WO2007138727A1

WO2007138727A1 - Airship-type aerial crane

Info

Publication number: WO2007138727A1
Application number: PCT/JP2006/324373
Authority: WO
Inventors: Masahiko Onda; Masaaki Sano; Masaki Watanabe
Original assignee: National Institute Of Advanced Industrial Science And Technology
Priority date: 2006-05-29
Filing date: 2006-12-06
Publication date: 2007-12-06
Also published as: JP4628994B2; JP2007314095A

Abstract

An airship-type aerial crane capable of inexpensively and safely transporting a cargo by simple operation in a wide range of field including collection of timbers in a mountainous area. The airship-type aerial crane has a body (1) filled with a lifting gas, propellers (2-5) arranged at the front and rear of the left and right of the body (1), and a suspension device (8) rotatably attached to both sides of the body (1), at each support point whose horizontal position is the same as the position of buoyancy of the body. The propellers each have rotating blades rotatably supported at drive arms radially extending from a drive shaft and also have a rotating blade tilt adjustment member capable of adjusting the tilt of the rotating blades in a manner that they are associated with each other. The rotating blade tilt adjustment member has a single slip ring arbitrarily movably provided, a support plate rotating about the slip ring, and control arms each connecting, at its both ends, the support plate and each rotating blade. Movement of the slip ring enables the tilt of the rotating blades to be arbitrarily adjusted to maneuver the body.

Description

Specification

Airship type aerial crane

Technical field

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to an airship type aerial crane in which a crane is mounted on an airship and cargo can be lifted and transported safely at low cost.

Background art

[0002] In Japan, where 70% of the country is mountainous, the power to generate thinned wood for forest conservation is lacking due to the lack of inexpensive export methods and the lack of young forestry workers, leaving them in the mountains. It is a source of methane gas that decays and accelerates global warming. If this thinned wood is collected and converted into liquefied fuel or gas, it will be useful as fuel for automobiles, factories and households. This biomass fuel is a clean and renewable energy that is much cheaper and more renewable than solar and wind energy.

[0003] Therefore, there is a need for a means for carrying out thinned wood and the like easily and inexpensively even in the above forests. It is conceivable to use a helicopter as one of the means, but the helicopter is expensive and is not suitable for carrying out thinned wood due to the high transportation fee. Therefore, it is conceivable to use airships that use lightweight gas such as hydrogen gas or hot air balloons that obtain buoyancy by heating air, but hot air balloons are not suitable because they consume large amounts of fuel. Therefore, it is preferable to use the airship as an aerial crane.

[0004] There has been a plan to use an airship as an aerial crane, and one of them is a structure that combines a gas sac of a blimp and a helicopter. In this system, four helicopters were connected to the gas sac made in this way, bearing the weight with helium buoyancy and handling the weight of the transported goods with the lift of the helicopter. As a result, loud noise and vibration occurred during cargo handling, and because the helicopter rotor diameter was large, it became a cantilever structure that separated the air sac force. .

[0005] In recent years, the development of the Cargo Lifter has been planned, in which a 160-ton baggage is suspended in Germany and transported without landing for more than 10,000 km. This aircraft is 150m long and has a maximum diameter of 70m. The excluded volume of the sac is 400,000 m ³ and the total buoyancy is about 400 tons. Although the construction of the hangar where two of the Aircraft could be placed in the suburbs of Berlin was completed, the subsequent development has not been promoted due to financial problems.

[0006] Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that enables a cargo to be carried by mounting a crane on an airship.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-249954

Disclosure of the invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

[0007] As described above, from the experience that the development of a large-scale airship crane was aborted due to funding problems, etc., the inventors of the present invention aimed to develop a small-scale, small-scale, groundcraft and autopilot airship crane. Advancing research and development and making various prototypes. Such an airship type crane can be called a “new industrial machine”, and it is initially operated by flying in a limited space rather than allowing it to fly freely in any airspace like an aircraft with a type certificate. It can be thought of as a force to hold down costs. The limited space is, for example, an airspace where airplanes do not fly and an altitude of about 150 m or less, and within this height limit, there are only an aerial crane operator and a small number of workers. Assuming flight over the sea and lakes.

[0008] In the future, specific applications when small airship-type cranes are widely accepted by society include (1) mountain forests 'transportation and transport vehicles on the sea' cargo handling work. (2) Monitor illegal dumping of industrial waste. (3) Disaster relief support and communication and monitoring base. It is expected to be used in a wide range of areas such as (4) city guard 'surveillance', (5) lakes 'surveillance in the wilderness' observation and collection work. It can be suitably used for gathering.

[0009] Accordingly, the present invention is an airship-type aircraft that can carry cargo in a wide range of fields, such as gathering trees in mountainous areas, inexpensively, safely, and with simple operations. The main purpose is to provide a medium crane.

Means for solving the problem

[0010] In order to solve the above problems, an airship type aerial crane according to the present invention includes an airframe filled with a levitation gas, propulsion devices provided on the left and right sides of the airframe, and on both sides of the airframe. A suspension arm provided rotatably on each fulcrum that has the same vertical position as the floating center on the same vertical line as the floating center of the fuselage, and each propulsion unit has a drive arm that extends radially from the drive shaft. A plurality of rotor blades rotatably supported at the ends of the rotor blades, and a rotor blade inclination adjusting member that makes it possible to adjust the inclination of the rotor blades in relation to each other. It is characterized by adjusting the inclination of the rotor blades to change the propulsion direction and moving the aircraft arbitrarily.

[0011] Further, another airship type aerial crane according to the present invention is the airship type aerial crane, wherein the rotary blade inclination adjusting member is provided with one slip ring that is arbitrarily movable.

A support plate that rotates around the slip ring, and a control arm that rotatably connects each rotor blade and the support plate at both ends, and the plurality of rotations by the movement of the slip ring. The wing inclination can be adjusted in relation to each other.

[0012] Further, another airship type aerial crane according to the present invention is the airship type aerial crane, wherein the support portion by the driving arm of the rotary wing is a portion in which the aerodynamic center and the center of gravity of the rotary wing coincide with each other It is characterized in that the driving arm receives the aerodynamic load of the rotor blade and the inertial load force due to centrifugal force.

[0013] Further, another airship type aerial crane according to the present invention is the airship type aerial crane, wherein a center of gravity of the rotor blade is supported by a support portion by a driving arm of the rotor blade, and the rotor blade inclination adjusting member. It is characterized by being configured to be located between the coupling portion.

The invention's effect

[0014] Since the present invention is configured as described above, cargo can be transported at low cost, safely, and with simple operations in a wide range of fields such as gathering trees in mountainous areas. An airship type aerial crane can be provided.

Brief Description of Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of an airship type aerial crane according to the present invention, (a) is a side view, and (b) is a rear view.

FIG. 2 is an operation diagram during pitch angle control of the airframe in the same embodiment.

[Fig. 3] Fig. 3 is an operation diagram at the time of angle control of the airframe in the same embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an operation diagram during vertical movement control of the airframe in the same embodiment. FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory view of a cycloidal propeller used in the present invention.

[Fig. 6] An enlarged view of the central portion of the cycloidal * propeller.

FIG. 7 is a view showing various operation modes of the cycloidal * propeller.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of a support structure of the cycloidal * propeller.

[Fig. 9] Draft showing the relationship between wing attack angle and rotation angle Θ in the cycloidal * propeller.

FIG. 10 is a graph showing the relationship between the wing attack angle human lift coefficient C1 and the resistance coefficient Cd in the cycloidal * propeller.

[Fig. 11] This is a graph showing the results of calculating lift and resistance when the peripheral speed of a single blade is 25 m / s for the same cycloidal * propeller.

[Fig. 12] A graph showing the lift of each propeller with seven propulsion blades in the same cycloidal propeller, and the combined values shown.

FIG. 13 is a graph showing lift versus power characteristics when the rotational speed is changed.

Explanation of symbols

[0016] 1 Airframe

2, 3, 4, 5 cycloidal 'propeller

6 Support arm

7 rods,

8 Hanging tool

9 Winch

10 hook

11 rope

12 Hanging load

13 Reinforcing member

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0017] The present invention provides an airship-type aerial crane capable of carrying cargo in a wide range of fields including tree gathering in mountainous areas at low cost, safely and with simple operation. The issue of providing the front and back of the aircraft filled with levitation gas and the left and right of the aircraft Each propulsion unit provided on the both sides of the fuselage, and a suspension device pivotably provided at each fulcrum where the buoyancy point and the horizontal position are in the same position on the same vertical line as the buoyancy point of the fuselage. The machine includes a plurality of rotor blades rotatably supported on an end of a drive arm extending radially from the drive shaft, and a rotor blade inclination adjusting member that can adjust the inclination of the rotor blades in relation to each other. This is realized by adjusting the inclination of the rotor blade by the rotor blade inclination adjusting member to change the propulsion direction and moving the airframe arbitrarily.

Example 1

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the example shown in Fig. 1, the airframe 1 is a spheroid for utilizing the buoyancy of levitation gas such as helium to be filled, or a cylindrical gas sac with rounded front and rear ends. Attach four horizontal axis rotary vane omnidirectional propulsion units (referred to as cycloidal propellers) 2, 3, 4, and 5 as described below, one each on the lower left and right sides of the front and lower left and right sides of the rear The gas sac was supported on the same vertical line as the buoyancy center P of the fuselage 1, and the horizontal position of the buoyancy P was almost the same position, and was supported by a fulcrum that can be swung in the longitudinal direction of the fuselage 1. Support arms 6 are attached to the left and right sides of the fuselage, rods 7 are fixed to the lower ends of the support arms 6, and cranes such as ropes 8 are connected to the rods 7.

[0019] The hanging tool 8 includes a winch 9, and the winch 9 can scrape the rope 11 having the hook 10 at the lower end. With such a structure, a suspended load on the ground is hung on the hook 10 and the posture is controlled from one point on the ground or in the air to another point by the propeller using the cycloidal propeller as described above. It can be an airborne crane that can be moved to a point. It should be noted that a reinforcing member 13 is appropriately provided at the mounting portion of the support arm 6 that receives a large force in the machine body 1.

[0020] In the flight control of the aerial airship type crane as described above, passive control wings such as tails that are not effective at low speed are not used. As shown in Figs. · Perform with a propeller. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the pitch angle of the airframe posture is controlled by thrusting the front and rear cycloidal propellers 2 and 3 in the vertical direction opposite to each other. In addition, as shown in Fig. 3, the control of the aircraft is performed by applying thrust in the opposite direction to the cycloidal 'pellers arranged on the left and right sides. The roll angle control is the weight of the suspended baggage. Do not do this because the amount is constrained and unnecessary. In addition, the back-and-forth translation moves the thrust of all cycloidal propellers forward or backward. Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 4, the rise and fall in the horizontal position is performed with the thrust of all cycloidal * propellers directed up or down. In addition, the propulsion of the airframe 1 in the middle direction of each attitude angle can be performed by directing the thrust direction of the cycloidal propeller in that direction.

[0021] As mentioned above, the airship type aerial crane has a four-wheel drive system, and the suspended fulcrum of the suspended load is almost matched with the buoyancy point P of the floating gas air bag. Among the functions, it can maintain the function to freely control the pitch angle of the airframe attitude of the airship type aerial crane, which is involved in the ascending movement that is most important for flight safety.

[0022] Even if the airframe body of the airship type aerial crane has a pressurized membrane structure, it is almost close to the shell structure, and the load force can be kept to the minimum only in the direction of the surface of the structure. It is preferable to set the two points on the surface of the airframe 1, which is a buoyant gas sac, so that the load acts in-plane. An imaginary line connecting these two points passes near the buoyant point of the gas held in the air sac, making this imaginary line the central axis of the aircraft's pitch angle motion. The restraint moment due to buoyancy and suspended loads can be minimized.

[0023] Although this fulcrum can be placed anywhere on the surface of the gas sac, the flying motion function of the airship type aerial crane is safe and the buoyancy to control the aircraft pitch angle that supports the heaviest climbing performance. It is most preferable to determine the load moment force of the suspended load to be minimized. As an ascent function, there is also a method of ascending and moving the airship type aerial crane with the airframe in a horizontal position, but the lateral movement of the airframe in this horizontal position maximizes the drag of the airframe. , Disadvantageous. Therefore, it is the minimum propulsive power that rises in the posture of receiving the wind from the front of the aircraft, that is, the drag is the smallest, the quickest ascent is possible, and the rise when encountering atmospheric turbulence near the ground Evacuation is easy.

A cycloidal propeller used for an airship type aerial crane as described above is, for example, illustrated in FIG.

As shown in Fig. 5, four rotating wings 20 consisting of two-dimensional wings with symmetrical cross-sectional shapes are arranged on the surface F where the movement locus becomes a rotating cylinder in the illustrated example, and each of these rotating blades rotates in the rotation direction. All blades 20 are arranged on the rotating cylindrical surface F at equal intervals with the leading edge of the blades 20 facing. Times Each of the blades 20 has a driving arm 22 coupled to its aerodynamic center point via a pivot or bearing drive support 21, and the drive shaft of the center O is shown in the figure by this drive arm 22. It is driven to rotate by a lever or motor.

[0025] At a point away from the drive support portion 21 of the rotor blade 20, a control support portion 23 as another pivot is provided on the axis of symmetry S of each rotor blade 20, and with respect to the pivot of the control support portion 23, One end of the control arm 26 is rotatably fixed. As shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 6, the other end of the control arm 26 is arranged at a position that is separate from the rotation center O of the rotating cylindrical surface F and does not interfere with these rotating mechanisms. Rotating fulcrums 25 are connected to support plates 27 that are rotatably supported with respect to the individual slip rings 24. The rotation fulcrum 25 in the illustrated embodiment is arranged radially with respect to the center Q of the slip ring 24, and the slip ring 24 can be arbitrarily moved up and down and left and right by a separate mechanism not shown.

Accordingly, for example, as shown in FIG. 7 (a), when the rotation center O of the rotary blade 20 and the center Q of the slip ring 24 are aligned, the neutral state is established and the thrust does not work. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2B, in this case, when the slip ring 24 is moved up and down, the rotor blade 20 is rotated by the drive arm 22 but is not aligned with the moving direction line of the coupling point of the control arm 26. By deviating the pitch angle of the two rotor blades 20 positioned at the corners in the same direction, thrust can be generated in the same direction by the pair of rotor blades 20. Figure 5 shows how these forces are generated. Such a propulsion mechanism similar to a cycloidal propeller has been put to practical use in the field of surface vessels, but has never been put into practical use for aviation. requires weight reduction of complex control mechanism for, by the research and development by the present inventors developed a method as described above, it could be given a prospect to practical use.

[0027] In the cycloidal propeller described above, the slip ring 24 including the support plate 27 that supports the coupling point on the rotation center side of all the control arms 26 of each rotor blade 20 is used to rotate the rotor blade 20. Regardless, because the angle of attack of each rotor blade 20 is controlled by decentering it vertically and horizontally on the fuselage, the rotation of the rotor blades escapes via the slip ring 24, and the control operation on the left and right You can escape the rotary motion of the rotary blade 20 to.

[0028] Since the angle formed by the adjacent control arms 26 changes while the rotor blade 20 rotates, The slip ring 24 is a force required for all control arms. In the present invention, as shown in the example of FIG. 6, in order to avoid interference with this drive shaft so as to escape the center rotational drive shaft, A slip ring installed to contain the drive shaft is used. As shown in FIG. 6, the control arm is swung on a flat support plate 27 attached to the slip ring 24 at a right angle to the rotation axis so as not to be coaxial with one slip ring 24. Install as many pivots or bearings as there are rotor blades. As a result, a control mechanism for the rotor blades of a cycloidal propeller having a mechanism for substituting the function of an independent slip ring together with the support plate 27 coupled to one slip ring 24 can be realized. .

[0029] By adopting such a configuration, in order not to interfere with the drive shaft, an inner diameter corresponding to the up / down / left / right eccentric distance is required, and an excessively large slip ring 24 is formed into one. Since all the other plurality of slip rings can be miniaturized, it is possible to contribute to light weight. Further, the same effect can be obtained by adopting a structure in which the rotary drive shaft is formed into a large-diameter pipe and the control arm coupling point is located therein to eliminate interference.

[0030] In the cycloidal * propeller rotor blade control mechanism, the center of gravity of the rotor blade 20 is substantially aligned with the aerodynamic center of each rotor blade 20, and a bearing or pivot is placed at that point. By being driven, both the aerodynamic load of each rotor blade 20 and the inertial load force due to centrifugal force can be largely retained by the drive arm 22, so that the control arm 26 must be operated with low power. Will be able to.

[0031] However, when the rotational speed of the rotor blades increases and the forward speed of the entire propulsion device increases, a large angle of attack is required for the deflection angle control of the rotor blades. As shown in FIG. With this air flow, the trailing edge of the rotor blade is pushed back in the centripetal direction, the control arm needs to withstand the compressive force, and the weight of the control arm 26 increases. In order to suppress this, the center of gravity of the rotor blade is placed at an appropriate position in the direction of the trailing edge of the rotor blade from the bearing of the drive arm in the rotor blade as shown in FIG. 8, and centrifugal force is applied to the control arm appropriately. By preventing or reducing the trailing edge of the rotor blade from being pushed back in the centripetal direction due to air force, the load on the control arm 26 is prevented or reduced, thereby reducing the weight of the control arm 26. It can be performed.

[0032] A calculation result of the operation of the cycloidal propeller as described above is shown together with a graph. The airfoil is NACA-0012, and the relationship between the angle of attack a and the rotation angle Θ of Fig. 5 is shown in Fig. 9. The relationship between the angle of attack ct, the lift coefficient CI, and the anti-coefficient Cd is shown in Fig. 10. Figure 11 shows the calculation results of lift and drag when the peripheral speed of a single blade is 25 m / s. The lift for one propulsion unit with seven propulsion blades is calculated for each blade and is shown in Fig. 12 together with the combined values shown as totals in the figure. The resistance of a single wing consists of a wing fluctuation component (23 to 35N) and a constant component (16N) of the supporting rod, and the maximum value of the combined drag of the seven blades was about 360N. Figure 13 shows the lift vs. power characteristics when the rotation speed is changed.

Industrial applicability

The airship-type aerial crane according to the present invention as described above is (1) mountain forest 'transport and transport vehicle at sea' and cargo handling for work vessels. (2) Monitoring illegal dumping of industrial waste. (3) Disaster relief support and communication and monitoring base. (4) Urban security 'surveillance', (5) Lakes 'wilderness' surveillance in wilderness · Widespread use such as observation and collection work is expected.

Claims

The scope of the claims

[1] Aircraft filled with levitation gas;

Propulsion units installed on the left and right sides of the aircraft,

Suspension tool provided at each fulcrum so as to be pivotable on the same vertical line as the airframe of the airframe on both sides of the airframe.

Each of the propulsion devices includes a plurality of rotary blades rotatably supported at the end of a drive arm that extends radially from the drive shaft, and a rotation that enables the inclination of the plurality of rotary blades to be adjusted in relation to each other. An airship type aerial terrain having a blade inclination adjusting member, wherein the propulsion direction is variable by adjusting the inclination of the rotating blade by the rotating blade inclination adjusting member, and the airframe is arbitrarily moved.

[2] The rotary blade inclination adjusting member includes one slip ring that is arbitrarily movable, a support plate that rotates around the slip ring, and each rotary blade and the support plate that rotates at both ends. The flying ship type aerial crane according to claim 1, further comprising control arms that are movably connected to each other, wherein the inclination of the plurality of rotor blades can be adjusted in relation to each other by movement of the slip ring. .

[3] The support portion of the rotor blade by the drive arm is a portion where the aerodynamic center of the rotor blade and the center of gravity coincide with each other, and the rotor arm is configured to receive the inertial load force due to the aerodynamic load and centrifugal force of the rotor blade. The airship type aerial crane according to claim 1, wherein

[4] The structure according to claim 1, wherein the center of gravity of the rotor blade is configured to be located between a support portion by a drive arm of the rotor blade and a coupling portion of the rotor blade inclination adjusting member. Airship type aerial crane.