 1 controls ascent and descent when operated and hovering when not operated, while the attitude control rotor 6 controls attitude in the roll direction without being linked to other controls.
The balance control rotor 5 also controls the pitch direction rotation caused by the weight change of the load being lifted. Although the balance control rotor 5 is depicted as a downward facing rotor in Figures 3 and 4, it goes without saying that it may be an upward facing rotor with blades or with the rotation reversed.
Furthermore, the anti-torque rotor 7 has a function of controlling yawing in order to suppress the reaction torque that occurs due to the main rotor being a single shaft.

(Drone output control)
In the load handling device of the present invention, when the load is lifted to a predetermined height in the load section, the output of the drone must be adjusted to balance the weight of the load and achieve a pseudo-weightless state for the load, otherwise the drone will fly away while still holding the load, or the weight of the load will simply be reduced and the load cannot be lifted.
The load handling device of the present invention is characterized by adjusting the output of the drone according to the weight of the load in order to realize this pseudo-weightless state. Specifically, it has a control mechanism that controls the output to be appropriate for each operation stage, from lifting the load, to holding the load in the air for specific handling, and placing it in a specific location.

(Operation section)
The operating unit in the load handling device using a drone of the present invention may be fixed to the arm, but taking operability into consideration, it may also be detached from the arm and configured so that it can be operated wirelessly.

(Method of operation)
After lifting a load using the load handling device of the present invention, the lifted load can be handled in various ways when the load is placed in a pseudo-weightless state. For example, an operator (worker) of the device can move the held load to any nearby position by grasping and moving the arm of the aerial handling device of the present invention. Also, while the load is in a weightless state, any handling of the load can be performed, such as loading it into a machine tool or assembling an engine.

The load handling device using a drone of the present invention can be used for the same purposes as conventional balancer-type load handling devices, such as container transfer, loading work into machine tools, and engine assembly work in various manufacturing plants.
In addition, the use of drones as a power source has made the robot much more convenient, and it is expected to be used in a variety of situations beyond factory use, including handling heavy materials, such as in initial rescue operations following natural disasters.

F Drone frame 1 Main rotor 2 Arm 3 Control unit 4 Load unit 5 Balance control rotor 6 Attitude control rotor 7 Anti-torque rotor 11 First arm 12 Second arm 13 Connecting rings 14, 15 Horizontally rotating arm 16 Load unit 17 Control unit 18 Driving source P Pillar

Claims (6)

It consists of a drone and an arm connected to its bottom.
The arm is connected to a part of the drone that is offset from the center , has an operating unit at the bottom that controls the flight state of the drone, and has a load section at the lower end that holds a load. This is a load handling device using a drone. The load held by the load unit is lifted by the drone and held at a predetermined height,
Taking advantage of the pseudo-zero gravity state achieved by the drone lift,
Handling the load;
A load handling device using the drone according to claim 1. The load handling device using a drone according to claim 1 or 2, in which the operating unit is detached from the arm and controls the flight state of the drone wirelessly. The load handling device using a drone according to claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the operating unit is equipped with a control device that adjusts the output of the drone according to the weight of the load during each operation of lifting the load, holding it in the air for handling, and transporting it to a specified location. The drone-based load handling device according to claims 1 to 4, wherein the drone is equipped with a balance control rotor that performs pitching control as an auxiliary rotor for controlling rotation in addition to the main rotor. The drone-based load handling device according to claims 1 to 5, further comprising an attitude control rotor for rolling control and an anti-torque rotor for yawing control.

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