RU2665123C2 - Folding quadcopter - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: aviation.SUBSTANCE: invention relates to the field of aviation, in particular to the designs of multi-propeller aircrafts. Quadcopter has the square shaped body, consisting of two parallel plates, between which inner ends of four beams, the propellers with the engines holders are installed by the bushings on the axles. Beams with the propellers outer ends are located at the square around the body corners, wherein the beams with the body fastening is configured to be folded for the storage and transportation. In the storage and transportation position the quadcopter beams are folded in the horizontal plane, for which the beams inner ends bushings are made vertically. By the bushings beams are put on the vertical axes, installed between the body plates near its center. Two pairs of vertical axes are placed on the body plates symmetrically relative to the body longitudinal axis. At the body both plates all four corners projections are installed, in front of which ends threaded stoppers are installed.EFFECT: enabling increase in the quadcopter beams with its body fastening strength while maintaining the quadcopter compactness in the non-operating position.1 cl, 3 dwg

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the field of small-sized unmanned aerial devices for vertical take-off and landing (quadrocopters), intended for aerial photography and air surveillance with the possibility of transmitting information received by airborne sensors to a ground-based control station in real time.

State of the art

Currently, unmanned aerial devices of vertical take-off and landing of a multi-rotor type are widely used. The most widely used models with four rotors - quadrocopters. They are used both in the domestic sphere, as toys, and in the professional one for video filming or video surveillance, cargo delivery, etc. Professional quadrocopters can reach take-off weight from several kilograms to tens of kilograms and sizes (excluding propellers) of more than 1-1.5 meters. Such dimensions and weight impose increased requirements on the strength of the structure of the quadrocopter. At the same time, the relatively short flight time of quadrocopters - usually no more than one hour - makes it necessary to launch unmanned aerial vehicles in the immediate vicinity of the area of the task, which requires transportation of the quadrocopter. The assembled quadrocopters have rather large dimensions and, most importantly, a very complex and fragile external shape, sharply limiting the possibility of their transportation in assembled form due to the risk of damage and inconvenient dimensions. Therefore, these systems, as a rule, are deployed and put into operation directly in the area of application.

Therefore, for such devices, the characteristics of assembly processes for storage or transportation and deployment for work are very important, which should be simple, reliable, and the devices used to implement them are desirable with a small weight. Many manufacturers of quadrocopters have created various collapsible or folding designs. The most common quadrocopter design contains a housing and four beam-bearing housing, the inner ends of which are attached to the housing, and at the outer ends of which are placed at the corners of the square around the housing, motors with screws are installed. The most famous example of this design is the Tarot X4 quadrocopter for professional aerial photography produced by the Chinese company Tarot. It is described in detail on the Internet in numerous files, for example, in Tarot X4 http://www.tarotrc.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65_66&products_id=1289. The numbers of several Chinese patents (No. 2014204282854, 2014203682366, 2034302624585, 2014301541104, 2014302583208) related to the method of adding and deploying quadrocopter rays are also given there. The specified device is closest to the claimed by most essential features, therefore, it is selected as a prototype. This quadrocopter, comprising a housing consisting of two parallel plates, between which bushings on the axles are installed the inner ends of four beams, the outer ends of which with electric motors and screws are placed at the corners of the square around the housing, and the bonds of the beams to the housing are made possible to fold them for easy storage and transportation . As noted above, an important distinguishing characteristic of this quadrocopter - the prototype - the ability to fold the umbrella (that is, in the vertical plane) of its rays in the inoperative position of the system (storage, transportation) and the rapid deployment of its rays in the operating position of the system. For this, the following has been done in its design. At the inner ends of the beams there are horizontally spaced sleeves that are worn on an axis attached to the edges of the quadrocopter case plates. Rays can be rotated on these axes in a vertical plane, which allows them to be stacked next to each other vertically close to each other during storage, transportation and deployed in four directions and rigidly fix the rays in the working position of the quadrocopter. At the upper point, the rotation of the rays is limited by the level of the upper plate of the body, at the bottom - perpendicular to the plane of the body. To fix the rays in the upper position (when deploying the rays of the quadrocopter), latches holders are installed at the edges of the housing plate, which catch on the protrusions made on the inner ends of the rays. With these latches, the rays are fixed in the deployed position and prevent their rotation in the working position of the quadrocopter.

The described mechanism of folding, deployment and fixing the position of the rays is quite simple. But it has a significant drawback, especially for professional quadrocopters. The quadrocopter rises up and is held in the air due to the rotation of the screws mounted on the ends of the outer parts of the four beams located squarely at the maximum distance from the housing in which the payload of the quadrocopter is installed (video cameras, receivers, transmitters, tape recorders and other equipment). The payload hull pulls the quadcopter down. Thus, the rays with screws and the body with the payload pull the parts of the quadrocopter in different directions. These rods form a lever, the shoulders of which are connected at the place of attachment and fixation of the outer parts of the rays of the quadrocopter to its body. In this case, the attachment is carried out by the nozzle of the sleeve of the rays on the axis of the housing located on the edges of the plates of the housing, and the fixation is made by latches, the holders of which are attached to the edge of the housing. The holders are hooked to special protrusions made at the ends of the beams near the housing. With this design of the quadcopter, the entire load of the hull with the load during its flight is applied to the latches that fasten the hull to the beams. The latch must be strong to support the weight of the housing with a load. However, its strength significantly depends on the mounting strength of the latch holders on the housing and on the strength of the special protrusions for the latches on the ends of the beams near the housing. The indicated mounting strengths of the holders and protrusions are really insufficient, since both parts of the latch are installed almost side by side at the very edges of the housing plate and beam. Therefore, in fact, the entire load during the flight of a quadrocopter presses on the latch and two closely located weak supports, between which it is fixed. This position determines the weak resistance of this bond to pressure from above. Accordingly, this limits the capacity of the quadrocopter, especially when used in systems with a large useful weight. It should also be noted that the placement of horizontal axes for beams in this design is possible only at the very edge of the housing plates, so that the beams can turn down to fold in the inoperative position of the quadrocopter. Such an arrangement of the connection of the beam bushings with the horizontal axes by the housing at the very edge of the plate is unreliable in the working position of the quadrocopter under load.

In addition, the dimensions of the quadrocopter in the storage and transportation position (that is, with folded beams) are desirable to reduce, given the usual mode of frequent transportation of the system

Object of the invention

The objective of the invention is to increase the strength of the fastening of the rays of the quadrocopter with its body and their fixation while maintaining the simplicity of the deployment of the rays in the working position and their addition to the inoperative position, and also to increase the compactness of the quadrocopter in the inoperative position.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The essence of the invention lies in the fact that in the known design of a folding quadrocopter containing a quad-shaped body, consisting of two parallel plates, between which the ends of the four beams — the holders of electric motors with screws, are mounted on the axles by the bushes, the outer ends of the beams with electric motors and screws are placed at the corners square around the case, and the bonds of the beams with the case are made possible by their addition for convenient storage and transportation, significant changes have been made, namely:

the quadrocopter rays in the storage and transportation positions are not folded in the vertical, but in the horizontal plane, for which:

- the sleeves at the inner ends of the beams are made vertically, these beams are worn by the sleeves on the vertical axis installed between the plates of the quadrocopter body near its center,

- two pairs of vertical axes are placed on the plates of the body symmetrically relative to the longitudinal axis of the body passing in the middle between the same edges of the plates, while the axes of the first pair are installed near the center of the body symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axis of the body at a distance of 0.5-1.0 mm more the diameter of the beam, and the axes of the second pair are installed symmetrically relative to the longitudinal axis of the body at a distance of 0.5-1.0 mm more than the double diameter of the beam and at a distance of each of them from the nearest axis of the first pair of axes n 3-5 mm larger than the diameter of the beam,

- on all four corners of both plates of the body, protrusions are installed, the outer surfaces of which are convexly rounded, and the inner surfaces facing each other are flat, and the distance between the protrusions is 0.5-1.0 mm larger than the beam diameter,

- on each beam at a distance of 1-2 mm in front of the outer end of the protrusion, a stopper with a thread is rigidly installed, the diameter of which is less than the distance between the plates of the body,

- on each beam between the threaded stopper and the electric motor there is a freely moving conical nut with an expanding conical part without thread directed towards the housing, the cone is narrowed to the threaded part of the conical nut, the thread of which is adequate to the thread of the stopper with a thread,

- the inner diameter of the widest part of the cone of the flare nut is 0.5-1.0 mm larger than the distance between the outer sides of the protrusions of the housing, the inner diameter of the narrowest part of the cone of the flare nut is 0.5-1.0 mm less than the sum of the beam diameter and double thickness protrusion

- on the inner end of each beam between the plates of the body can be rigidly fixed stop, the size of which is 0.5-1.0 mm less than the distance between the plates of the body.

In the process of deploying the quadrocopter to the working position, the rays are rotated around the vertical axes located near the center of the housing, set opposite to the protrusions of the housing and fixed by tightening the flare nuts on the threads on the stoppers. The protrusions of the housing are mounted on the very edges of the housing plates; they, under the pressure of the cone cones and nuts approaching on them, slightly (about 0.5 mm) bend inward, towards each other, resting against the beams between the housing plates. This tightly presses the protrusions of the body to the beams, rigidly fixing the position of the beam. The rays in the proposed design are sandwiched between the axes of the plates and the plates of the body, in contrast to the prototype, in which the rays were attached to the horizontal axes at the very edge of the plates of the body. The vertical position of the axes strengthens the resistance of the rays to external pressure. The strength of the structure is additionally supported by stops 0.5 mm high less than the distance between the plates, located at the inner ends of the beams between its plates. Since the axes of rotation of the rays are located much closer to the center of the body - the inner ends of the rays go deeper into the body. This makes their connection with the housing much stronger than in the prototype. The above design changes strengthened the bonding of the beams with the housing and reduced the load on it, which increased the load capacity and reliability of the device as a whole. This allowed to increase the payload weight, that is, to increase the efficiency of the quadrocopter. The flight time of the quadrocopter increased to 1 hour (versus 18 minutes for the prototype) - due to the use of a more powerful battery.

In the inoperative position of the quadrocopter (storage, transportation), the flare nuts are unscrewed, the beams freed from fastening with the body are rotated in pairs in a horizontal plane in different directions around the axes until they touch each other.

In addition, the addition of all the rays of the quadrocopter in one (horizontal) plane increased its compactness when folded.

Thus, the technical effect of the invention consists in increasing the adhesion strength of the rays of the quadrocopter with its body, increasing its carrying capacity and compactness of the quadrocopter when folded for storage.

List of figures

FIG. 1 - Quadrocopter in the folded and working position

FIG. 2 - Mounting and fixing the beam to the body of the quadrocoplet

Fig 3 - the design of the beam of the quadrocopter

The following notation is used in the figures: 1 — the upper plate of the body, 2 — rays with motors, 3 — flare nuts, 4 — stoppers with thread, 5 — protrusions, 6 — lower plate of the body, 7 — axis of attachment of the beams, 8 — bush at the end of the beam , 9 - stops, 10 - engines.

Device Description

The quadrocopter housing consists of two parallel plates 1 and 6. Between the plates 1 and 6, four axes 7 are vertically mounted, mounted between the plates of the quadrocopter housing near its center. Two pairs of vertical axes 7 are placed on the plates of the body symmetrically relative to the longitudinal axis of the body passing in the middle between the same edges of the plates, while the axes of the first pair are installed near the center of the body symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axis of the body by a distance of 0.5-1.0 mm large diameter of the beam, and the axis of the second pair of axes 7 are installed symmetrically relative to the longitudinal axis of the body with a distance between themselves, 0.5-1.0 mm larger than the double diameter of the beam, and at a distance of each of them from the nearest axis of the first ry axes 3-5 mm large beam diameter. On both plates 1 and 6 of the four corners of the casing, protrusions 5 are installed, the outer surfaces of which are convexly rounded, and the inner surfaces facing each other are made flat, and the distance between them is 0.5-1.0 mm greater than the beam diameter. A stopper with a thread 4 is rigidly fixed on each beam 2 in front of the outer end of the protrusion 5 of the housing, while the external size of the stopper is less than the distance between the plates 1 and 6 of the housing. On each beam 2 between the stopper with thread 4 and the engine 30 there is a freely movable conical nut 3 having an expanding conical part without a thread directed in front of the housing side. The cone of the flare nut 3 narrows to the threaded part of the flare nut, the thread of which coincides with the thread on the stopper with the thread 4, the inner diameter of the widest part of the flare of the flare nut 3 is 1 mm larger than the distance between the outer sides of the protrusions 5 of the housing, and the inner diameter of the narrowest part of the flare the flare nut 3 is 0.5-1.0 mm less than the sum of the diameter of the beam and the double thickness of the protrusion 5, and the convexity of the protrusion 5 is consistent with the shape of the cone of the flare nut.

A stop 9, a stopper with thread 4 and a freely moving conical nut 3 can be located on each beam 2. The stop 9 is 0.5-1.0 mm smaller than the distance between the plates of the housing and is rigidly fixed on the beam 2 between the plates 1 and 6 of the housing. The stop 9 is inserted to maintain a predetermined distance between the plates of the housing in case of possible emergency situations. The stopper with thread 4 is rigidly fixed in front of the outer ends of the protrusions 5 of the housing. Therefore, when tightening the thread of the flare nut, it is pushed onto the protrusion, pressing it against the beam. This provides accurate installation and fastening of the rays 2 to the quadrocopter body. Then, screws are attached to the beam motors 2. Quadrocopter assembly for work is completed.

In the folded position, the rays 2 are located in the same plane parallel to each other (Fig. 1). To assemble the quadrocopter, the rays are rotated around the axes 7 in a horizontal plane in pairs in different directions between the plates of the housing to align with the protrusions 5 on the housing. The directions of rotation of each beam are indicated by arrows in FIG. one.

The folding quadrocopter is transported in standard packaging. Packaging - a transportation case (suitcase) in which a folded aircraft is located, removed screws, payload and other system equipment.

Industrial applicability

The frame of the device can be made of well-known light and durable materials, for example, composite. The interaction of means provided by the invention is realized in known technological processes in the field of aircraft construction and the use of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles for various purposes. A quadrocopter that implements the claimed invention was manufactured and repeatedly experimentally tested in experimental batches of products of the applicant enterprise.

The quadcopter has an assembled weight of up to 9 kg (with payload), the maximum size (including screws) is more than 2 m, the flight time is up to 60 minutes, the flight speed is 0-60 km / h, and the maximum payload weight is up to 2 kg, assembly time 4-5 minutes (taking into account the installation of the payload).

The invention is intended for use in quadrocopters for various purposes. The complex usually includes a quadrocopter with a payload installed on it (a camera or a visible or IR camera on a stabilized controlled platform). Maintenance of the complex is carried out by a technical calculation of two people from unprepared engineering sites at wind speeds of up to 10 meters per second. The preparation time for starting from the stowed position is no more than 15 minutes. The preparation time for a quadrocopter for a second flight is no more than 10 minutes, including for assembling a quadrocopter no more than 5 minutes. Charging time on-board battery - no more than 2 hours.

At the same time, assembly and disassembly of the device was carried out by novice workers of low qualification who had no previous experience in the use of unmanned aerial devices. The tested devices were repeatedly exported to multi-day field tests, including in rural uncomfortable conditions. To assemble and disassemble the quadrocopter, only a wrench is used to attach the screws to the engine. The flare nuts have ribbed outer sides, so they are twisted and untwisted with your fingers. In general, the assembly time of the system by trained workers does not exceed 5 minutes and during the test there were no cases of improper assembly and collapse of the quadrocopter during flights. Dismantling and transport packaging did not reveal any problems at all.

Thus, the experiments confirmed our assumption that our proposed mechanisms for attaching beams to the body and their fixation are quite reliable. The maximum payload weight of the quadrocopter, under other conditions, has become noticeably larger, the flight time of the quadrocopter has increased three times compared to the prototype (due to the possibility of installing a larger battery), the design of the beam mounts to the body has become much stronger. The reliability of fastening was repeatedly confirmed during many months of long-term work in difficult traveling uncomfortable conditions. At the same time, the fact that the volume occupied by the quadrocopter, with the same length of the rays and the size of the case as the prototype, has become less than a third.

Claims (2)

1. A collapsible quadrocopter, comprising a square-shaped housing, consisting of two parallel plates, between which the bushings on the axes have the inner ends of the four beams — motor holders with screws, the outer ends of the beams with electric motors and screws are placed at the corners of the square around the housing, and the beams are bonded with the housing is made with the possibility of adding rays for convenient storage and transportation, characterized in that to increase the strength of the bonding of the rays of the quadrocopter with its body; increase the load-carrying capacity and compactness in the folded position, the bushings on the inner ends of the beams are placed vertically, the beams are put on by the bushings on the vertical axes installed between the plates of the quadrocopter body near its center, two pairs of vertical axes are placed on the body plates symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axis of the body passing in the middle between the same the edges of the plates, while the axes of the first pair are installed near the center of the body symmetrically relative to the longitudinal axis of the body with a distance between them of 0.5- 1.0 mm larger than the diameter of the beam, and the axes of the second pair of axes are installed symmetrically relative to the longitudinal axis of the body with a distance between themselves, 0.5-1.0 mm larger than the double diameter of the beam, and at a distance of each of them from the nearest axis of the first pair of axes 3-5 mm larger than the beam diameter, protrusions are installed on both plates of the four corners of the casing, the outer surfaces of which are convexly rounded, and the inner surfaces facing each other are made flat, and the distance between them is greater than the diameter of the beam, on each beam in front of at A stopper with a thread is rigidly fixed to the other end of the body protrusion, while the external size of the stopper is less than the distance between the body plates, on each beam between the stopper with a thread and the motor there is a freely movable flare nut having an expanding flare conical part directed towards the flank side, taper cone the nut narrows to the threaded part of the flare nut, the thread of which coincides with the thread on the stopper, the inner diameter of the widest part of the flare of the flare nut is greater than the distance between the outer sides contact housing projections, and the inner diameter of the narrowest part of the cone is less than the taper nut amounts to 0.5-1.0 mm beam diameter and the thickness of the double lip, the projection is convex taper shape matched with the taper nut. 2. The device according to p. 1, characterized in that at the inner end of each beam between the plates of the body is fixedly fixed stop size 0.5-1.0 mm less than the distance between the plates of the body.

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