RU2403183C2 - Multirotor unmanned aerial vehicle with vertical take-off and landing - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: transport.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to electric aircraft. The aerial vehicle consists of two pivotally connected modules with common vertical axis: elevating-cruising module with power units and lifting rotors, and equipment, control and target load module inside which vibration damping column is installed vertically and mounted in horizontal strong frame. The elevating-cruising module is equipped with vibration damping two-degree articulation joint, connected with column and can be quickly changed in field conditions for the module with their more or less quantity, proportionally to the amount and purpose of the vehicle target load.

EFFECT: invention is focused on providing more comfortable conditions for target load operation.

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Description

The invention relates to aviation, in particular to unmanned aerial vehicles intended for over-the-horizon surveillance, conducting optoelectronic, radio, radio engineering, meteorological, radiation and chemical reconnaissance, search and rescue operations, emitting special signals, organizing communications and relaying, monitoring the territory large industrial enterprises and railway stations, ports, pipeline routes, power lines, etc.

Among the main problems when creating unmanned aerial vehicles, in addition to the problems of creating the aircraft itself - the carrier of the target load, the following are noted:

- the problem of creating proper conditions for the full functioning of the target load, the independence of its quality of work from external disturbing factors, on-board sources of vibration, noise, etc .;

- minimizing the impacting factors on the work of the target load from linear and angular movements of the device associated with its control, ensuring flight stability, etc .;

- the possibility of changing the available power and energy consumption of the aircraft power plant depending on the composition of the target load, both in the direction of its increase and in the direction of its decrease, depending on the tasks set by the Customer at the place of their execution. These problems are especially pronounced with a decrease in the linear dimensions of aircraft in the categories of mini-UAVs and micro-UAVs. Thus, a decrease in the linear size of such an apparatus leads to a decrease in its surface area squared, mass in a cube, power requirement to a power of 3.5, and moments of inertia to a fifth power from a change in linear size.

Manual control of such devices is not always possible, and automated control and new aerodynamic layouts of aircraft are becoming increasingly important.

Several approaches to solving these problems are known.

So, back in 1911, the successor of N.E. Zhukovsky, Boris Nikolaevich Yuriev, was developing a multi-rotor helicopter project formed by connecting the same and independent “elements” - rotor-motor groups. Such a system promised a number of advantages: the absence of a heavy transmission (shafts and gearboxes); safety in case of failure of one of the "elements"; the possibility of balancing by changing the pitch of the screws, which allowed to do without a swashplate. Having worked out one “element”, it was possible to create helicopters of any carrying capacity on its basis. (See V.R. Mikheev “Helicopters of pre-revolutionary Russia” - M .: MAI Publishing House, 1992, p. 161, 162).

However, this project was ahead of time and could not be fully implemented due to the lack of the necessary power plants and systems for their exact synchronization with the performance of the propeller control functions.

The project of a multi-rotor helicopter of the outstanding figure of the Petrograd Scientific Aviation School, Professor George Alexandrovich Botezat, in 1922, whose helicopter, built in the United States, took off for the first time in the air under the control of its designer, is also known. The cruciform shape of the helicopter at the ends had four rotors with a diameter of eight meters, driven by a Bentley rotary engine BR-2 with a power of 220 hp. The axis of the rotors was slightly inverted to increase the stability of the helicopter, since the distance from the plane of rotation of the propellers to the center of gravity of the apparatus was relatively small. A change in the overall pitch of the propellers provided takeoff and landing, as well as longitudinal-transverse control. The emergency landing was supposed to be carried out in autorotation mode. The directional control was provided by differential variation in the pitch of propellers located on the sides. The take-off weight of the helicopter reached two tons.

The high specific load on the power, equal to about 9.18 kg / hp, did not allow the device to hang stably in the air, and the imperfection of the power plants of that time, their low throttle response did not allow an adequate response to atmospheric disturbances. The small distance from the plane of rotation of the rotors to the center of gravity of the apparatus exacerbated all of the above. (See V.R. Mikheev, “Helicopters of Pre-Revolutionary Russia.” - Moscow: Publishing House of the Moscow Aviation Institute, 1992 - pp. 195, 196).

From the current level of technology, a mobile complex based on autonomously piloted aircraft micro-devices (AP LMA) "Kestrel", designed for local monitoring, is known. (Development of the FSUE Scientific Research Institute of Applied Mechanics named after Academician V.I. Kuznetsov, Military Parade Journal 2003, No. 2, p. 70, No. 4, p. 34, Russia).

The Kustelga AP LMA included in the complex is made according to a four-screw scheme with a slight excess of the plane of rotation of the propellers above the center of gravity of the apparatus and its target load, which is closely related to the design of the apparatus in its central part.

The target load of the LMA is a video camera. The centering of the apparatus, located in close proximity to the height of the plane of rotation of the propellers, causes the manifestation of an insufficient margin of stability in pitch and roll of the apparatus, reflects all of its evolution on the quality of video material transmitted from the board. In addition, this arrangement of the device imposes severe restrictions on its use in a number of weather conditions.

The closest to the invention according to the set of essential features is a multi-rotor aircraft with vertical take-off and landing (patent application WO 2006048205 A1, PCT / EP 05/011589 10.28.2005), containing a cruciform frame, at the ends of which are installed power plants with rotors, and in its center is the target load. The device is symmetrical about the vertical axis, and when viewed from the side, from the front, its plane of rotation of the propellers is made with a slight excess over the center of gravity of the device and its target load.

In this technical solution, the principle of rigidly setting the target load is used, the field of view of which follows the flight path of the device when it performs all the evolutions. Vibrations and noises from the operation of power plants are transmitted to the target load, causing it to work with distortions.

The problem to which the invention is directed is the creation of such a vertical take-off and landing aircraft scheme in which its power units would be formed into separate multi-screw easily replaceable modules with different available powers, the set of which could ensure the operation of an aircraft with different masses and the appointment of the target load directly at the place of work in the interests of the Customer.

In addition, the task is to isolate as much as possible the on-board electronic equipment and the target load from vibrations and noises produced by the power plants and propellers of the aircraft.

The third objective of the invention is the ability to create such a circuit apparatus, which would allow to produce the necessary for its control of the evolution in space with minimizing their impact on the target load or without any transfer thereof.

The stated technical problems are solved as a result of the fact that a multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle of vertical take-off and landing consists of two pivotally connected modules having a single vertical axis: a lifting-and-flight with power plants and main rotors and a module of equipment, control and target load, inside of which it is mounted vertically and mounted in a horizontally positioned power frame vibration damping column, and the lifting-marching module is equipped with a two-stage vibration damping hinge, connected to the column and provided with the ability to quickly replace it in the field with a module with more or less power of power plants, with more or less of them, in proportion to the size and purpose of the target load of the device.

The essence of the invention is to provide the most comfortable conditions for the operation of the target load, isolating it from mechanical, aerodynamic noise and vibrations created by power plants, and also to minimize the impact of the work of the governing bodies and the evolution of the device on the quality of the flight mission.

This result is achieved by performing an aircraft consisting of two modules connected by a two-stage vibration-damping hinge mounted on a vibration-damping column inside one of the modules.

The grouping of power plants into separate easily replaceable modules allows to expand the scope of application of devices while reducing the cost of their operation, repair and maintenance.

The invention is illustrated by drawings, where

figure 1 is a front view of the aircraft;

figure 2 is a top view of the aircraft;

figure 3 is a section aa of a two-stage vibration damping hinge;

figure 4 is a top view of the lifting-marching module with a large number of power plants.

γ ° - the angle of deviation of the lift-march module to provide the ability to control the device along the axes OX, OZ.

The arrow NP indicates the direction of flight.

In the photo (figure 5) is a flying model of the claimed aircraft.

The following notation is used in the figures shown:

1 - lifting-march module;

2 - module of equipment, control and target load;

3 - two-stage vibration damping hinge;

4 - horizontally located power frame;

5 - vibration damping column;

6 - power plants;

7 - target load of video information removal;

8 - pylons mounting power plants;

9 - take-off and landing supports;

10 - traction control rods of the lift-march module;

11 - rotors of the apparatus;

12 - the vertical axis of the apparatus;

13 - servos;

14 - the center of mass of the apparatus;

15 - the tip of the lifting-march module;

16 - ring two-stage vibration damping hinge;

17 - hinge joint ring;

18 - axis of a two-stage vibration-damping hinge;

19 - a set of vibration damping elements of the hinge axis;

20 - steering control surfaces around the axis of the OS;

21 - eight-screw lifting and marching module.

A multi-rotor vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle consists of two articulated modules: a lifting-marching module 1, carrying an even number of power plants 6 (4, 6, 8, 12 units, etc.) and an equipment, control and target module load 2 (figure 1). Inside the module 2, in accordance with the structural and power diagram of the apparatus, a power frame 4 is placed in the horizontal equatorial plane of the frame 4, in its central part vertically 12 a vibration-suppressing column 5 is fixed, which is a tubular finely-corrugated structure made of a composite, for example, from an organite, with a special orientation high modulus fibers in an elastic cured binder.

In the upper part of the vibration-suppression column 5, a two-stage vibration-suppression hinge 3 is mounted, attached by means of the ring 17 to the vibration-suppression column 5. The swinging of the module 1 is provided around the axes 18 installed in the set of vibration-extinguishing composite elements 19. The vibration-suppression hinge 3 also contains a ring 16, to which by means of the axes 18 in the set of vibration damping composite elements 19, the head 15 of the lift-march module 1 is attached. Such a design of the two-stage vibration damping hinge 3 allows you to freely reject the lift-march module 1 in two planes, providing control of the apparatus along the axes OX and OZ (figure 3).

Pilots 8 are attached to the head 15 of the lifting-marching module 1, at the ends of which power plants 6 are installed, which can be equipped with rotors 11 of a single or coaxial type (Fig. 2).

In addition to power plants 6 with propellers 11, power plants based on jet engines of any principle of operation or impeller-type power plants can be used to ensure the propellers are protected from collision with foreign objects when they work in cramped conditions of city blocks, forest belts, mountains, etc. .d.

The deviation of the lift-march module 1 is provided by servos 13 through the control rods 10. A sufficiently large excess of the plane of the rotors 11 over the position of the center of mass 14 of the apparatus ensures its high stability during the operation of the target load 7.

The control of the apparatus around the axis OY is provided by the deviation of the steering surfaces 20 located in the air stream from the rotors 11.

In the equatorial part of the equipment module, control and target load 2, take-off and landing supports 9 are uniformly fixed around the circumference in the power frame 4, which provide energy absorption during landing and shock absorbing rough contacts of the device with the earth's surface.

Multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle vertical takeoff and landing operates as follows.

Take-off of the device is carried out with the vertical position of the axis 12 of the device and the vertical position of the power plants 6. Rotating power plants 6 rotor propellers 11 throw the air flow down and thereby ensure the separation of the device from the ground. The device freezes at a certain height above the launch site. The vibrations generated by the power plants 6 and the rotors 11 are extinguished by aerodynamic noises and vibrations in the structural elements 15, 16, 17, 19 of the two-stage vibration damping hinge 3. Part of the outstanding vibrations transmitted through the vibration damping hinge 3 is finally damped by the vibration damping column 5, thereby providing more comfortable working conditions for the target load of the 7 apparatus.

In the hovering mode, in the presence of turbulent disturbances, as well as in the absence of such, the apparatus is in a state of stable equilibrium due to the low location of the center of mass 14 with respect to the plane of rotation of the rotor propellers 11, which creates a thrust that balances the mass of the apparatus.

The intensity of turbulent and other disturbances acting on the apparatus and exceeding its stability margin instantly causes adequate deviations of the lift-march module 1. This process, according to the readings of the corresponding sensors, is provided by the On-Board Automated Control System (BSAU), which gives the corresponding coordinating signals to servo 13 and through rods 10 connected to the lifting-march module 1, deflects it in the direction opposite to the action of the perturbation, thus providing the initial equal your forces and moments acting on the device.

The On-Board Automated Control System for the device may be similar to that described in the patent of the Russian Federation No. 2312795 of September 15, 2005, B64C 29/02.

The control of the apparatus in height is provided by changing the pitch of the rotors 11 with a corresponding change in the power of the power plants 6 according to the BSAU signals.

After take-off and climb, a multi-rotor vertical take-off and landing aircraft can go into horizontal flight, creating propulsive force by tilting the lift-march module 1 and, accordingly, by tilting the planes of propellers 11 in the direction of flight direction. The aerodynamic layout of the device allows it to move in any direction at the same speed.

The transitional flight mode of the apparatus from horizontal to vertical is as follows.

The device slows down the horizontal flight speed by deflecting the lift-march module 1 in the direction opposite to the horizontal flight direction; however, the plane of rotation of the propellers 11 is also deflected by a positive angle, and the component of the thrust of the carrier system ensures the deceleration of horizontal flight while maintaining the parameters of the flight altitude. The device freezes. By decreasing the pitch of the rotors 11 and the operating mode of the power plants 6, the BSAU provides the device with a safe vertical speed of descent until the runway supports 9 touch the surface of the earth.

On the ground, when changing the flight task, for example, in order to lift a larger target load in the same volume, it is possible to replace the lift-march module 1 with the transition from a four-screw scheme to an eight-screw one. For this, the joint ring 17 of the hinge is disconnected from the column 5, the control rods 10 are disconnected, the electrical connectors and the four-screw lifting-marching module 1 are placed in a special packaging container. Instead of a four-screw lifting and marching module 1, an eight-screw module 21 is installed, in which the ring 17 of the same size as that of the previous module 1 is connected to the seating surface of the vibration-absorbing column 5 and is fixed with fixing elements. Control rods 10 and electrical connectors are connected. Necessary checks are made for the operability of equipment, apparatus and target load. A protocol is prepared for the readiness of the device for work in the interests of the Customer.

Thus, the design of the aircraft is proposed, in which a multi-screw articulated lift-marching module provides flight and control of the aircraft, creating more protected conditions for the target load to work from vibrations, vibrations and noise, and the grouping of power plants into separate easily replaceable modules allows you to expand the scope of application apparatus with reduced maintenance costs. The device is able to equally perform the tasks regardless of the direction of its movement in space and flight speed.

The device can work with equipment of a higher class of accuracy and intellectual intensity using new principles of noise immunity and signal coding systems.

The inventive apparatus of vertical take-off and landing can be made in small production areas using modern materials and technologies. When implementing the invention, various designs of the lifting-marching module, the equipment, control and target load module, as well as the vibration-damping hinge and vibration-damping columns, which differ from those described in this application and the drawings illustrating the invention, without departing from the ideology and scope of this invention, can be used. inventions defined by the scope of the claims set forth in the claims.

Claims (1)

A multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle for vertical take-off and landing, characterized in that it consists of two pivotally connected modules having a single vertical axis: a lift-and-propeller with power plants and rotors and an equipment, control and target load module, inside of which it is mounted vertically and fixed horizontally located power frame vibration damping column, and the lifting-marching module is equipped with a two-stage vibration damping hinge, connected to the column and the possibility Strongly its rapid replacement in the field at a module with greater or lesser capacity of power plants, with greater or lesser number of them, in proportion to the magnitude and the destination device target load.

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