KR101881123B1 - Detection drone for gas leak - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a gas leakage detection drone that is capable of simply solving problems in gas detection due to the scattering of surrounding air by the vortexes caused by the rotation of thrust devices, upon the gas detection using a drone. According to the present invention, the gas leakage detection drone includes: a drone body flying in the air in a gas leakage detection area; thrust devices for generating thrust forces from locations stretched from the drone body into every direction; a robot arm having a gas measurer mounted on a lower front end thereof to detect gas leakage and mounted on the lower side of the drone body in such a manner as to perform the variation in up and down positions of the gas measurer according to multi-freedom active articulation movements connected to the landing and take-off of the drone body; and a communication system disposed in the inside and outside of the drone body in such a manner as to wirelessly communicate with a remote controller and a location information system that enable manual and automatic route flight according to transmission and reception of control signals.

Description

{DETECTION DRONE FOR GAS LEAK}

The present invention relates to a gas leak detection drones, and more particularly, to a gas leak detection drones for detecting a gas using an unmanned airplane, A gas leak detection drones.

In the dictionary sense, "Drone", which means "low-pitched sound," is a helicopter-like unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of flying and steerable by induction of radio waves without pilots, , Which is used for various civilian and military applications before and after the 2010s.

In addition, the drones were initially used for military purposes as a target exemption instead of a timely exercise for airborne or anti-aircraft gunfire, but are now being used for reconnaissance, surveillance and anti-submarine attacks. In addition, the drones, which have been developed to recycle old manned aircraft that have reached the end of the Second World War after the Second World War, are being used at enemy bases during the Cold War era, Respectively.

Since then, there has been explosive increase in the utilization area, not limited to any one field, such as a remote sensing device, a satellite control device, etc., equipped with state-of-the-art equipment,

For example, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MOCT) is conducting the project in two stages from 2013 to 2022 under the purview of the "Utilization Technology Development Project for Private UAV Unmanned Aircraft" Through construction, it contributes to prevention of accidents through multi-purpose utilization and construction of safety management system including surveillance of land and ocean, shooting of pesticide, transportation of patients, search structure, weather observation, inducing practical use of domestic civilian UAV technology, It is essential to nurture into the creative economy industry and create jobs.

That is, unmanned helicopters for pesticide application have already become popular in the public and private sectors, and helicopter cameras equipped with broadcasting cameras as well as multi-copters capable of vertical landing and landing using fixed pitch propellers It is used in various areas.

Especially, it is expected that it will be a good solution to the problem of air pollution which is getting worse day by day. For example, it is possible to detect submarine gas spills, leak of toxic gas, and monitor in real time by inputting to areas where human access is difficult, such as marine or hazardous areas (nuclear power plants, etc.).

In this connection, Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1530646 discloses a method of mounting an infrared light source for emitting infrared light to a unmanned air vehicle such as a drone helicopter and a gas detector for receiving infrared light reflected from the gas, A gas measuring apparatus and method using an unmanned aerial vehicle capable of rapidly analyzing chemical species and concentrations of gas by transmitting data of received infrared rays to an analysis apparatus on the ground using remote wireless communication has been disclosed.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a gas measuring apparatus using an unmanned aerial vehicle according to a related art. As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional gas measuring apparatus using the unmanned air vehicle is mounted on a unmanned air vehicle 901, A housing 910 having an opening 911 formed therein; An infrared light source 920 mounted inside the housing 910 and emitting infrared light through the opening 911; An infrared ray detector 930 installed at one side of the infrared ray source 920 and receiving infrared rays reflected from an external gas; A wireless communication module which is installed in the housing 910 and receives a control signal for controlling the operation of the infrared light source 920 and transmitting infrared data incident on the infrared detector 930 to an external analyzer, and; A controller installed inside the housing 910 and controlling the operation of the infrared light source 920, the infrared detector 930 and the wireless communication module; A battery installed inside the housing 910 to supply power for operating the infrared light source 920 and the infrared detector 930 and the wireless communication module; And a distance measuring instrument 970 installed at one side of the infrared light source 920 or the infrared ray detector 930 and measuring the distance to the measured position by irradiating the laser beam toward the measured position.

According to the related art, the infrared ray source 920 and the infrared ray detector 930 are mounted on the unmanned air vehicle 901 to detect infrared rays according to noxious gas in an active manner, and the detected infrared ray data is analyzed through an external analysis It is possible to accurately analyze the harmful gas components and concentrations in the region to be measured. Therefore, it is possible to accurately and quickly measure the noxious gas in the region to be measured without exposing the noxious gas to the measurer.

1, since the infrared light source 920 and the infrared ray detector 30, which are necessary for measuring the noxious gas in the region to be measured, are installed in the housing 910 of the unmanned air vehicle 901, It is difficult to detect the surrounding noxious gas through the infrared ray detector 30 due to the influence of the airflow generated by the rotation of the thrust device for making the air flight possible by changing the rotational force of the prime mover to the thrust (thrust) Has come.

Until now, a rope has been elongated from an airframe serving as a housing 910 of the unmanned air vehicle 901, and a gas measuring device is connected to the lower end of the rope so as to obtain the above- However, in this case, the rope may be entangled in the thrust device, and the gas meter may not be positioned in a proper position due to a problem that the unmanned air vehicle is shaken during the flight, come.

As a result, there is an urgent need for research and development of a localized unmanned aerial vehicle as well as realization of gas detection technology with improved functions and performance to overcome the problems described above.

Korean Patent No. 10-1530646 (Registration date: June 16, 2015)

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a robot arm in which a position of a gas measuring instrument is changed by a joint movement automatically spreading or folding from a lower side of the gas in conjunction with the landing and landing of the gas, And to provide a gas leak detection dron that can perform more efficient gas detection in a state in which the gas meter is disposed at a position deviated from the influence of vortex generation caused by rotation driving of the thrust device.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a communication device including a GPS receiver and to provide a remote control based on a position information system and a smart application interlocking device capable of boasting a more sophisticated flight performance by minimizing the volume and weight of the gas, To provide a gas leak detection dron that allows artificial intelligent gas detection to be accomplished through remote control by means of a remote control.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a gas leakage detection system comprising: a gas flown over a gas leak detection area; A thrust device for generating a flying propulsion force at a position extending from the gas in all directions; A gas measuring instrument for detecting gas is mounted on a lower end of a robot, and a robot that changes the upper and lower positions of the gas measuring instrument in accordance with a multi-degree of freedom active joint motion associated with the landing and landing of the gas, cancer; And a communication device installed in the inside or outside of the vehicle, for communicating wirelessly with a remote control device and a position information system for enabling passive and automatic route flight according to transmission / reception of control signals.

In addition, the base includes a drive unit and a power unit necessary for flight, and the four shaft frames on which the thrusters are mounted extend in four directions. In each end portion of the shaft frame, And a height sensor for continuously measuring the flight altitude for the purpose of control of the joint motion of the robot arm linked with the landing and the landing, According to the corresponding fitting, a coupling protrusion protruding from the lower end for enabling the mounting of the robot arm.

In addition, the robot arm may include a link shoulder mounted on a lower end of the base, an upper arm performing joint motion in a state of being hinged to the link shoulder, a lower arm hinged to the upper arm, A gripper hinged to the lower arm and performing joint motion while being able to be mounted through capturing of the gas measuring instrument; and a gripper mounted on the link shoulder, the upper arm, the lower arm, And a plurality of actuators for generating power required for joint motion in a state of being provided at the hinge portions of the arms and the grippers.

In addition, the communication device is capable of receiving a control signal from a remote control device by receiving a micom, a GPS receiver, and a transmitting / receiving antenna, and is capable of receiving position and geographical information from an artificial satellite. It is possible to link with the geographical information system in the automatic route flight.

In addition, a mounting shoe for coupling with the base body is integrally formed on the upper portion of the link shoulder, and a corresponding groove into which a coupling protrusion protruding from the lower end of the base is fitted in the center of the mounting shoe, A plurality of terminals to be electrically connected to the communication device are exposed at predetermined portions of the corresponding grooves.

In addition, the upper arm and the lower arm are articulated joints that perform the multi-degree of freedom active joint motion by the actuator based on the respective hinge portions.

In addition, the gripper has a two-fork type gripper structure for easy fixing of the gas meter.

As can be clearly understood from the above description, the gas leakage detection drones according to the present invention can detect gas leakage in areas where human access is difficult or impossible, and in particular, The robot arm performing the multi-degree of freedom active joint movement that automatically unfolds or collapses automatically in conjunction with the rotation of the thrust device during the flight in the gas leak detection area, It is possible to detect the gas leakage at a position outside the triggering range of the phenomenon that the gas can be detected more smoothly and clearly.

In addition, it is possible to exhibit a sophisticated flight performance that does not have a great effect on the influence of the rapid wind speed due to deterioration of the weather due to the flight using the throttle device mounted in a plurality of shafts on the reduced size and lightweight airframe and each shaft frame, Remote control and remote control of passive or automatic route flight using smart application.

In addition to this, it is expected that the safety of users of multi-use facilities and the basic research data of toxic gas, chemical and biological risks can be expected by the development of monitoring technology for leakage risk monitoring. In addition to the technological ripple effect of the technology development of leak detection technology for facilities and multiple use facilities, it is expected to have an economic effect by improving and preventing the harmful gas outflow related management system strictly for the industries that use chemical harmful gas. It is a very useful invention that can contribute greatly to the development of the related field and related industries by minimizing the loss of human life through the securing of safety and establishing the chemical disaster prevention system and establishing active monitoring / management system for prevention of harmful chemical accident.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a conventional gas measuring apparatus using an unmanned aerial vehicle
2 and 3 are a perspective view and a front view showing the configuration of the gas leak detection drones according to the present invention.
4 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of an additional device mounted on and mounted on a gas in a gas leak detection drones according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a robot arm in a gas leakage detection drones according to the present invention. FIG.
FIG. 6 is an operational state view showing the operation relationship of the robot arm in the gas leakage detection drones according to the present invention. FIG.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present invention.

First, in adding reference numerals to the constituents of the drawings, it is to be noted that the same constituents are denoted by the same reference numerals as much as possible even if they are displayed on different drawings. In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.

2 and 3 are a perspective view and a front view showing the configuration of the gas leakage detection drones according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a view showing a configuration of an additional device mounted on a base body and mounted on a gas leak detection dron according to the present invention Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the robot arm in the gas leakage detection drones according to the present invention, Fig. 6 is a view showing the operation relationship of the robot arm in the gas leakage detection drones according to the present invention Fig.

2 to 4, the gas leakage detecting drones A according to the present invention include a gas 1 flying over a gas leak detecting area, And a gas detector (g) necessary for gas detection are attached to the lower end of the base body 1 while being mounted on the lower side of the base body 1, A robot arm 3 that changes the position of the gas gauge g in accordance with a multi-degree of freedom active-type joint motion linked with landing, And a communication device 4 for wireless communication with a remote control device and a position information system which are provided outside to enable manual and automatic route flight according to transmission / reception of control signals.

The airframe 1 is a body of a drone (hereinafter referred to as a "drone") which is opened for the purpose of detecting a gas leak, and is equipped with a drive and a power unit (not shown) Four shaft frames 11 on which the thrusters 2 are mounted extend in four directions.

In addition, a safety defense network (not shown) for preventing breakage of the thrust device 2 may be further mounted on each of the front ends of the shaft frame 11 in case of a crash due to a malfunction of the device.

In addition, a plurality of landing belts 12 for protecting the robot arm 3 at the time of landing are further coupled to both sides of the landing belt 12. The landing belt 12 is provided with a separate photographing device (Such as a camcorder) and a gimbal for installation thereof.

At the same time, an altitude sensor 13 for continuously measuring the flight altitude for the purpose of controlling the joint motion of the robot arm 3, which automatically unfolds after take-off or is automatically folded before landing, is incorporated.

2, a fastening protrusion 14 for fitting the robot arm 3 is formed by fitting into a corresponding groove of the upper shoulder of the link shoulder of the robot arm 3, which will be described later And protrudes at the lower end.

2 and 3, the thrust device 2 is mounted on each of the front ends of the shaft frame 11, as shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, while the thrust device 2 is a power for obtaining thrust A rotor 21 for generating a rotational force and a rotary wing 22 for generating thrust as described above when the rotor 21 is rotated.

The robot arm 3 is a joint motion for varying the position of the gas gauge g linked with the landing of the airframe 1, and as shown in Figs. 2 and 5, The upper arm 32 is hinged to the upper arm 32. The upper arm 32 is hinged to the upper shoulder 31 of the link shoulder 31, A gripper 34 for performing joint movement while hinged to the lower arm 33 and capable of being mounted through the capture of the gas gauge g, The link shoulder 31 and the upper arm 32 and the upper arm 32 and the lower arm 33 as well as the lower arm 33 and the gripper 34, And a plurality of actuators 35 for generating a magnetic field.

A mounting shoe 310 for coupling with the base 1 is integrally formed on the upper portion of the link shoulder 31. At the center of the mounting shoe 310, And a plurality of terminals 312 to be electrically connected to the communication device 4 are exposed at predetermined portions of the corresponding grooves 311. In this case,

The upper arm 32 and the lower arm 33 are articulated joints that perform the multi-degree of freedom active joint motion by the actuator 35 based on the respective hinge portions.

The gripper 34 is for mounting the gas gauge g and is capable of easily fixing the gas gauge g as it forms a two fork type gripper structure And a structure capable of supplying power to the gas gauge (g) is formed.

The actuator 35 applies an order to the pulses in the step state in consideration of the joint motion relationship between the upper arm 32 and the lower arm 33 so that the actuator 35 rotates by an angle proportional to the given number of pulses, However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is possible that the configuration may be changed as long as it can exhibit the same operational effects.

The communication device 4 is a control signal transmitting / receiving device for enabling the path of the gas leak detection to be aimed at by the drone, and can receive a control signal from a separate remote control device, Information can be received.

3, a microcomputer 41, which is a very small computer having a microprocessor and an interface module, a GPS receiver 42 for observing and determining the position of the satellite with the navigation system for satellite navigation, And a transmission / reception antenna 43 for transmitting / receiving signals are mounted. Here, the GPS receiver 43 is designed to enable automatic route flight in cooperation with a geographic information system having gas leakage area information.

Hereinafter, the operation of the present invention will be described in detail.

First, it is possible to fly over hazardous areas such as nuclear power plants where people are inaccessible areas, such as marine suspected of leaking submarine gas or harmful gas including radioactive, .

In order to accomplish this, the thrust device 2 is driven to fly the gas leak detection drones A of the present invention, and the operation control of the route flight using the separate remote control device Reception antenna 43 of the communication device 4 receives a control signal from the remote control device and outputs the control signal to the thrust device (not shown) according to the program operation of the microcomputer 41 based on the control signal thus received 2 can be controlled.

In this case, it is possible to control the operation of the above-mentioned route flight by using a smart device using a mobile application instead of the above-described remote control device, while the GPS receiver 42 can control the operation of the route flight by using a location- Service and control, it is possible to optimize the flight without hitting the obstacle, and it is possible to detect the optimal gas leakage, thereby maximizing the working efficiency of the overall gas leak detection.

In order to detect the gas leakage as described above, the altitude sensor 13 mounted on the base 1 measures the entire flight altitude from when the detection drones A of the present invention take off to the final landing do.

At this time, when the detection drones A of the present invention take off and reach a predetermined flight altitude as described above, a signal is transmitted to the communication device 4, and thereby, based on the preset program, The robot arm 3 folded as shown in the figure is moved to the gripper 34 of the robot arm 3 by the joint movement of the robot arm 3 deployed from the lower side of the base 1, The distance measuring apparatus 1 further includes a gas measuring instrument g mounted on the base 1 so as to be spaced apart from the base 1 and exposed downward (spaced apart from the base) between the plurality of landing platforms 12.

Thus, when the detected drones (A) are flying in the gas leak detection area, the leakage of the ambient air outside the trigger range of the phenomenon that the surrounding atmosphere is scattered due to the generation of the vortex due to the rotation driving of the thrust device (2) The gas can be detected smoothly.

Then, the altitude sensor 13 measures a state where the detected drones A of the present invention have reached the predetermined flying height before the landing, and the communication device 4, the robot arm 3 is folded at the lower side of the base 1 according to the program setting associated therewith. As shown in Fig. 2, The gas measuring instrument g mounted on the gas sensing unit 34 is brought close to the base body 1 and makes a near position change in the space between the plurality of landing belts 12 The robot arm 3 including the robot arm 3 can be protected.

In summary, according to the gas leak detection drones A according to the present invention, gas leaks can be detected in areas where human access is difficult or impossible, and in particular, The robot arm (3) performing the multi-degree of freedom active joint movement automatically opening or collapsing in conjunction with landing causes the influence of the vortex generation due to the rotation drive of the thrust device (2) The gas detector g detects the state of the gas leakage at a position outside the triggering range of the phenomenon that the surrounding atmosphere is scattered and the gas detection becomes difficult, so that it is possible to obtain a more smooth and clear gas detection.

In addition, by using the thrusters 2 mounted on the base body 1 and the shaft frames 11, which are reduced in size and weight, it is possible to achieve a sophisticated flight performance that is not much affected by the rapid wind speed due to weather deterioration And it is possible to remotely control the manual or automatic route flight using the remote control and the smart application according to the installation of the communication device 4, thereby achieving a more optimized gas detection effect.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. will be. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention and the accompanying drawings are intended to illustrate and not to limit the technical spirit of the present invention, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments and the accompanying drawings . The scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of the claims should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention.

A: Detection drones, 1: Gas
2: thrust device, 3: robot arm
4: communication device, 11: shaft frame
12: landing zone, 13: altitude sensor
14: fastening protrusion, 21: rotor
22: rotor blade, 31: link shoulder
32: upper arm, 33: lower arm
34: gripper, 35: actuator
41: Microcomputer, 42: GPS receiver
43: transmitting / receiving antenna, 100: gas measuring instrument
310: mounting shoe, 311: corresponding groove
312: terminal

Claims (7)

Gas flying over the gas leak detection area; A thrust device for generating a flying propulsion force at a position extending from the gas in all directions; A gas measuring instrument for detecting gas is mounted on a lower end of a robot, and a robot that changes the upper and lower positions of the gas measuring instrument in accordance with a multi-degree of freedom active joint motion associated with the landing and landing of the gas, cancer; And a communication device installed in the inside and outside of the vehicle for wireless communication with a remote control device and a location information system for enabling passive and automatic route flight according to transmission / reception of control signals,
The robot arm includes a link shoulder mounted on a lower end of the base, an upper arm that performs a joint motion in a state of being hinged to the link shoulder, a lower arm that performs a joint motion in a state of being hinged to the upper arm, A gripper mounted on the upper arm, the upper arm, the lower arm, the lower arm, and the upper arm, the lower arm being hinged to the upper arm, And a plurality of actuators for generating power required for joint motion in a state of being provided at the hinge portions of the grippers,
A mounting groove for coupling with the base body is integrally formed on the upper portion of the link shoulder and a corresponding groove into which a coupling projection projecting from the lower end of the base is fitted is formed inward in the center of the mounting shoe, Wherein a plurality of terminals to be electrically connected to the communication device are exposed in a predetermined region of the groove. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the drive unit and the power unit necessary for the flight are mounted on the base, and four shaft frames on which the thrusters are mounted are extended in all directions,
The safety frame for preventing breakage of the thrust device is further mounted on each end of the shaft frame,
The altitude sensor which continuously measures the flight altitude is built in order to control the joint motion of the robot arm connected with the landing,
And a coupling protrusion protruding from the lower end of the dowel to enable attachment of the robot arm according to a fitting corresponding to an upper end of the robot arm. delete The method according to claim 1,
The communication device includes a microcomputer, a GPS receiver, and a transmission / reception antenna, and is capable of receiving a control signal from a remote control device and receiving a position and geographical information from an artificial satellite.
Wherein the GPS receiver is coupled to a geographic information system having gas leakage area information to enable automatic route flight. delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the upper arm and the lower arm are articulated joints that make active motion of the multi-DOF active joint by the actuator based on the respective hinge portions. The method according to claim 1,
Characterized in that the gripper has a two-fork type clamping structure for easy fixing of the gas measuring instrument.

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