KR20210099980A - Cage for Rotor type Dron - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a cage that protects a drone flying with a rotary wing from external force. According to the present invention, the cage comprises: a drone fixing part on which the drone is fixedly mounted; an internal gimbal in which the drone fixing part is coupled to be freely rotatable about a first axis so as to be disposed therein; an external gimbal in which the internal gimbal is coupled to be freely rotatable about a second axis perpendicular to the first axis so as to be disposed therein; and a protector in which the external gimbal is coupled to be freely rotatable about a third axis perpendicular to the second axis so as to be disposed therein. The protector has a network structure.

Description

Cage for Rotor type Dron

The present invention relates to a cage for protecting a rotorcraft drone, and relates to a cage that protects the drone when a drone flying with a rotorcraft collides with an external object, etc., while maintaining the posture of the drone from external impact.

A drone refers to an unmanned aerial vehicle that does not board a person, and is an article that can be flown by remote control or autonomous driving.

Drones have recently been widely used in various fields such as agriculture, military and transportation. there is.

Rotor-wing drones are also being used for filming from high altitudes with cameras, for filming in places that are difficult for people to access, or for transporting goods. The rotorcraft drone can be used in various ways because it can fly in the air, but it is difficult to control, so it cannot land stably during landing, so it is damaged while falling, or it cannot maintain its posture in an external force such as a strong wind. easy.

As a protection mechanism to prevent damage to the rotorcraft drone, protecting only the rotor, which is a rotorcraft, is mainly used.

As such, as a rotor protection device for a rotary wing drone, Korean Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-2017-0034237 (Document 1) discloses an invention named 'a drone having a rotor protection function'. In this document 1 invention, the drone is A mesh-type rotor protection device is provided on each of the plurality of rotors provided. However, such a protection device has a problem in that it only protects the rotor of the drone and has no function to protect the body of the drone.

As to protect the entire drone, the Republic of Korea Public Utility Model Publication No. 20-2017-0000452 (Document 2) discloses a design named 'drone with safety device installed'. In the design of Document 2, a mesh bar is provided on the frame and the frame to which the drone is fixed, thereby protecting the drone and the rotor of the drone from impact.

However, such a conventional drone protection device only has a function of preventing damage to the drone from external force applied to the drone, and has no function in the problem that the drone cannot maintain its posture due to external force applied to the drone.

When an external force is applied toward the center of gravity of the drone and the drone deviates from its position and collides with another object or falls, the protection device according to the design of Document 2 can protect the drone, but it is located outside the center of gravity of the drone. When an external force is applied, a torque is generated against the center of gravity of the drone, causing the drone to fall without maintaining its posture.

The external force applied to the drone may be an unexpected collision with another object, and the external force has an unpredictable magnitude and direction, which prevents the drone from maintaining its posture and causes the drone to fall.

Document 1: Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 10-2017-0034237 Document 2: Republic of Korea Public Utility Model Publication No. 20-2017-0000452

This invention is to provide a cage having a structure surrounding the drone so as to prevent damage to the drone while allowing the rotorcraft drone to maintain its posture even when an external force is applied to a position deviating from the center of gravity in consideration of the problems of the prior art described above. .

The problem to be solved by this invention is achieved by this invention regarding a cage that protects a drone flying with a rotor blade from external force.

The cage according to the present invention is

A drone fixing part on which the drone is fixedly mounted, an internal gimbal disposed inside the drone fixing part is freely rotatably coupled around the first axis, and the internal gimbal is freely rotatable about a second axis perpendicular to the first axis An external gimbal that is coupled and placed inside. and a protector arranged inside the external gimbal to be freely rotatable about a third axis perpendicular to the second axis, and the protector is to have a network structure.

In the cage of this invention having such a configuration, the drone is mounted on the drone fixing unit.

The drone fixing unit is freely rotatable about a first axis with respect to the inner gimbal, the inner gimbal is freely rotatable about a second axis perpendicular to the first axis with respect to the outer gimbal, and the outer gimbal is rotatable about a second axis with respect to the protector. Since it is free to rotate about a third axis perpendicular to the axis, the drone is able to freely rotate in three degrees of freedom about three axes perpendicular to each other with respect to the protector.

The external force applied to the cage acts on the protector, which is disposed at the outermost part of the cage and serves to protect other components of the cage including the drone, and the protector can rotate by the external force.

The drone has an inertial force that maintains its posture in the direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the rotor due to the rotational inertia moment of the rotor. can maintain the posture without rotating.

Therefore, even if the drone moves out of the desired direction due to an external force applied to the protector, it can maintain its posture despite the rotation of the protector due to the principle of the gyroscope.

Moreover, the reticulated protector has a light weight and minimizes air resistance to the drone's driving while still protecting the other components of the cage, including the drone.

As a further feature of the invention, in the cage according to the invention,

The drone fixing unit includes a main body on which the drone is fixed and supported, and two first rotation axes disposed at both ends on a first axis of the main body and rotatably coupled to and supported by an internal gimbal about the first axis. And, the inner gimbal can be configured to be provided with a bearing to which the first rotational shaft is freely rotatably coupled.

In addition, the inner gimbal is configured to include a main body forming a circle and two second rotation axes fixed to the main body and disposed on the second axis, and the outer gimbal has a larger diameter than the main body of the inner gimbal body and the inner gimbal. The second rotating shaft may be configured to include a bearing coupled to be rotatably free.

In addition, the external gimbal includes two third rotation axes disposed on the third axis, and the protector includes a plurality of links and joints for coupling the links to each other to form a mesh spherical body as a whole, and two of the joints of the body. The four joints form a support joint disposed to face each other on the third axis, and the third axis of rotation may be freely rotatably coupled to the joint for support.

By such a configuration, the cage may be coupled to each other by a rotation shaft of a simple structure and configured to be lightweight.

1 is a perspective view showing a state in which a drone is mounted in a cage according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a perspective view of a cage according to one embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a perspective view of a protector constituting a cage according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a perspective view of an inner gimbal and an outer gimbal constituting a cage according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a cross-sectional view showing the coupling structure of the external gimbal and the protector in the cage according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a cross-sectional view showing the coupling structure of the inner gimbal and the outer gimbal in the cage according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a cross-sectional view showing the coupling structure of the fixing bar and the inner gimbal in the cage according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a perspective view showing a state in which a drone is mounted on a fixing bar in a cage according to an embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a perspective view showing an operating state of a cage according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the cage of the rotorcraft drone according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 shows a state in which the rotorcraft drone is mounted on the cage of this embodiment, and FIG. 2 shows only the cage, the overall configuration of the cage will be described with reference to these drawings.

The cage 100 of this embodiment is largely divided, and a protector 10 that is disposed on the outermost part of the cage 100 and protects the drone 1 disposed on the inside from external impact, the drone 1 is fixedly mounted. The fixing bar 20 as a fixing part of the drone, the internal gimbal 30 on which the fixing bar 20 is freely rotatably mounted about the first axis A, and the internal gimbal are perpendicular to the first axis A It consists of an external gimbal 40 that is freely rotatably coupled about the two axes B.

With reference to FIG. 3, the structure of the protector 10 is demonstrated.

The protector 10 forms a subassembly of the first link 11 by combining the plurality of first links 11 to form a square or triangle with each other by the first joint 15 or the second joint 16, The sub-assemblies are combined with other sub-assemblies by a first joint 15 or a second joint 16 to form a spherical assembly as a whole.

In this specification, the shape of the protector 10 is expressed as a spherical shape for convenience, but it is not spherical in a strict sense. It can be arranged to form a spherical shape.

In this embodiment, the links are coupled to each other with a joint into which the ends of the links are inserted to form a mesh structure, but the protector according to the present invention connects the ends of the links, such as bars or tubes, to each other by welding, bonding or screwing them together. Combined to form a network structure, it may be configured in a form surrounding the external gimbal 40 .

On the other hand, the third joint 17 is placed in the center of the plane in the two sub-assemblies facing each other among the sub-assemblies in which the first link 11 is coupled to each other to form a quadrangle, At each corner, a second joint 16 connects the first links 11 to each other.

In this embodiment, the protector 10 has three types of joints 15 to 17, all of which have an insertion port facing outward from a central point, and a first link 11 or a second link 12 to be described later in the insertion port. ) is inserted and combined. In this way, the links are coupled to each other by means of a joint. The insertion holes of the joint are arranged at an angle to realize the overall shape of the protector.

The first joint 15 has four inserts and the first link 11 is inserted into and coupled to each of the inserts, but the second joint 16 has an additional insert facing the third joint 17, The third joint 17 serving as a joint for supporting the third rotation shaft 13, which will be described later, has insertion holes disposed on the same plane and disposed at 90 degrees to each other.

The second link 12 is coupled to the insertion hole of the second joint 16 and the third joint 17 , and the four second links 12 in the rectangular plane formed by the first link 11 form the center from the corners. is arranged and coupled in a state extending in the diagonal direction.

The line segment connecting the two third joints 17 passes through the center of the sphere when the protector 10 is viewed as a sphere, and the line segment connecting the third joint 17 to each other is the external gimbal 40 and the protector 10 A third axis (C) which rotates relative to each other is formed.

Next, the configuration of the internal gimbal 30 and the external gimbal 40 will be described with reference to FIG. 4 .

Both the inner gimbal 30 and the outer gimbal 40 connect the main bodies 31 and 41 in which a flat carbon fiber panel is bent to a certain curvature and the main bodies to form the first and the first and outer gimbals in a circular shape as a whole. It consists of a second joint (32, 33, 42, 43). The first and second joints 32 , 33 , 42 , and 43 also have the same curvature as the main bodies 31 and 41 , so that the inner gimbal 30 and the outer gimbal 40 form a circle close to a perfect circle as a whole. Also, the inner gimbal 30 has a smaller diameter than the outer gimbal 40 and is disposed inside the outer gimbal.

In the external gimbal 40, the two first joints 41 are spaced apart by 180 degrees from each other, and the two second joints 42 are spaced apart from the first joint 41 by 90 degrees and spaced 180 degrees from each other. is placed with

Referring to FIG. 5 , a bearing 44 is inserted into the center of the first joint 42 of the external gimbal, and the bearing 44 is coupled to the third joint 17 of the protector 10 . 3 The rotating shaft 13 is supported.

The third axis of rotation 13 of the protector is coupled to a third joint 17 disposed on the third axis C and extends along the third axis of rotation C to connect the first joint 42 of the external gimbal 40 . is penetrating

According to this configuration, the external gimbal 40 is freely rotatable on the two third rotation axes 13 arranged along the third axis C. That is, the external gimbal 40 is free to rotate about the third axis C with respect to the protector 10 .

Referring back to FIG. 4 , two first joints 32 are disposed at an interval of 180 degrees from each other on the inner gimbal 30 , and two second joints 33 are formed between the first joint 31 and 90 degrees. They are placed 180 degrees apart from each other with an interval of 180 degrees.

Referring to FIG. 6 , the second joint 43 of the outer gimbal 40 and the second joint 33 of the inner gimbal 30 are rotatably coupled to each other by a second rotation shaft 45 . Bearings 34 and 44 are respectively disposed at the second joints 33 and 43 of the inner and outer gimbals 30 and 40, and the second rotating shaft 45 is inserted therein.

Since the inner gimbal 30 has a smaller diameter than the outer gimbal 40 , the inner gimbal 30 can freely rotate around the two second rotation axes 45 inside the outer gimbal 40 .

The bearing 44 supporting the third rotation shaft 13 in the external gimbal 40 is disposed at an interval of 90 degrees from the bearing 44 supporting the second rotation shaft 45, so that the second rotation shaft 45 is also 3 It is arranged at a position spaced apart from the rotation shaft 13 and 90 degrees.

Accordingly, the external gimbal 40 is freely rotatable about the third axis C on which the third rotation shaft 13 is disposed with respect to the protector 10 , and the internal gimbal 30 is located in the external gimbal 40 . It is freely rotatable about the second axis line (B) formed by the second axis of rotation 45 disposed at 90 degrees with respect to the third axis of rotation 13 .

That is, the third axis C, which is the relative rotation axis of the external gimbal 40 and the protector 10, and the second axis B, which is the relative rotation axis of the inner gimbal 30 and the external gimbal 40, are perpendicular to each other. .

Referring back to FIG. 4 , a fixing bar 20 functioning as a drone fixing unit is disposed inside the inner gimbal 30 .

Referring to FIG. 7 , the fixed bar 20 is a bar of a circular cross-section extending long enough to form a main body, and both ends thereof form a first rotation axis 21 , so that the first joint 32 of the inner gimbal 30 is The first joint 32 of the inner gimbal 30 is penetrated while being supported by the bearing 34 disposed on the .

In the inner gimbal 30 , the bearing 34 disposed at the first joint 32 is disposed at a position that is 90 degrees apart from the bearing 34 disposed at the second joint 32 , so that the fixing bar 20 . The first axis of rotation 21 of the is disposed perpendicular to the second axis of rotation 45 which allows the inner gimbal 30 to freely rotate with respect to the outer gimbal 40 . The line segment which the 1st rotation shaft 21 makes becomes the 1st axis line A.

8 shows a state in which the drone 1 is fixed to the fixing bar 20 .

The fixing bar 20 is fixed while penetrating the fixing bracket 2 provided in the drone 1 , so that the drone 1 is fixedly mounted on the fixing bar 20 .

On the other hand, although this embodiment exemplifies a fixed bar that extends long as a drone fixing unit, if it has two rotating shafts that are freely rotatably coupled to the first joint 32 of the internal gimbal as a drone fixing unit and the drone can be mounted Any configuration may be employed.

For example, the drone fixing unit may be configured in a form in which the drone is fixed to a bracket made by plastic processing a metal panel, unlike the fixing bar 20 of this embodiment, and the rotation shaft is coupled to the bracket, and the drone itself can rotate freely on the internal gimbal. A rotating shaft that is coupled to each other may be provided as a drone fixing unit.

The operation of the cage according to the above configuration will be described.

The fixing bar 20 to which the drone 1 is fixed is disposed inside the inner gimbal 30 , the inner gimbal 30 is disposed inside the outer gimbal 40 , and the external gimbal 40 is a protector (10) is surrounded by

Accordingly, the drone 1 is surrounded by the protector 10, and is coupled to the protector 10 through the fixing bar 20, the inner gimbal 30, and the outer gimbal 40 that rotate relative to each other.

The fixed bar 20 to which the drone 1 is fixed is freely rotatable about the first axis A with respect to the inner gimbal 30 by the first rotating shaft 21, and the inner gimbal 30 is the second It is freely rotatable about a second axis B with respect to the outer gimbal 40 by means of an axis of rotation 45 , and the outer gimbal 40 is rotatable about a third axis with respect to the protector 10 by means of a third axis of rotation 13 . Free rotation is possible around (C).

As a result, the drone 1 is capable of rotational movement of three degrees of freedom about the first to third axes A, B, and C perpendicular to each other with respect to the protector.

A case in which an external force acts on the cage 100 in which the drone 1 is mounted will be described with reference to FIG. 9 .

In FIG. 9 (a) shows that the fixed bar 20 on which the drone 1 is mounted is rotatable about the first axis A with respect to the inner gimbal 30, (b) is the inner gimbal 30 ) shows that the outer gimbal 40 is rotatable about a second axis B with respect to the outer gimbal 40 , and (c) shows the outer gimbal 40 rotates about a third axis C with respect to the protector 10 . It shows what is possible, and (d) shows that the drone 1 is capable of rotational motion of 3 degrees of freedom.

The drone 1 is shown as a so-called quadcopter with four rotors (rotors), and this embodiment, of course, is not limited to the number of rotors, but is applied to all rotorcraft drones flying and turning by the rotor. Applicable.

It is assumed that an external object collides with the protector 10 during the flight of the drone 1 . If an external force according to such a collision acts on a position deviated from the center of the protector 10 , the protector 10 performs a rotational motion as well as a linear or swivel motion in any direction by the external force.

When the protector 10 performs a linear or swivel motion, the drone 1 mounted therein also performs the same motion, but despite the rotational motion of the protector 10, the drone 1 does not rotate and maintains its posture. .

During the flight of the drone 1, the rotational moment of inertia that maintains the standing posture in the direction of the rotation axis of the rotor according to the rotation of the rotor 3 always acts. Such a rotational moment of inertia causes the axis of the rotor 3 to stand up in the direction of gravity, so that the drone 1 always maintains a standing posture even when the drone 1 is tilted by an external force, but the cage 100 of this embodiment In the case of a drone that is not mounted on the drone, if a strong external force that exceeds the force caused by the rotational moment of inertia acts, it cannot maintain its posture.

In the cage 100 of this embodiment, when the protector 10 rotates in an arbitrary direction by an external force, the protector 10 and the external gimbal 40, the external gimbal 40 and the internal gimbal 30 and the internal gimbal ( 30) and the fixed bar 20, any one or more rotational motions of three degrees of freedom, which are perpendicular to each other, occur, and theoretically, the drone 1) mounted on the fixed bar 20 has the Although the rotational force according to the rotational motion is not transmitted, a slight rotational force according to the frictional force between the rotational shafts 13 , 21 and 45 and the bearings 34 and 44 may act.

However, since the rotational moment of inertia according to the rotation of the rotor acts on the drone 1 , a force to maintain the standing posture acts on the fixed bar 20 , and the fixed bar 20 has a first rotational axis with respect to the internal gimbal 30 . While rotating around (21), the standing posture of the drone (1) is maintained.

As described above, in the drone 1 mounted on the cage 100 according to this embodiment, damage due to a collision with an external object is prevented by the cage 100 as well as the protector 10 is the action of an external force. Even if rotated by , the posture is maintained without rotation by the gimbal movement. In addition, the protector 10 or the inner and outer gimbals 30 and 40 are formed of links, bars, or thin panels, and in particular, the protector 10 that protects the drone from impact while constituting the outside of the cage 100 connects the links to each other. Because it has a single mesh structure, it is light in weight and does not receive much air resistance due to the movement of the drone.

As described above, preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, and the present invention is not limited to the configuration of these embodiments, and various modifications, variations and additions of components are possible within the scope described in the claims.

1: Drone 3: Rotor 100: Cage
10: protector 20: fixing bar 30: inner gimbal
40: external gimbal

Claims (4)

As a cage that protects a drone flying with rotor blades from external forces,
Drone fixing part to which the drone is fixedly mounted,
An internal gimbal that is arranged inside the drone fixing unit to be freely rotatable about the first axis,
An outer gimbal disposed therein, wherein the inner gimbal is coupled to be freely rotatable about a second axis perpendicular to the first axis. and
A protector disposed therein in which the external gimbal is coupled to be freely rotatable about a third axis perpendicular to the second axis.
including,
The protector has a network structure, the cage of the rotorcraft drone. The method according to claim 1,
drone fixing unit,
A body on which the drone is fixedly supported, and
Two first rotating shafts disposed at both ends on the first axis of the body and rotatably coupled to and supported by the inner gimbal about the first axis
It is configured to include, and the inner gimbal is provided with a bearing to which the first rotational shaft is freely rotatably coupled, the cage of the rotorcraft drone. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
The inner gimbal is configured to include a body forming a circle and two second rotation axes fixed to the body and disposed on a second axis,
The outer gimbal is configured to include a main body having a larger diameter than the main body of the inner gimbal and a bearing to which the second rotation shaft of the inner gimbal is freely rotatably coupled. 4. The method according to claim 3,
the external gimbal includes two third rotation axes disposed on the third axis;
The protector is composed of a plurality of links and joints connecting the links to each other to form a mesh spherical body as a whole, and
Among the joints of the main body, two joints form a support joint disposed opposite to each other on a third axis, and a third axis of rotation is freely coupled to the joint for support, respectively, a cage for a rotorcraft drone.

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