阅读说明：本技术 带有可伸缩旋翼的无人机及其控制系统 (Unmanned aerial vehicle with scalable rotor and control system thereof ) 是由 张海钟 臧小漪 乔波 孟凡皓 邢乐君 靳能皓 田瑜 周正 胡随馨 陈飞 于 2021-01-22 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供一种带有可伸缩旋翼的无人机及其控制系统,该无人机包括：主体部；和多个旋翼,其分别通过连接部件设置于主体部,其中,所述多个旋翼中的每个旋翼的翼片均具有可伸缩部。(The invention provides an unmanned aerial vehicle with a telescopic rotor wing and a control system thereof, wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle comprises: a main body portion; and a plurality of rotors provided to the main body portion through connection members, respectively, wherein the wing pieces of each of the plurality of rotors have a stretchable portion.)

1. An unmanned aerial vehicle with scalable rotor, its characterized in that, unmanned aerial vehicle includes:

a main body portion; and

a plurality of rotary wings provided to the main body portion through connection members, respectively, wherein,

the wings of each of the plurality of rotors have a telescoping portion.

2. The drone of claim 1, wherein,

the main body portion includes:

a trunk portion;

a tail wing provided at a tail portion of the trunk portion; and

wings disposed on both sides of the trunk; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the rotors are respectively arranged on the head part of the trunk part, the wings and the empennage.

3. The drone of claim 2,

the wing is provided with deployable and retractable ailerons at the end of the wing body remote from the trunk.

4. A drone according to claim 3,

the ailerons are telescopically disposed inside the wing body.

5. A drone according to claim 3,

the aileron is connected to the wing body of the wing by an aileron connection, and

the aileron is rotatable relative to the wing body about the aileron connection for rotation between an upright position and a continuous position continuous with the wing body.

6. A drone according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that,

the plurality of rotors are respectively fixed coaxially with the corresponding rotor driving parts and are relatively and fixedly connected with one end of the connecting part through a shell of the rotor driving part; and is

The other end of the connecting member is pivotably connected to the main body portion so that the rotor driving portion connected to the one end of the connecting member and the rotor can integrally rotate.

7. The drone of claim 6, wherein,

the connecting member is pivotable between a first position and a second position, and wherein,

when the unmanned aerial vehicle is vertically lifted, the connecting component is pivoted to the first position, so that the rotor wing rotates in a horizontal plane; and is

When the unmanned aerial vehicle moves horizontally, the connecting part pivots to the second position, so that the rotor rotates in a vertical plane perpendicular to the front-back direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

8. An unmanned aerial vehicle control system, comprising:

the drone of any one of claims 1 to 7;

a controller; and

a rotor extension actuator, the controller controlling the rotor extension actuator to actuate to extend or retract the retractable portion of the wing of the rotor.

9. An unmanned aerial vehicle control system, comprising:

the drone of any one of claims 3 to 7;

a controller;

a rotor extension actuator, the controller controlling the rotor extension actuator to actuate to extend or retract the retractable portion of the wing of the rotor; and

an aileron telescoping actuator, the controller controlling the aileron telescoping actuator to actuate to deploy or stow the aileron.

10. An unmanned aerial vehicle control system, comprising:

the drone of claim 6 or 7;

a controller;

a rotor extension actuator, the controller controlling the rotor extension actuator to actuate to extend or retract the retractable portion of the wing of the rotor;

an aileron telescoping actuator, the controller controlling the aileron telescoping actuator to actuate to deploy or stow the aileron; and

a rotor steering actuator, the controller controlling the rotor turning actuator to actuate to pivot the link member about the other end to change a plane of rotation of the rotor therein.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicles, in particular to an unmanned aerial vehicle with a telescopic rotor wing and a control system thereof.

Background

With the progress and development of science and technology, unmanned aerial vehicles occupy an important position in both military and civil fields. In the military aspect, the unmanned aerial vehicle can play the roles of reconnaissance and monitoring, damage assessment, electronic warfare and the like; moreover, the unmanned aerial vehicle can also become a big helping hand in civilian fields such as aerial photography, environmental monitoring. Found in the present research, the flight speed of the unmanned aerial vehicle is still not ideal enough, and the endurance is also not enough. Therefore, under the existing conditions, it is critical to enhance the flight speed of the drone and to increase its standby time in the air in order to further increase the success rate of drone use.

Existing drones generally utilize rotors to climb, lower and hover, the relativity of the forces means that when the rotors push air, the air also pushes the rotors in opposite directions, the faster the rotors rotate, the greater the lift force, and vice versa. And present unmanned aerial vehicle's rotor is mostly the level and places, when unmanned aerial vehicle needs the level to removing, the angular velocity that corresponds the rotor needs to reduce. Although the lack of thrust from the rotor causes the drone to change direction, the upward force is not equal to the downward force, so the drone will descend; in addition, the rotor of level placement makes the whole removal of unmanned aerial vehicle on the horizontal direction need overcome more resistance to can have the restriction to unmanned aerial vehicle's flying speed, also draw down its duration.

In view of this, the low flying speed and the insufficient endurance are important factors that restrict the development of the unmanned aerial vehicle. The strongest endurance of the existing unmanned aerial vehicle in China is only about 30 minutes on average, the speed is about 100km/h or less, and a certain gap exists between the current unmanned aerial vehicle and the use requirement.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an unmanned aerial vehicle with a retractable rotor and a control system thereof, which can improve the flight speed and cruising ability of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

Particularly, the wing pieces of the rotor wing of the unmanned aerial vehicle are provided with the telescopic parts, so that the wing pieces can be unfolded or contracted according to requirements, and the whole volume of the rotor wing is reduced, the space is saved and the resistance is reduced under the condition that the wing pieces are contracted; under the wing expansion state, increase merit power improves energy conversion rate to unmanned aerial vehicle's duration and flying speed can be improved.

In addition, the unmanned aerial vehicle adopts a streamlined integral structure and is provided with the wings, so that the pressure difference generated by the wings can be utilized to reduce the flight resistance, increase the lifting force and improve the cruising ability. And furthermore, the wings are provided with telescopic ailerons, so that the ailerons can be unfolded or folded as required, the resistance during take-off is reduced, and the suspension force during suspension is increased, thereby reducing the overall energy loss of the unmanned aerial vehicle and improving the endurance. The integral structure of the unmanned aerial vehicle can increase the space for storing fuel or electric power of the whole unmanned aerial vehicle, so that the cruising ability is improved.

According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a drone comprising: a main body portion; and a plurality of rotors, a plurality of rotors respectively through adapting unit set up in the main part, wherein, the fin of every rotor in a plurality of rotors all has scalable portion.

Further, the main body portion includes: a trunk portion; a tail wing provided at a tail portion of the trunk portion; and wings disposed on both sides of the trunk; wherein the plurality of rotors are respectively provided to the head of the trunk, the wing, and the empennage.

Further, the wing is provided with an aileron capable of being deployed and stowed at the end of the wing body remote from the trunk.

Further, the ailerons are telescopically disposed inside the wing body.

Further, the aileron is connected to the wing body of the wing by an aileron connection and is rotatable relative to the wing body about the aileron connection to rotate between an upright position and a continuous position with the wing body.

Further, the plurality of rotors are respectively fixed coaxially with the corresponding rotor driving parts, and are relatively fixedly connected with one end of the connecting part via a driving part housing of the rotor driving part; and the other end of the connecting member is pivotably connected to the main body portion so that the rotor driving portion connected to the one end of the connecting member and the rotor can integrally rotate.

Further, the connecting member is pivotable between a first position and a second position, and wherein, when the drone is vertically elevated, the connecting member pivots to the first position causing the rotor to rotate in a horizontal plane; and when the drone moves horizontally, the connection member pivots to the second position such that the rotor rotates in a vertical plane perpendicular to a fore-aft direction of the drone.

Another aspect of the present invention provides an unmanned aerial vehicle control system, including: the drone of one of the previous aspects; a controller; and a rotor extension actuator, the controller controlling the rotor extension actuator to actuate to extend or retract the retractable portion of the wing of the rotor.

Further, the unmanned aerial vehicle control system may further include: an aileron telescoping actuator, the controller controlling the aileron telescoping actuator to actuate to deploy or stow the aileron.

Further, the unmanned aerial vehicle control system may further include: a rotor steering actuator, the controller controlling the rotor turning actuator to actuate to pivot the link member about the other end to change a plane of rotation of the rotor therein.

The technical solutions of the present invention will be described in further detail below with reference to the drawings and preferred embodiments of the present invention, and the advantageous effects of the present invention will be further apparent.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the invention without limiting the invention.

Fig. 1 is a schematic top view of the overall construction of a drone during ascent and descent according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic side view of the overall construction of a drone during ascent and descent according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural view of a rotor of a drone according to a preferred embodiment of the invention in a deployed state;

fig. 4 is a schematic side view of the overall construction of a drone during horizontal movement according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic front view of the overall configuration of a drone during horizontal movement according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a variation of the drone according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solution of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the specific embodiments of the present invention and the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the described embodiments are only a few of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Embodiments of the drone of the present invention are described below in conjunction with fig. 1-6.

Fig. 1 is a schematic top view of the overall construction of a drone during ascent and descent according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 is a schematic side view of the overall construction of a drone during ascent and descent according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. Fig. 3 is a schematic structural view of a rotor of a drone according to a preferred embodiment of the invention in a deployed state. Fig. 4 is a schematic side view of the overall configuration of a drone during horizontal movement according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. Fig. 5 is a schematic front view of the overall configuration of the unmanned aerial vehicle during horizontal movement according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a variation of the drone according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

For convenience of explanation, the ascending and descending direction of the drone is hereinafter referred to as the up-down direction, the direction in which the drone advances and retreats is referred to as the front-rear direction, and the left-right direction of the drone is referred to as the left-right direction, which are orthogonal to each other.

It should be noted that the drawings are only for illustrating the basic configuration of the unmanned aerial vehicle of the present invention, and the specific scale thereof may be slightly different from the actual situation, and is not intended to limit the size and the like of the unmanned aerial vehicle of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 1, the unmanned aerial vehicle 1 according to the present invention includes: a main body part having a trunk part 20, wings 21, and a tail 22; and a plurality of rotors (4 in this embodiment) 11, 12, 13, and 14.

The configuration of each part of the unmanned aerial vehicle 1 will be described in detail below.

The body portion 20 is formed in a streamline shape as a whole, and wings 21 are provided on both left and right sides of the body portion. The upper side of the wing 21 is convex in shape and the lower side is flat in shape, so that pressure difference is generated to reduce flight resistance, and upward lifting force is generated to improve the lifting force of the airplane in the lifting process.

The rear wing 22 is provided at the rear side in the front-rear direction of the trunk 20, i.e., at the tail of the drone.

Among them, the rear wing 22 may be preferably formed in a frame shape as shown in fig. 1 and 2. Each having a side plate portion 221 and a beam portion 222. Here, the both side plate portions 221 are formed to extend from the trunk portion 20 to the left and right sides and to be formed in a substantially triangular plate shape (or a trapezoidal shape), and after extending by a predetermined length, extend in a front-rear direction to be a rectangular plate shape (see fig. 1 and 2), thereby forming a space S between the both side plate portions 221. The beam portion 222 is formed to straddle between the side plate portions 221 at the rear ends of the side plate portions 221 in the front-rear direction. Preferably, the beam portion 222 is provided at the following positions in the up-down direction: so that the rotor 14 connected to the beam portion 222 by the connecting member 34 as described later is located at substantially the same height position as the other rotors 11, 12, and 13.

The shape of the tail fin 22 is not limited thereto, and the both side plate portions 221 may be formed in a shape of, for example, a triangular plate shape extending to both sides, or the like, and is not limited by features as long as it can extend to both sides so that a space S is formed between the both side plate portions 221 with the beam portion 222 being astride therebetween.

The plurality of rotors 11, 12, 13, and 14 are respectively provided on the main body portion of the drone, specifically, the front portion in the rear direction of the trunk portion 20 (i.e., the head portion of the drone), a position near the end of the wing 21 away from the trunk portion 20, and substantially the center of the beam portion 222 of the tail 22.

As shown in fig. 3, the wings 31 of each of the plurality of rotors 11, 12, 13, and 14 have a stretchable and contractible portion 32 at the tip of the wing. The stretchable and contractible portion 32 can be extended or retracted from the wing 31.

Specifically, for example, the stretchable and contractible portion 32 may be provided inside the flap 31, and extend from the inside of the flap 31 and retract to the inside of the flap 31. Alternatively, the stretchable and contractible portion 32 may be provided on an upper surface or a lower surface of the wing 31 and be capable of being extended and retracted from the upper surface or the lower surface by sliding. Here, the form in which the stretchable and contractible portion 32 is provided on the wing 31 is not particularly limited as long as the stretchable and contractible portion 32 can be stretched and contracted with respect to the wing 31.

When the unmanned plane takes off or needs to increase power, the telescopic part 32 can extend out of the wing 31 to be in a wing unfolding state; when the drone is suspended in the air or power needs to be reduced, the retractable portion 32 may be retracted from the wings 31 to be in the wing retracted state. Therefore, under the condition that the wing pieces are contracted, the whole volume of the rotor wing is reduced, the space is saved, and the resistance is reduced; under the wing expansion state, increase merit power improves energy conversion rate to unmanned aerial vehicle's duration and flying speed can be improved.

As an example, in the case of retracting the retractable portion 32, if it is desired to compensate for the effect of the power reduction, the speed of rotation of the rotor may be relatively increased to compensate for the shortened blade length.

The following describes a specific structure of the rotor wing provided on the unmanned aerial vehicle, taking the rotor wing 11 as an example.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 2 (for convenience of illustration, the right rotor located inside the paper is omitted for convenience of illustration and observation, and the basic configuration of the right rotor is substantially the same as that of the left rotor), the wings of the rotor 11(12, 13, and 14) are coaxially connected and fixed to the drive mechanism 16 (e.g., an engine) via drive shafts, and the housing of the drive mechanism 16 is connected to the front portion of the trunk portion 20 via the connecting member 31(32, 33, and 34). Here, the housing of the drive mechanism 16 is connected to the connecting member 31 in a relatively fixed manner, and the connecting member 31 is connected to the main body portion (the trunk portion 20) in a pivotable manner, that is, the connecting member 31 can pivot about an end portion connected to the trunk portion to pivot between a first position, which is a horizontal position (see fig. 2) for rotating the rotor 11 in a horizontal plane, and a second position, which is a vertical position (see fig. 4) for rotating the rotor 11 in a vertical plane perpendicular to the front-rear direction of the drone.

For example, when the drone takes off, the connecting members 31, 32, 33 and 34 pivot to a first position, causing the plurality of rotors 11, 12, 13 and 14 to rotate in a horizontal plane. Preferably, the respective planes of rotation of the plurality of rotors 11, 12, 13 and 14 are located at the same height, i.e., the plurality of rotors 11, 12, 13 and 14 rotate in the same horizontal plane.

When the drone has been lifted to a predetermined height and movement in the horizontal direction is required, the connecting members 31, 32, 33 and 34 are pivoted to the second position so that the plurality of rotors 11, 12, 13 and 14 rotate in a vertical plane perpendicular to the fore-aft direction of the drone.

Similarly to rotor 11, rotors 12 and 13 are arranged on wing 21 and can be translated from rotation in the horizontal plane to rotation in the vertical plane perpendicular to the fore-aft direction of the drone.

When the rotors 11, 12, and 13 are rotated to rotate in the vertical plane, since the housing of the drive mechanism 16 extends in the front-rear direction at this time (see fig. 4), in order to prevent the drive mechanism from possibly interfering with the trunk 20 or the wings 21, recesses may be provided at positions of the trunk 20 and the wings 21 that are opposite to the drive mechanism 16 to accommodate the housing of the drive mechanism 16.

When the rotor 14 is rotated to rotate in the vertical plane, the rotor 14 can rotate in the space S without any interference with the tail wing due to the large space S formed between the both side plate portions 221.

Note that the tail wing 22 is not limited to the configuration described above, and the shape of the both side plate portions is not particularly limited as long as a space S large enough to allow the rotor 14 to rotate in the vertical plane without interfering with the tail wing 22 can be formed.

Through the pivotable setting of such adapting unit, can realize the change of the rotation plane of rotor to can become vertical plane internal rotation from the horizontal plane internal rotation, thereby for the removal (moving about around) in unmanned aerial vehicle's the horizontal plane provide sufficient power, improve flying speed and then improve duration.

It is further preferred that the wings 21 of the drone of an embodiment of the present invention have ailerons 211.

Specifically, the aileron 211 may be formed to be connected to the wing 21 by an aileron connection, for example, as shown in fig. 5, and the aileron 211 can be rotated about the aileron connection to rotate between a continuous position (see the position shown by the solid line in fig. 5) continuous with the wing 21 and an upright position (see the position shown by the broken line in fig. 5) erected upward.

It is noted that in fig. 5, the illustration of the tail of the drone is omitted, i.e. the empennage 22 and the rotor 14 are not shown, in view of the front view in which the tail is substantially hidden.

Further, the aileron 211 is not limited to being connected to the wing 21 by an aileron connection as described above, as another example, the aileron 211 may be retracted inside the wing 21 and extended from the inside of the wing 21 or retracted from the extended state to the inside of the wing 21 as desired.

According to the unmanned aerial vehicle disclosed by the embodiment of the invention, the ailerons can be unfolded or folded as required, the ailerons are folded during takeoff so as to reduce the resistance during takeoff, and the ailerons are unfolded during suspension so as to increase the suspension force during suspension, so that the overall energy loss of the unmanned aerial vehicle is reduced, and the cruising ability is improved.

In addition, the overall structure of the unmanned aerial vehicle adopts the traditional streamline structure, so that the space for storing fuel or electric power of the whole unmanned aerial vehicle can be increased, and the cruising ability is improved.

Only one preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, and as a modification, as shown in fig. 6, it is different from the previously described embodiment only in that the drone may have the shape of a tail of conventional construction, as shown in fig. 6, with left and right side tails 22', and a vertical tail 23, and the rotor 14 is provided on the vertical tail 23.

In this case, the rotor 14 on the vertical tail 23 can be fixedly arranged on the vertical tail 23 without being rotated relative to the vertical tail. This is because the rotor 14, if rotated, may interfere with the vertical tail.

Therefore, when the drone is vertically lifted, the rotor 14 rotates to generate vertical lifting force; when the drone moves horizontally, the rotor 14 stops driving and the retractable portion of the rotor 14 is retracted to minimize drag.

The above describes an embodiment and a modification of the specific configuration of the drone of the present invention, and another embodiment of the present invention also provides a drone control system.

The drone control system is for controlling the drone as described hereinbefore.

Specifically, the drone control system includes a controller, a rotor extension actuator, a rotor steering actuator, and a aileron extension actuator.

Specifically, the controller controls the rotor extension actuator to actuate so as to extend or retract the telescopic portion of the wing piece of the rotor. The controller controls the rotor rotation actuator to actuate to pivot the connecting member about the end of the connecting member that is connected to the main body of the drone, thereby changing the plane of rotation in which the rotor rotates. The controller controls the actuation of the aileron telescoping actuator to deploy or stow the aileron.

The above description is only an example of the present application and is not intended to limit the present invention, and it is obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the scope of the claims of the present invention.