WO2018107562A1

WO2018107562A1 - Unmanned aerial vehicle, and unmanned aerial vehicle charging control method and system

Info

Publication number: WO2018107562A1
Application number: PCT/CN2017/071883
Authority: WO
Inventors: 刘均; 宋朝忠
Original assignee: 深圳市元征科技股份有限公司
Priority date: 2016-12-15
Filing date: 2017-01-20
Publication date: 2018-06-21
Also published as: CN106899054A

Abstract

Disclosed is an unmanned aerial vehicle charging control method, comprising: determining, when an unmanned aerial vehicle returns, whether the unmanned aerial vehicle needs to be charged currently, according to a current status of the unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein the current status of the unmanned aerial vehicle at least comprises current remaining power of the unmanned aerial vehicle; and controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle to travel to a charging base for wireless charging when it is determined that the unmanned aerial vehicle needs to be charged currently. Also disclosed are an unmanned aerial vehicle and an unmanned aerial vehicle charging control system. The present invention can implement active charging of an unmanned aerial vehicle, thereby avoiding tediousness of manual charging of a user, and improving use convenience of the user.

Description

UAV, drone charging control method and system

Technical field

The invention relates to the field of unmanned aerial vehicle charging, in particular to a control method and system for unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Background technique

With the development of drone technology, drones have been widely used in people's daily lives. Most drones fly through the battery to provide energy, but the energy that the battery can provide at one time is limited. Generally, after the drone returns, if the power consumption is large, the user needs to manually charge the battery of the drone. In this case, if the user does not charge the drone when the drone needs to be recharged, then the next time the drone is used, the drone may be short or impossible to fly, which will affect The user's experience with the drone.

Summary of the invention

The main object of the present invention is to provide a control method and system for unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles, which aim to solve the technical problem that the unmanned aerial vehicle cannot achieve active charging in the prior art.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for controlling charging of a drone, and the method for controlling charging of the drone includes:

When the drone returns, determining whether the drone currently needs to be charged according to the current condition of the drone, wherein the current condition of the drone includes at least the current remaining capacity of the drone;

When it is determined that the drone currently needs to be charged, the drone is controlled to go to the charging base for wireless charging.

Preferably, when determining that the drone currently needs to be charged, controlling the drone to go to the charging base for wireless charging includes:

When it is determined that the drone currently needs to be charged, generating a flight path of the drone according to the location information of the pre-stored charging base and the current location information of the drone;

According to the flight path, the drone is controlled to go to the charging base for wireless charging.

Preferably, the charging base comprises a plurality of charging base stations;

After the controlling the drone to the charging base for wireless charging according to the flight path, the method includes:

When the drone reaches the end of the flight path, controlling the drone to send a charging connection request to the charging base station for establishing a charging connection with the charging base station;

When the charging connection is established, electromagnetic waves emitted by the charging base station are received for wireless charging by the drone.

Preferably, after the controlling the drone to wirelessly charge the charging base, the method includes:

The charging state information of the drone is fed back to the user terminal, and when the wireless charging ends, the drone is controlled to return to the location of the user terminal.

In addition, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention also provides a drone, the drone comprising:

a determining module, configured to determine, according to the current condition of the drone, whether the drone is currently required to be charged when the drone returns, wherein the current state of the drone includes at least a current remaining of the drone Electricity

And a control module, configured to control the drone to go to the charging base for wireless charging when it is determined that the drone currently needs to be charged.

Preferably, the control module comprises:

a path generating unit, configured to: when determining that the drone currently needs to be charged, generating a flight path of the drone according to location information of the pre-stored charging base and current location information of the drone;

And a control unit, configured to control the drone to go to the charging base for wireless charging according to the flight path.

Preferably, the charging base includes a plurality of charging base stations, and the drone further includes: a requesting module and a charging module;

The requesting module is configured to: when the drone reaches an end point of the flight path, control the drone to send a charging connection request to the charging base station to establish a charging connection with the charging base station;

The charging module is configured to: when the charging connection is established, receive an electromagnetic wave emitted by the charging base station for wireless charging by the drone.

Preferably, the drone further comprises:

And a feedback module, configured to feed back the charging state information of the drone to the user terminal, and control the drone to return to the location of the user terminal when the wireless charging ends.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention also provides a control system for charging a drone, comprising a plurality of charging base stations disposed at a charging base and the drone described in any of the above.

Preferably, the charging base station comprises:

An authentication module, configured to receive a charging connection request sent by the drone, and authenticate the charging connection request;

a transmitting module, configured to: when the charging connection request passes the authentication, feed back a charging connection response to the drone to establish a charging connection with the drone, and transmit an electromagnetic wave to the drone for the The drone is wirelessly charged.

In the present invention, when the drone returns, according to the current situation of the drone, it is determined whether the drone currently needs to be charged, and when it is determined that the drone currently needs to be charged, the drone is controlled to go to the charging base. Wireless charging. The invention can make the unmanned aerial vehicle actively charge, thereby eliminating the cumbersome manual charging of the user and improving the convenience of the user.

DRAWINGS

1 is a schematic flow chart of a first embodiment of a method for controlling charging of a drone according to the present invention;

2 is a schematic diagram of a refinement process of step S120 in FIG. 1;

3 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of an unmanned aerial vehicle traveling to a charging base in a method for controlling charging of a drone according to the present invention;

4 is a schematic flow chart of a second embodiment of a method for controlling charging of a drone according to the present invention;

5 is a schematic flow chart of a third embodiment of a method for controlling charging of a drone according to the present invention;

6 is a schematic diagram of functional modules of a first embodiment of the drone of the present invention;

7 is a schematic diagram of a refinement function module of the control module 120 in the UAV of FIG. 6;

8 is a schematic diagram of functional modules of a second embodiment of the drone of the present invention;

9 is a schematic diagram of functional modules of a third embodiment of the drone of the present invention;

10 is a schematic diagram of functional modules of an embodiment of a control system for charging a drone according to the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of functional modules of an embodiment of the charging base station of FIG.

The implementation, functional features, and advantages of the present invention will be further described in conjunction with the embodiments.

detailed description

It is understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a schematic flow chart of a first embodiment of a method for charging a drone according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the control method of the drone charging includes:

Step S110, determining, according to the current condition of the drone, whether the drone is currently required to be charged when the drone returns, wherein the current condition of the drone includes at least the current remaining capacity of the drone;

In this embodiment, the manner of determining whether the drone is currently required to be charged is not limited.

It can be judged by the current remaining power of the drone. For example, it may be to detect whether the current power consumption of the drone reaches a preset threshold, and if so, the drone currently needs to be charged. In this embodiment, the preset threshold cannot be set too high or too low (too high may cause the drone to fail to fly to the charging base, and too low is not necessary for charging), for example, the threshold may be preset as 60 of the total power. %.

As another example, the drone meets a preset charging strategy. The charging strategy can be preset for the drone to meet the charging conditions each time the drone returns.

In this embodiment, when the drone returns, it is determined whether the drone currently needs to be charged, that is, whether the drone currently meets the charging condition. It can be monitored in real time when the drone returns, or it can be monitored every preset time interval when the drone returns.

Step S120: When it is determined that the drone currently needs to be charged, the drone is controlled to go to the charging base for wireless charging.

In the present embodiment, the location information of the charging base can be stored in advance. When the drone currently needs to be charged, the location information of the charging base is used as a navigation destination to control the drone to go.

In this embodiment, a manner in which the drone receives electromagnetic waves for charging can be employed. For example, the charging base has a charging base station, and the charging base station can transmit electromagnetic waves to the drone for the drone to receive, thereby causing the drone to charge.

In this embodiment, when the drone returns, it monitors whether the drone currently meets the charging condition. If the drone currently meets the charging condition, the drone is controlled to go to the charging base for charging. In this embodiment, when the drone is in the return flight, if the charging condition is satisfied, the charging can be actively performed, thereby eliminating the cumbersome manual charging of the user and improving the convenience of the user.

Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the refinement process of step S120 in FIG. In this embodiment, step S120 includes:

Step S1201: When it is determined that the UAV currently needs to be charged, generating a flight path of the UAV according to the location information of the pre-stored charging base and the current location information of the UAV;

In this embodiment, the drone prestores the location information of the charging base. As shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of an unmanned aerial vehicle traveling to a charging base according to an embodiment of the present invention. In an optional embodiment of the present invention, according to the current position information of the drone and the position information of the charging base, three flight paths of 1, 2, and 3 are generated by using the navigation system provided by the drone.

Step S1202: Control the drone to go to the charging base for wireless charging according to the flight path.

As shown in FIG. 3, in an alternative embodiment of the present invention, path 2 is the closest choice for the drone to the charging base as compared to paths 1, 3. The drone determines that path 2 is a flight path and directs the path information of path 2 to the navigation system to proceed to the charging base.

In this embodiment, the drone generates flight path information to the charging base through the navigation system, and selects an optimal flight path from the flight path information, so that the drone can reach the charging base faster.

Referring to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a schematic flow chart of a second embodiment of a method for controlling charging of a drone according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the control method for the charging of the drone further includes:

Step S130, when the drone reaches the end of the flight path, controlling the drone to send a charging connection request to the charging base station to establish a charging connection with the charging base station;

In this embodiment, the unmanned aerial vehicle sends a charging connection request to the charging base, which may include the identity identification information of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and further, after the charging base receives the identity identification information of the unmanned aerial vehicle, the identity identification information is obtained. The legality is verified. If the identity information is legal, the authentication is passed; otherwise, the authentication is not passed.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the type of the identity identification information is not limited. For example, the identity identification information may be identity code information of the drone, a name of the unit to which the drone belongs, and account information of the user to which the drone belongs.

For example, the charging base pre-stores the identity encoding information of all the drones, for example, the drone transmits its own identity encoding information to the charging base when transmitting the charging connection request, and the charging base transmits the identity encoding information and the identity encoding information. The data in the database is compared. If the comparison is consistent, the confirmation is legal and the certification is passed.

For another example, the charging base only charges the drone under the legal unit name, and the name of the unit to which the legal drone belongs is pre-stored in the charging base. For example, when the drone sends a charging connection request, the name of the affiliation unit is sent to the charging base, and the charging base compares the name of the unit with the pre-stored unit name. If the comparison is consistent, the connection request is confirmed to be legal. , the certification passed.

For another example, the charging base charges and charges the drone. For example, when the drone sends a charging connection request, the account information is sent to the charging base, and the charging base queries the account information to confirm whether the charging requirement is met. For example, if the account balance is greater than the specified value, if the charging requirement is met, the confirmation is legal and the certification is passed.

Step S140, when the charging connection is established, receiving electromagnetic waves emitted by the charging base station for wireless charging by the drone.

In the present embodiment, the drone may be charged by receiving electromagnetic waves. For example, in an optional embodiment of the present invention, there are several charging base stations in the charging base, and the charging base station can transmit electromagnetic waves, and the drone can receive electromagnetic waves emitted by the charging base station, and convert the received electromagnetic waves into electric energy for charging.

In this embodiment, the drone needs to be authenticated before charging at the charging base, and only the certified drone has the qualification to charge at the charging base. Through the means of authentication, the charging base is selectively charged to the drone, thereby avoiding excessive loss of the charging base resources.

Referring to FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a third embodiment of a method for controlling charging of a drone according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the method for controlling charging of the drone further includes:

Step S150, feeding back the charging state information of the drone to the user terminal, and controlling the drone to return to the location of the user terminal when the wireless charging ends.

In the present embodiment, the type of charging information is not limited. For example, it may be one or more of basic information (location information, name information) of the charging base station, identity information of the drone, remaining charging time information of the drone, and the like.

In this embodiment, the charging information of the drone is fed back to the user terminal device, and the user is prompted in time. For example, by sending text information to a mobile terminal device such as a mobile phone of a user to which the drone belongs.

In the present embodiment, the wireless charging end condition is not limited. For example, the drone can reach the condition that the charging is stopped, such as the threshold of the current power of the drone reaching the preset stop charging. It is also possible that the drone receives an instruction to stop charging.

In this embodiment, the drone acquires the location information of the user terminal in real time, and after stopping charging, navigates to the user terminal. Moreover, the charging area of the charging base is limited, and the number of receiving the drones is limited each time. When the drone ends charging, it automatically returns to the location of the user terminal, and the other drones that need to be charged are charged. space. Increased utilization of the charging base.

In the embodiment, when the drone is charged, the charging information of the drone is sent to the user, and the user can know the time when the drone needs to be charged, and where to charge, which is beneficial to improving the user's use experience.

Referring to FIG. 6, FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of functional modules of a first embodiment of the drone of the present invention. In this embodiment, the drone includes:

The determining module 110 is configured to determine, according to the current condition of the drone, whether the drone currently needs to be charged when the drone returns, wherein the current status of the drone includes at least the current status of the drone remaining battery;

The control module 120 is configured to control the drone to go to the charging base for wireless charging when it is determined that the drone currently needs to be charged.

Referring to FIG. 7, FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a refinement function module of the control module 120 in the UAV of FIG. In this embodiment, the control module 120 includes:

The generating unit 1201 is configured to: when determining that the drone currently needs to be charged, generate a flight path of the drone according to location information of the pre-stored charging base and current location information of the drone;

The control unit 1202 is configured to control, according to the flight path, the drone to go to the charging base for wireless charging.

Referring to FIG. 8, FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of functional modules of a second embodiment of the drone of the present invention. In this embodiment, the drone further includes:

The requesting module 130 is configured to, when the drone reaches the end of the flight path, control the drone to send a charging connection request to the charging base station to establish a charging connection with the charging base station;

The charging module 140 is configured to receive electromagnetic waves emitted by the charging base station for wireless charging when the charging connection is established.

Referring to FIG. 9, FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of functional modules of a third embodiment of the drone of the present invention. In this embodiment, the drone further includes

The feedback module 150 is configured to feed back the charging state information of the drone to the user terminal, and control the drone to return to the location of the user terminal when the wireless charging ends.

Referring to FIG. 10, FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of functional modules of an embodiment of a control system for charging a drone according to the present invention. In the present embodiment, the control system for the drone charging includes a plurality of charging base stations 10 disposed at the charging base and the drones 20 described in the above embodiments.

In this embodiment, when the drone 20 returns to the air, if it is determined that the drone currently needs to be charged, the flight path information to the charging base is generated by the navigation system according to the current location information of the drone and the location information of the charging base. And select an optimal flight path from the flight path information to proceed. After the drone is in the charging range of the charging base, the drone sends a charging connection request to the charging base station 10 in the charging base, and when receiving the charging connection response that is feedback after the charging base station 10 authenticates the charging connection request, It is confirmed that a charging connection is established with the charging base station 10, and electromagnetic waves emitted from the charging base station 10 are received and charged.

Referring to FIG. 11, FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of a charging base station in a charging base in the control system for charging a drone of FIG. In this embodiment, the charging base station 10 includes:

The authentication module 101 is configured to receive a charging connection request sent by the drone, and perform authentication on the charging connection request.

In this embodiment, the manner of receiving the charging connection request is not limited, for example, the wireless connection is performed between the drone and the charging base station by using wifi, Bluetooth, or the like. At the same time, the charging connection request sent by the drone is authenticated. In this embodiment, the charging base station authenticates the charging connection request sent by the drone, and the specific authentication mode is not limited. For example, the device to be charged is authenticated as a drone, and if so, the authentication is passed; or the identity information of the drone included in the charging connection request sent by the drone is authenticated, and the identity information of the drone is determined. Whether it is legal or not, if it is legal, the certification is passed.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the wireless charging method of the present invention, the charging connection request sent by the UAV to the charging base station includes: the UAV transmitting identity identification information to the base station to be charged, and receiving the charging connection at the charging base station. The request is used to verify whether the identity information is legal. If it is legal, the authentication is passed; otherwise, the authentication fails. In this alternative embodiment, the type of the identity identification information is not limited. For example, the identity identification information may be identity code information of the drone, a name of the unit to which the drone belongs, and account information of the user to which the drone belongs.

The transmitting module 102 is configured to: when the charging connection requests authentication, pass the charging connection response to the drone to establish a charging connection with the drone, and transmit electromagnetic waves to the drone to provide The drone is wirelessly charged.

In this embodiment, the electromagnetic wave emitted by the charging base station may be wireless charging of one drone or wireless charging of multiple drones at the same time. It should be further noted that, in this embodiment, the unmanned aerial vehicle is provided with a wireless charging module, which can receive wireless electromagnetic waves and convert them into electrical energy storage, thereby completing charging.

In this embodiment, the charging base station authenticates the charging connection request sent by the drone, and establishes a charging connection with the drone after the authentication is passed, so that selective charging can be realized, for example, the electromagnetic wave is emitted only when the drone exists. Or only the legal drone can be charged, and then the excess energy loss of the charging base station can be avoided.

The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention, and the equivalent structure or equivalent process transformations made by the description of the present invention and the drawings are directly or indirectly applied to other related technical fields. The same is included in the scope of patent protection of the present invention.

Claims

A control method for charging a drone, characterized in that the control method for charging the drone includes:

When the drone returns, determining whether the drone currently needs to be charged according to the current condition of the drone, wherein the current condition of the drone includes at least the current remaining capacity of the drone;

When it is determined that the drone currently needs to be charged, the drone is controlled to go to the charging base for wireless charging.
The method for controlling the charging of a drone according to claim 1, wherein when determining that the drone currently needs to be charged, controlling the drone to wirelessly charge the charging base comprises:

When it is determined that the drone currently needs to be charged, generating a flight path of the drone according to the location information of the pre-stored charging base and the current location information of the drone;

According to the flight path, the drone is controlled to go to the charging base for wireless charging.
The method for controlling charging of a drone according to claim 2, wherein said charging base comprises a plurality of charging base stations;

After the controlling the drone to the charging base for wireless charging according to the flight path, the method includes:

When the drone reaches the end of the flight path, controlling the drone to send a charging connection request to the charging base station for establishing a charging connection with the charging base station;

When the charging connection is established, electromagnetic waves emitted by the charging base station are received for wireless charging by the drone.
The method for controlling the charging of a drone according to claim 1, wherein the controlling the drone to wirelessly charge the charging base comprises:

The charging state information of the drone is fed back to the user terminal, and when the wireless charging ends, the drone is controlled to return to the location of the user terminal.
The method of controlling the charging of a drone according to claim 2, wherein the controlling the drone to wirelessly charge the charging base comprises:

The charging state information of the drone is fed back to the user terminal, and when the wireless charging ends, the drone is controlled to return to the location of the user terminal.
The method for controlling the charging of a drone according to claim 3, wherein the controlling the drone to wirelessly charge the charging base comprises:

The charging state information of the drone is fed back to the user terminal, and when the wireless charging ends, the drone is controlled to return to the location of the user terminal.
A drone, characterized in that the drone includes:

a determining module, configured to determine, according to the current condition of the drone, whether the drone is currently required to be charged when the drone returns, wherein the current state of the drone includes at least a current remaining of the drone Electricity

And a control module, configured to control the drone to go to the charging base for wireless charging when it is determined that the drone currently needs to be charged.
The drone of claim 7 wherein said control module comprises:

a generating unit, configured to: when determining that the drone currently needs to be charged, generating a flight path of the drone according to location information of the pre-stored charging base and current location information of the drone;

And a control unit, configured to control the drone to go to the charging base for wireless charging according to the flight path.
The UAV according to claim 8, wherein the charging base comprises a plurality of charging base stations, and the UAV further comprises: a requesting module and a charging module;

The requesting module is configured to: when the drone reaches an end point of the flight path, control the drone to send a charging connection request to the charging base station to establish a charging connection with the charging base station;

The charging module is configured to: when the charging connection is established, receive an electromagnetic wave emitted by the charging base station for wireless charging by the drone.
The drone according to claim 7, wherein the drone further comprises:

And a feedback module, configured to feed back the charging state information of the drone to the user terminal, and control the drone to return to the location of the user terminal when the wireless charging ends.
The drone according to claim 8, wherein the drone further comprises:

And a feedback module, configured to feed back the charging state information of the drone to the user terminal, and control the drone to return to the location of the user terminal when the wireless charging ends.
The drone according to claim 9, wherein the drone further comprises:

And a feedback module, configured to feed back the charging state information of the drone to the user terminal, and control the drone to return to the location of the user terminal when the wireless charging ends.
A control system for charging a drone, comprising a plurality of charging base stations disposed at a charging base, wherein the control system for charging the drone further comprises: the drone according to claim 7.
The control system for a drone charging according to claim 13, wherein said charging base station comprises:

An authentication module, configured to receive a charging connection request sent by the drone, and authenticate the charging connection request;

a transmitting module, configured to: when the charging connection request passes the authentication, feed back a charging connection response to the drone to establish a charging connection with the drone, and transmit an electromagnetic wave to the drone for the The drone is wirelessly charged.