RU2834064C1 - Unmanned aerial vehicle landing system - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: aviation.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to unmanned aerial vehicles. Unmanned aerial vehicle landing system consists of located in fuselage (3) winch (7) with cable (4) and anchor (5), equipped with cable tension force sensor. Fuselage accommodates gastight vessel (1) accommodating heat exchanger (11) with heating element. Cylinder (6) filled with compressed lifting gas is connected to heat exchanger (11) through air valve (2). Operation of all devices of the unmanned aerial vehicle is provided by control system (8) and coordinated by an operator via a radio channel. Lanyard (10) with rigidly fixed ends suspended on supports (9) is used as a landing element.

EFFECT: reduced dependence on limited landing area.

1 cl, 2 dwg

Description

The invention relates to aviation technology, and more specifically to methods and devices for landing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of an airplane type outside of fixed airfields in the absence of a runway.

Since the second half of the 20th century, the world has seen continuous improvement of UAVs, their tactical and technical characteristics (TTX) are improving, modern models are being developed and used in various fields of activity. Almost all wars are already being waged using UAVs, which can be mass-produced, unlike modern aircraft. Such devices have become a formidable force thanks to modern electronics, composite materials, stealth technologies and a variety of weapons that can be installed on them. They are practically unstoppable by interference, which is neutralized by modern communication systems (including satellite) and the use of a UAV repeater between the UAV and the control station. They can "hover" over the front lines for days, providing search and detection of ground and surface targets, classification of detected targets, determination of coordinates of objects and targets, continuous monitoring of the situation, information support for the use of fire and strike weapons in reconnaissance and strike systems. They are also used for jamming, relaying communications and fire destruction of objects. The vast majority of UAV systems are created in the interests of solving these problems.

The implementation of these tasks directly depends on the capabilities of these complexes, use both from the runway and from unprepared sites. The most important element is landing, especially outside specially prepared sites that require large capital investments. The ability to use, and above all for landing from limited sites, allows expanding the scope of UAVs and preserving them for reuse.

A method for forced landing of a helicopter-type UAV on a ship's landing pad is known (RU 2620848 from 2017), in which the speed and course of the UAV are aligned with the speed and course of the ship, the UAV is stabilized at the hovering point above the landing point on the deck, the aircraft and the ship are connected by a landing cable supplied either from the ship or from the UAV, the free end of the landing cable is fixed in a gripping mechanism and the aircraft is pulled to the ship's landing pad by winding the landing cable onto a pull winch, the UAV is pulled back to the stern relative to the landing point so that the landing cable deviates from the vertical by 45-55°, and a braking force is created, increasing the lift on the main rotor, while the landing cable is held at an angle of 45 ... 55° to the stern during pulling.

The disadvantage of this device is the need for a movable landing pad corresponding to the speed of the aircraft.

Also known is a device for taking off and landing a UAV (RU 2694251 from 2019), comprising a landing pad, a device for capturing parachute lines, a manipulator with a video camera and electronic landing means of radiation in different frequency ranges with conical radiation patterns fixed to it, a console, a two-plane stabilizer, a receiving camera and an indicator, wherein the manipulator is pivotally fixed to the landing pad at its end, which is pivotally fixed to the console at its other end, wherein the other end of the console is connected to the two-plane stabilizer, wherein the manipulator is made telescopic with four degrees of freedom and the ability to change the angular velocity, and the catcher net is pivotally attached to the landing pad and is made with the ability to fold it when folding the landing pad into the receiving chamber.

The disadvantage of this technical solution is the complexity of the design, which requires the presence of a manipulator and precise coordinated operation of all devices.

A method is known for landing an unmanned aircraft on an arresting gear (RU 2399560 from 2010), in which a receiving section of a movable cable is used, stretched horizontally through guide rollers in the middle between the upper ends of two beams having a mechanical connection with the lower ends to the base, and on the receiving aircraft the cable-gripping system is located behind its center of gravity, while in landing mode the flight trajectory of the aircraft is formed so that the hooking on the receiving section of the cable occurs during the flight or after the flight over this section, after which the air propulsion is turned off and the aircraft is braked as intensively as possible to a given speed, while observing the accepted overload restrictions for it and adjusting the release of the receiving cable for a given range of approach speeds in the permissible operating conditions of a specific type of aircraft. The characteristics of the cable-grabbing system (length, weight, load-bearing properties and aerodynamic drag) are determined so that the width of the capture strip swept by the flexible leash is not less than the altitude control accuracy of the flight path of this type of aircraft, the beams (masts) supporting the receiving section of the cable of the first stage of the arresting gear are motionless relative to the base during the landing approach, and the height of the receiving section of the cable above the surface adjacent to the arresting gear is greater than the sum of the nominal altitude increment during the specified maneuver of transition to a shallow pitch-up and the altitude control accuracy of the aircraft, and the second stage of the arresting gear is positioned relative to the first stage so that the region of permissible initial conditions of the second stage of the arresting gear completely covers the region of the final states of the aircraft after braking it in the first stage, in the landing approach mode, the flight path is guided to the nominal point of the beginning of the shallow pitch-up maneuver located on the axial vertical plane of the arresting gear, then this maneuver is carried out along the axial plane of the arresting gear until the moment of application of the gripping system to the receiving section of the cable, the engagement device is connected to the receiving cable, after which the overwhelming majority of the kinetic energy of the aircraft is absorbed in the first stage of the arresting gear due to the work performed by the concentrated force supplied through the leash to the main load-bearing element (main load-bearing elements) of the structural-force scheme of the aircraft, and the remaining part of the kinetic energy is absorbed in the second stage of the arresting gear mainly due to the work of the distributed forces acting on the outer surface of the aircraft from the side of the damping elements of this stage.

The disadvantage of this technical solution is the need to comply with strict flight parameters during landing, the complexity of the design, which requires precise consideration of the characteristics of the aircraft capturing the cable, knowledge of its length and weight.

The closest in technical essence to the claimed invention is the landing system for an aircraft-type UAV (RU 2678407 of 2019), consisting of an integrated part located in the internal cavity of the UAV fuselage and a base part installed on a stationary or mobile object, wherein:

- the integrated part of the system contains a cable with an anchor, secured to a power pipe installed transversely to the fuselage;

- a compartment for a cable, made in the form of a vertically located tube in the internal cavity of the UAV fuselage of an aircraft type and connected to the tail boom of the aircraft;

- a device that pushes out the anchor, which is a servo machine and a guide tube located inside a vertical pipe;

- a guidance system containing a video transmitter and a camera located in the nose section of the aircraft strictly along the course of the aircraft, and the base section is a landing element made in the form of a horizontal yard made with the ability to rotate around its own axis, while on the base section of the landing system of the aircraft-type UAV there are marks made with the ability to be determined by the said camera. Additionally, it contains a winch made with the ability to tighten a cable with an anchor and located in the internal cavity of the fuselage of the aircraft-type UAV.

The disadvantage of this technical solution is the need for a special design of the landing element, which limits the scope of application, and the difficulty of safely extracting the aircraft from this design of the landing element.

The task solved by the declared technical solution is the creation of an effective system for the safe landing of aircraft-type UAVs on landing sites of limited size.

The technical result is to expand the possibilities of using aircraft-type UAVs and reduce dependence on a limited landing area.

The required technical result is achieved by the fact that the landing system of unmanned aerial vehicles consists of a winch with a cable and anchor placed in the UAV fuselage of an aircraft type, the winch is additionally equipped with a cable tension force sensor. Also in the fuselage is an elastic gas-tight container, inside which there is a tubular heat exchanger heated by an electric heating element, a cylinder filled with compressed lifting gas is connected to the heat exchanger through an air valve. The operation of all devices of the unmanned aerial vehicle is provided by the control system and is coordinated by the operator via a radio channel. A halyard with rigidly fixed ends suspended on supports is used as a landing element.

The essence of the invention is explained by the drawing, where Fig. 1 shows a UAV landing system, which includes:

1 - elastic gas-tight container;

2 - air valve;

3 - fuselage of the unmanned aerial vehicle;

4 - cable;

5 - anchor;

6 - cylinder with compressed lifting gas;

7 - winch;

8 - control and communication system;

9 - supports;

10 - halyard;

11 - heat exchanger.

Fig. 2 shows the device for heating the lifting gas of the UAV landing system:

1 - elastic gas-tight container;

2 - air valve;

6 - cylinder with compressed lifting gas;

11 - tubular heat exchanger;

12 - electric heating element.

The UAV landing system works as follows: when the aircraft has a minimum fuel supply, the operator is notified of the need for an immediate landing. The landing element is prepared, consisting of a halyard (10) suspended on supports (9) with rigidly fixed ends.

The UAV, on command from the operator, received through the control and communication system (8), descends to a set altitude, and using a winch (7) releases a cable (4) with an anchor (5) at the end from the UAV fuselage (3).

The UAV patrols in the area of the landing element until the anchor (5) hooks the halyard (10). When hooked, the tension force of the cable (4), recorded by the cable tension force sensor, increases, and the control and communication system (8) generates commands to turn off the UAV engine, turn on the electric heating element (12) heating the tubular heat exchanger (11) and open the air valve (2). Compressed lifting gas (helium, hydrogen), escaping from the cylinder (6), carries out an adiabatic expansion characterized by a drop in the temperature of the lifting gas. To increase the temperature of the lifting gas, the flow is directed to the tubular heat exchanger (11), where the temperature of the lifting gas increases. Increasing the temperature of the lifting gas allows quickly, using the minimum required amount of lifting gas, to fill the elastic gas-tight container (1) with lifting gas from the cylinder with compressed lifting gas (6). The lifting force of the gas in the elastic gas-tight container (1) suspends the UAV. By winding the cable (4) using a winch (7) or from the side of the anchor (5) manually or with other devices, a soft landing of the aircraft is achieved.

The volume of lifting gas for a soft landing is calculated individually for each type of aircraft, taking into account the weight of the fuselage, engine and other elements, as well as the payload used. It should be noted that when using a UAV with an internal combustion engine, the fuel supply will be consumed in flight and the mass will decrease upon landing.

After replenishing the fuel supply, servicing other elements of the UAV, replacing the cylinder with compressed lifting gas (6), the payload if necessary, the aircraft can be reused by launching from a special device.

The ability to repeatedly use aircraft-type UAVs allows for the effective use of their functional capabilities. The ability to remain in the air for a long time and monitor vast territories, perform surveillance tasks, provide communications and target designation, and, if necessary, destroy detected objects allows for the implementation of all the advantages of aircraft-type UAVs and their use in various physical and geographical conditions of the terrain in the absence of special sites. This opens up the possibility of using them from sea and river vessels.

Claims (1)

A landing system for unmanned aerial vehicles, consisting of a winch with a cable and anchor and a landing element placed in the fuselage of an unmanned aerial vehicle of an aircraft type, characterized in that an elastic gas-tight container is additionally placed in the fuselage of the unmanned aerial vehicle of an aircraft type, inside which there is a tubular heat exchanger with a heating electric element, a cylinder filled with compressed lifting gas is connected to the heat exchanger through an air valve, the winch is also additionally equipped with a cable tension force sensor, there is a control and communication system, a halyard with rigidly fixed ends suspended on supports is used as a landing element.

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