阅读说明：本技术 一种消防无人机 (Fire control unmanned aerial vehicle ) 是由 刘慧云 于 2021-01-14 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开了一种消防无人机,涉及无人机技术领域,该一种消防无人机,包括设备箱,设备箱的内部设置有控制装置和驱动装置,设备箱的底部固定安装有消防箱,设备箱的侧壁上环形固定安装有驱动杆,驱动杆远离设备箱一端顶部活动安装有驱动扇叶,设备箱的外侧设置有套环,套环的底部固定安装有受击胶板,在本发明中,该消防无人机,当该无人机飞行至森林大火区域时,通过火焰燃烧产生的气流差异对无人机进行冲击时,通过无人机上的受击胶板使得冲击气流会对无人机冲击,从而使得受击胶板产生适配的凹陷形变,从而使得无人机通过受击胶板产生的适配形变力进行适配偏移,从而避免因气流冲击导致无人机无法操控或者坠落的情况发生。(The invention discloses a fire-fighting unmanned aerial vehicle, which relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicles and comprises an equipment box, wherein a control device and a driving device are arranged in the equipment box, the bottom of the equipment box is fixedly provided with a fire-fighting box, the side wall of the equipment box is annularly and fixedly provided with a driving rod, the top of one end, far away from the equipment box, of the driving rod is movably provided with a driving fan blade, the outer side of the equipment box is provided with a lantern ring, and the bottom of the lantern ring is fixedly provided with a struck rubber plate, thereby avoid leading to the unable condition of controlling or falling of unmanned aerial vehicle to take place because of the air current strikes.)

1. The utility model provides a fire control unmanned aerial vehicle, includes equipment box (1), and the inside of equipment box (1) is provided with controlling means and drive arrangement, the bottom fixed mounting of equipment box (1) has fire hose (2), annular fixed mounting has actuating lever (3) on the lateral wall of equipment box (1), actuating lever (3) are kept away from equipment box (1) one end top movable mounting and are had drive flabellum (4), its characterized in that: the outside of equipment box (1) is provided with the lantern ring (5), the bottom fixed mounting of the lantern ring (5) has hit offset plate (6), the inboard fixed mounting that corresponds drive fan blade (4) that hits offset plate (6) has pocket board (7).

2. A fire fighting unmanned aerial vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein: the inside of fire hose (2) is provided with drive shaft (8), and the top of drive shaft (8) is run through the top wall of fire hose (2) and the bottom of equipment box (1) and is corresponded the position wall and extend to the inside and the mutual fixed connection of equipment box (1) internal drive device output shaft of equipment box (1), the bottom fixed mounting of drive shaft (8) has driving-disc (9), the size and the inboard big or small looks adaptation of fire hose (2) of driving-disc (9), annular gap fixed mounting has four groups of fire control section of thick bamboo (10) on the bottom wall of driving-disc (9), and the bottom wall that the inside of a fire control section of thick bamboo (10) runs through driving-disc (9) and regional intercommunication in driving-disc (9) top.

3. A fire fighting unmanned aerial vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein: seted up on the inboard bottom wall of fire hose (2) and sunk groove (11), sunk groove (11) width size and the diameter size looks adaptation of a fire control section of thick bamboo (10), the inboard bottom of sinking groove (11) corresponds position wall and goes up annular gap and has seted up four groups and arrange groove (12), arranges that groove (12) run through the bottom of fire hose (2) and corresponds position wall and communicate each other with fire hose (2) bottom region, movable groove (13) have been seted up to the bottom wall central point of fire hose (2).

4. A fire fighting unmanned aerial vehicle as defined in claim 3, wherein: the inside of movable groove (13) is provided with activity ball (14), fixed mounting has restriction fly leaf (15) on the inboard position bottom wall that corresponds movable groove (13) of fire hose (2), and restriction fly leaf (15) are globular arc platelike, infiltration groove (16) have been seted up to the top clearance of restriction fly leaf (15), fixed mounting has interior limiting plate (17) on the outside wall of restriction fly leaf (15), the inboard lateral wall top position annular gap fixed mounting of interior limiting plate (17) has restriction awl (18), fire control section of thick bamboo (10) are close to and are provided with on interior limiting plate (17) one end corresponds the position wall and adjust pole (19).

5. A fire fighting unmanned aerial vehicle as defined in claim 4, wherein: activity ball (14) are including main ball (20), transfer groove (21), deformation offset plate (22), gag lever post (23), through-hole (24), withhold board (25) and impact ball (26), main ball (20) are spherical massive, the inside of main ball (20) is the cavity form, transfer groove (21) annular to set up on the lateral wall below position of main ball (20), transfer corresponding position wall and the inside intercommunication each other of main ball (20) that groove (21) run through main ball (20), gag lever post (23) annular gap fixed mounting is on the inboard top and the bottom corresponding position wall of transferring groove (21), deformation offset plate (22) fixed mounting is on the inboard top and the bottom wall of transferring groove (21).

6. A fire fighting unmanned aerial vehicle as defined in claim 5, wherein: the through hole (24) is arranged in the center of the bottom wall surface of the main ball (20), the through hole (24) penetrates through the bottom wall surface of the main ball (20) and is communicated with the inside of the main ball (20), the buckling plate (25) is in a circular arc rubber block shape, the buckling plate (25) is fixedly arranged on the wall surface of the inner side of the main ball (20) corresponding to the position of the through hole (24), the striking ball (26) is in a spherical block shape, and the striking ball (26) is arranged inside the main ball (20).

7. A fire fighting unmanned aerial vehicle as defined in claim 4, wherein: a fire control section of thick bamboo (10) lateral wall corresponds the position of adjusting pole (19) and has seted up adjustment tank (27), adjusts pole (19) and corresponds position one end and extend to the inside of adjustment tank (27), and adjusts pole (19) and be located and seted up circular form slotted hole on adjustment tank (27) inboard lateral wall, fixed mounting has adjusting branch (28) on the inboard both sides lateral wall of adjustment tank (27), adjusts pole (19) and passes through the mutual swing joint of adjusting branch (28) in lateral wall circular slotted hole and adjustment tank (27).

8. A fire fighting unmanned aerial vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein: the lantern ring (5) is in a circular ring block shape, the lantern ring (5) is fixedly connected with the equipment box (1) through a connecting rod, the outer side position of the lantern ring (5) corresponds to the position of the driving fan blade (4), the lantern ring (5) is located below the driving rod (3), the hit rubber plate (6) is a circular-arc funnel-shaped rubber plate, and one end of the hit rubber plate (6) is far away from the lantern ring (5) and is fixedly installed on the outer side corresponding position wall face of the equipment box (1).

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicles, in particular to a fire-fighting unmanned aerial vehicle.

Background

A drone is an unmanned flying device for radio remote control, widely used in various fields and the like, while a fire-fighting drone is generally mainly used for operations of investigation and auxiliary fire extinguishing, generally used for a wide range of outdoor fires, such as: forest fires; and owing to take place the conflagration, near the near air current of flame flows miscellaneous unmanned aerial vehicle and has received the air current when flight and assault, leads to unmanned aerial vehicle can't control or the condition of falling takes place, for this reason, we provide a fire control unmanned aerial vehicle.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a fire-fighting unmanned aerial vehicle to solve the problems in the background technology.

In order to achieve the purpose, the invention provides the following technical scheme: the utility model provides a fire control unmanned aerial vehicle, includes the equipment box, and the inside of equipment box is provided with controlling means and drive arrangement, the bottom fixed mounting of equipment box has the fire hose, annular fixed mounting has the actuating lever on the lateral wall of equipment box, the actuating lever is kept away from equipment box one end top movable mounting and is driven the flabellum, the outside of equipment box is provided with the lantern ring, the bottom fixed mounting of the lantern ring has the offset plate of hitting, the inboard that hits the offset plate corresponds the position fixed mounting that drives the flabellum and has a pocket board.

Preferably, the inside of fire hose is provided with the drive shaft, and the top wall that the top of drive shaft runs through the fire hose and the bottom of equipment box corresponds the position wall and extends to the inside of equipment box and the mutual fixed connection of equipment incasement portion drive arrangement output shaft, the bottom fixed mounting of drive shaft has the driving-disc, the size of driving-disc and the inboard big or small looks adaptation of fire hose, annular gap fixed mounting has four groups of fire control section of thick bamboos on the bottom wall of driving-disc, and the bottom wall that the inside of a fire control section of thick bamboo runs through the driving-disc and the regional intercommunication in driving-.

Preferably, the inner bottom wall of the fire box is provided with a sinking groove, the width of the sinking groove is matched with the diameter of the fire-fighting cylinder, the inner bottom of the sinking groove is provided with four groups of discharge grooves in the corresponding position wall of the annular gap, the discharge grooves penetrate through the bottom corresponding position wall of the fire box and are communicated with the bottom area of the fire box, and the center of the bottom wall of the fire box is provided with a movable groove.

Preferably, the inside of activity groove is provided with the movable ball, fixed mounting has the restriction fly leaf on the position bottom wall of the inboard correspondence activity groove of fire hose, and the restriction fly leaf is globular arc plate-shaped, the infiltration groove has been seted up to the top clearance of restriction fly leaf, fixed mounting has interior limiting plate on the outside wall of restriction fly leaf, the inboard lateral wall top position annular gap fixed mounting of interior limiting plate has the restriction awl, the fire control section of thick bamboo is provided with the regulation pole on being close to interior limiting plate one end correspondence position wall.

Preferably, the activity ball includes the main ball, transfers groove, deformation offset plate, restriction lever, through-hole, withhold board and striking ball, and the main ball is spherical cubic, and the inside of main ball is the cavity form, transfers the annular of groove to offer on the lateral wall below position of main ball, transfers the groove to run through the corresponding position wall and the inside intercommunication each other of main ball, and restriction lever annular clearance fixed mounting corresponds on the position wall in the inboard top and the bottom of transferring the groove, and deformation offset plate fixed mounting is on transferring the inboard top and the bottom wall in groove.

Preferably, the through hole is arranged in the center of the bottom wall surface of the main ball, the through hole penetrates through the bottom wall surface of the main ball and is communicated with the inside of the main ball, the buckling plate is in a circular arc rubber block shape, the buckling plate is fixedly arranged on the wall surface of the inner side of the main ball corresponding to the through hole, the impact ball is in a spherical block shape, and the impact ball is arranged in the main ball.

Preferably, the fire-fighting barrel side wall is provided with an adjusting groove corresponding to the position of the adjusting rod, one end of the adjusting rod corresponding to the position extends into the adjusting groove, the adjusting rod is positioned on the side wall on the inner side of the adjusting groove and is provided with a circular groove hole, adjusting support rods are fixedly mounted on the side walls on the two sides of the inner side of the adjusting groove, and the adjusting rod is movably connected with the adjusting support rods in the adjusting groove through the circular groove hole on the side wall.

Preferably, the lantern ring is in a circular ring block shape, the lantern ring is fixedly connected with the equipment box through a connecting rod, the outer side position of the lantern ring corresponds to the position of the driving fan blade, the lantern ring is located at the position below the driving rod, the hit rubber plate is a circular-arc funnel-shaped rubber plate, and one end, far away from the lantern ring, of the hit rubber plate is fixedly installed on the wall surface of the corresponding position on the outer side of the equipment box.

Compared with the prior art, the invention has the beneficial effects that:

(1) this fire control unmanned aerial vehicle, when this unmanned aerial vehicle flies to the forest fire region, when the air current difference that produces through the flame burning strikes unmanned aerial vehicle, make to strike the offset plate through the receiving on the unmanned aerial vehicle and strike the air current and can strike unmanned aerial vehicle, thereby make and strike the sunken deformation that the offset plate produced the adaptation, thereby make unmanned aerial vehicle carry out the adaptation skew through the adaptation deformation power that the offset plate produced that receives, thereby avoid leading to the unable condition of controlling or falling of unmanned aerial vehicle to take place because of the air current strikes.

(2) This fire control unmanned aerial vehicle, when the air current causes the impact influence to receiving the offset plate, the impact through the air current makes receiving the offset plate to produce deformation, thereby make the extrusion deformation that corresponds position pocket board and produce the adaptation, thereby make pocket board produce the ascending air current of rule, thereby make drive flabellum receive and come from below position air current intensity and strike, thereby make when unmanned aerial vehicle receives the air current and strike, unmanned aerial vehicle can be autonomic carry out ascending pulling, thereby greatly reduced unmanned aerial vehicle leads to the condition of damage to take place because of the air current influence.

(3) This fire control unmanned aerial vehicle, when unmanned aerial vehicle receives the skew of air current impact production position, make the inside movable ball of fire hose carry out the rotation of adaptation in the movable groove inside through unmanned aerial vehicle's skew, thereby make the fire extinguishing agent that interior restrictor plate inboard corresponds the position outwards discharge through the clearance between movable groove and the movable ball, and when unmanned aerial vehicle receives the air current impact production skew, the unmanned aerial vehicle can carry out appropriate amount fire extinguishing agent to the direction of impact and discharge, thereby reduce the conflagration to unmanned aerial vehicle's restriction.

(4) This fire control unmanned aerial vehicle, when the activity ball produced the skew in the activity inslot portion, the rotation through the activity ball makes on the activity ball on the main ball bottom lateral wall deformation offset plate rotatory to the top position, thereby make fire extinguishing agent can produce the gravity restriction on the deformation offset plate, thereby make main ball inner space compressed, thereby make the impact ball to the cramp plate extrude, thereby make fire extinguishing agent can carry out the diffusion formula when arranging outward through the activity groove and discharge, thereby improve fire extinguishing agent coverage.

(5) This fire control unmanned aerial vehicle, when unmanned aerial vehicle prepares when putting out a fire the operation, rotate through the inside drive arrangement control drive shaft of equipment box, thereby make the fire extinguishing agent in the inside fire control section of thick bamboo of drive shaft be interrupted and sink down the groove on and open, thereby make the fire extinguishing agent on the unmanned aerial vehicle can be interrupted and outwards transmit, thereby make the unmanned aerial vehicle chance carry out once or many times the operation of putting out a fire that is interrupted, make the fire source more accurate quilt extinguish, thereby improve unmanned aerial vehicle fire extinguishing efficiency.

(6) This fire control unmanned aerial vehicle drives a fire control section of thick bamboo through the drive shaft and rotates to make the restriction awl with adjust the pole and be interrupted the contact, thereby make the restriction awl promote to adjust the pole and be interrupted and open, with a fire control section of thick bamboo inside part fire extinguishing agent intercepting to interior limiting plate inside, limiting plate inside fire extinguishing agent micro-storage in the control, thereby the inside fire extinguishing agent of limiting plate too much leads to the movable ball can't open or accomplish the condition emergence of diffusion operation in avoiding.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the overall structure of a fire-fighting unmanned aerial vehicle according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a portion of the fire box of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a partial structure of a movable ball according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a portion of the fire fighting barrel of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a partial structure of the trap of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a partial structure of the rubber plate under impact according to the present invention.

In the figure: 1 equipment box, 2 fire-fighting boxes, 3 driving rods, 4 driving fan blades, 5 lantern rings, 6 impacted rubber plates, 7 bags of plates, 8 driving shafts, 9 driving disks, 10 fire-fighting cylinders, 11 sunken grooves, 12 rows of grooves, 13 movable grooves, 14 movable balls, 15 limiting movable plates, 16 seepage grooves, 17 inner limiting plates, 18 limiting cones, 19 adjusting rods, 20 main balls, 21 adjusting grooves, 22 deformation rubber plates, 23 limiting rods, 24 through holes, 25 buckling plates, 26 impacted balls, 27 adjusting grooves and 28 adjusting support rods.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the 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.

Referring to fig. 1-6, the present invention provides a technical solution: a fire-fighting unmanned aerial vehicle comprises an equipment box 1, a control device and a driving device are arranged inside the equipment box 1, a fire-fighting box 2 is fixedly arranged at the bottom of the equipment box 1, the interior of the fire-fighting box 2 is hollow, a driving rod 3 is fixedly arranged on the side wall of the equipment box 1 in an annular shape, a driving fan blade 4 is movably arranged at the top of one end, away from the equipment box 1, of the driving rod 3, the driving fan blade 4 is driven to rotate through the control device and the driving device inside the equipment box 1, a lantern ring 5 is arranged on the outer side of the equipment box 1, the lantern ring 5 is in a circular ring shape block shape, the lantern ring 5 is fixedly connected with the equipment box 1 through a connecting rod, the outer side position of the lantern ring 5 corresponds to the position of the driving fan blade 4, the lantern ring 5 is positioned below the driving rod 3, a hit rubber plate 6 is fixedly arranged at the bottom of the lantern ring 5, the hit rubber plate 6 is a circular arc funnel, the inner side of the hit rubber plate 6 is fixedly provided with a pocket plate 7 corresponding to the position of the driving fan blade 4, and the pocket plate 7 is in a circular arc rubber block shape.

The fire fighting box 2 is internally provided with a driving shaft 8, the top of the driving shaft 8 penetrates through the top wall surface of the fire fighting box 2 and the wall surface at the corresponding position at the bottom of the equipment box 1 and extends to the inside of the equipment box 1 to be fixedly connected with an output shaft of a driving device in the equipment box 1, the bottom of the driving shaft 8 is fixedly provided with a driving disc 9, the driving disc 9 is in a circular block shape, the size of the driving disc 9 is matched with the size of the inner side of the fire fighting box 2, four groups of fire fighting cylinders 10 are fixedly arranged on the bottom wall surface of the driving disc 9 in annular gaps, the fire fighting cylinders 10 are in a circular cylindrical shape, the inner part of each fire fighting cylinder 10 penetrates through the bottom wall surface of the driving disc 9 and is mutually communicated with the area above the driving disc 9, the bottom wall surface at the inner side of the fire fighting box 2 is provided with a sinking groove 11, the sinking groove 11 is, the row groove 12 penetrates through the wall surface at the corresponding position at the bottom of the fire box 2 and is communicated with the bottom area of the fire box 2, the central position of the bottom wall surface of the fire box 2 is provided with a movable groove 13, the movable groove 13 is a spherical arc groove hole, a movable ball 14 is arranged inside the movable groove 13, the bottom wall surface at the position corresponding to the movable groove 13 at the inner side of the fire box 2 is fixedly provided with a limiting movable plate 15, the limiting movable plate 15 is a spherical arc plate, the top gap of the limiting movable plate 15 is provided with a seepage groove 16, the outer side wall surface of the limiting movable plate 15 is fixedly provided with an inner limiting plate 17, the inner limiting plate 17 is a funnel-shaped plate, the inner limiting plate 17 gradually widens from bottom to top, an annular gap at the upper part of the inner side wall of the inner limiting plate 17 is fixedly provided with a limiting cone 18, the limiting cone 18 is, the number and the positions of the adjusting rods 19 are matched with those of the limiting cones 18 on the inner limiting plate 17.

The movable ball 14 comprises a main ball 20, a regulating groove 21, a deformation rubber plate 22, a limiting rod 23, a through hole 24, a buckling plate 25 and an impact ball 26, wherein the main ball 20 is in a spherical block shape, the inside of the main ball 20 is hollow, the regulating groove 21 is annularly arranged at the position below the side wall of the main ball 20, the regulating groove 21 penetrates through the wall surface at the corresponding position of the main ball 20 and is communicated with the inside of the main ball 20, the limiting rod 23 is fixedly arranged at the wall surface at the corresponding position of the top and the bottom of the inner side of the regulating groove 21 in an annular clearance manner, the deformation rubber plate 22 is fixedly arranged at the top and the bottom of the inner side of the regulating groove 21, the through hole 24 is arranged at the center position of the bottom wall of the main ball 20, the through hole 24 penetrates through the bottom wall surface of the main ball 20 and is communicated with the inside of the main ball 20, the buckling plate 25 is in a circular arc rubber block shape, the, wherein the impact ball 26 is in the shape of a spherical block and the impact ball 26 is disposed inside the main ball 20.

The position of the side wall of the fire-fighting barrel 10 corresponding to the adjusting rod 19 is provided with an adjusting groove 27, one end of the adjusting rod 19 corresponding to the position extends to the inside of the adjusting groove 27, the adjusting rod 19 is positioned on the inner side wall of the adjusting groove 27 and is provided with a circular groove hole, adjusting support rods 28 are fixedly mounted on the side walls of two inner sides of the adjusting groove 27, and the adjusting rod 19 is movably connected with the adjusting support rods 28 in the adjusting groove 27 through the circular groove hole of the side wall.

The working principle is as follows:

when using, make through controlling the drive and fly through multiunit drive flabellum 4 drive arrangement, when this unmanned aerial vehicle flies to the forest big fire region, when the air current difference that produces through flame burning strikes unmanned aerial vehicle, make the impact air current can strike unmanned aerial vehicle through hitting on the unmanned aerial vehicle offset plate 6, thereby make and hit the sunken deformation that offset plate 6 produced the adaptation, thereby make unmanned aerial vehicle carry out the adaptation skew through the adaptation deformation power that hits offset plate 6 production, thereby avoid leading to unmanned aerial vehicle can't control or the condition emergence of falling because of the air current strikes.

When the air current causes the impact influence to being hit offset plate 6, make to be hit offset plate 6 and produce deformation through the impact of air current, thereby make the extrusion deformation that corresponds position pocket board 7 and produce the adaptation, thereby make pocket board 7 produce the ascending air current of rule, thereby make drive flabellum 4 receive and come from below position air current intensity impact, thereby make when unmanned aerial vehicle receives the air current impact, unmanned aerial vehicle can be autonomic carry out ascending pulling, thereby greatly reduced unmanned aerial vehicle leads to the condition of damage to take place because of the air current influence.

When unmanned aerial vehicle receives the skew of air current impact production position, make the inside movable ball 14 of fire hose 2 inside carry out the rotation of adaptation in movable groove 13 inside through unmanned aerial vehicle's skew to make the fire extinguishing agent of the inboard corresponding position of interior restrictor plate 17 outwards discharge through the clearance between movable groove 13 and the movable ball 14, and when unmanned aerial vehicle receives the air current impact production skew, the unmanned aerial vehicle can carry out appropriate amount fire extinguishing agent to the direction of impact and discharge, thereby reduce the restriction of conflagration to unmanned aerial vehicle.

When activity ball 14 produced the skew in activity groove 13 inside, the rotatory deformation offset plate 22 that makes on the activity ball 14 on the main ball 20 bottom lateral wall of activity ball 14 rotates to the top position through the rotation of activity ball 14 to make the fire extinguishing agent produce the gravity restriction on deformation offset plate 22, thereby make main ball 20 inner space compressed, thereby make impact ball 26 extrude cramping plate 25, thereby make the fire extinguishing agent can carry out the diffusion formula when arranging outward through activity groove 13 and discharge, thereby improve the fire extinguishing agent coverage.

When unmanned aerial vehicle prepares to put out a fire the operation, rotate through 1 inside drive arrangement control drive shaft 8 of equipment box, thereby make the fire extinguishing agent in the inside fire section of thick bamboo 10 of drive shaft 8 be interrupted and sink into groove 11 and go up row's groove 12 and open, thereby make the fire extinguishing agent on the unmanned aerial vehicle can be interrupted and outwards transmit, thereby make the unmanned aerial vehicle can carry out once or many times the operation of putting out a fire that is interrupted, make the more accurate quilt of burning things which may cause a fire to extinguish, thereby improve unmanned aerial vehicle fire extinguishing efficiency.

Drive a fire section of thick bamboo 10 through drive shaft 8 and rotate to make restriction awl 18 and regulation pole 19 break the contact, thereby make restriction awl 18 promote to adjust pole 19 and break and open, with a section of thick bamboo 10 inside fire extinguishing agent intercepting to interior limiting plate 17 inside, the inside fire extinguishing agent micro-storage of limiting plate 17 in the control, thereby avoid interior limiting plate 17 inside fire extinguishing agent too much to lead to movable ball 14 can't open or accomplish the condition emergence of diffusion operation.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.