Photoelectric composite cable for unmanned aerial vehicle and preparation method thereof

Abstract

The present invention application provides an optoelectronic composite cable for drones and a preparation method thereof, wherein the cable comprises an optical cable, an insulating core wire and a braided tensile coating sheath; the optical cable and the insulating core wire are twisted to form a cable core, and the braided tensile coating sheath covers a plurality of the cable cores; the conductor of the insulating core wire adopts a silver-plated copper-aluminum alloy, and the silver-plated copper-aluminum alloy comprises aluminum, copper, magnesium, iron and titanium elements. The optoelectronic composite cable for drones provided by the present invention and a preparation method thereof adopts a silver-plated copper-aluminum alloy as the conductor material of the insulating core wire, and the weight can be greatly reduced compared with the conventionally used coated copper conductor, and at the same time, it has good electrical conductivity, better adapts to the requirements of lightweight drones, and effectively improves the endurance of drones.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of telecommunication cables, and in particular to an optoelectronic composite cable for unmanned aerial vehicles and a preparation method thereof. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, drones have been increasingly used in military or civilian fields. my country's commercial drones have been at the forefront of the world, and various traditional and modern applications are constantly developing, which provides more convenience for people's production and life. With the expansion of the drone market, the functions are becoming more and more diversified, and they are widely used in search and rescue, public safety, agriculture and forestry, entertainment and other fields. However, the most fundamental problem of drones still needs further development, that is, the problem of drone endurance.

[0003] The endurance of a drone is closely related to energy technology and the structural characteristics of the drone itself. Under the same energy storage battery, the drone's endurance will inevitably be greatly improved by using a lighter fuselage as much as possible. In drones, optoelectronic composite cables are widely used cables, accounting for a considerable proportion of the fuselage weight. They connect the drone flight platform and the ground support system, and provide uninterrupted power supply and optical signal transmission. If it is possible to achieve lightweight while maintaining or even improving the optoelectronic signal transmission capability, the drone's endurance can be effectively improved. Summary of the invention

[0004] Based on this, it is necessary to provide an optoelectronic composite cable for drones and a preparation method thereof to address at least one of the above-mentioned problems.

[0005] In a first aspect, the present application provides an optoelectronic composite cable for a drone, comprising an optical cable, an insulating core wire and a braided tensile coating sheath; the optical cable and the insulating core wire are twisted to form a cable core, and the braided tensile coating sheath covers a plurality of the cable cores;

[0006] The conductor of the insulated core wire is made of silver-plated copper-aluminum alloy, which includes aluminum, copper, magnesium, zinc, zirconium and titanium elements. By mass fraction, Zn is 3% to 4%, Mg is 2% to 2.5%, Cu is 3.5% to 4%, Zr is 0.15% to 0.2%, Ti is 0.5% to 0.6%, and the balance is Al.

[0007] In certain implementations of the first aspect, the insulation layer is coated on the conductor by an extrusion process to form the insulated core wire.

[0008] In combination with the first aspect and the above-mentioned implementations, in some implementations of the first aspect, the material of the insulating layer is ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer.

[0009] In combination with the first aspect and the above-mentioned implementations, in some implementations of the first aspect, the braided tensile coating sheath includes a wrapping layer; the wrapping layer is made of polyester film and is wrapped around the cable core in a wrapping manner.

[0010] In combination with the first aspect and the above-mentioned implementation methods, in some implementation methods of the first aspect, the braided tensile coating protective layer also includes a braided layer and a coating layer, the coating material of the coating layer is a high temperature resistant composite latex paint, the coating layer is attached to the braided layer, and the material of the braided layer is para-aramid.

[0011] In combination with the first aspect and the above-mentioned implementations, in some implementations of the first aspect, the conductor is formed by a wire drawing process and a compact twisting process.

[0012] In a second aspect, the present application provides a method for preparing an optoelectronic composite cable for a drone as described in any one of the first aspects of the present application, comprising the following steps:

[0013] The conductor is formed by subjecting the aluminum alloy rod containing copper, magnesium, iron and titanium elements to a wire drawing annealing process, a silver electroplating process and a compact twisting process.

[0014] The ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer is coated on the conductor through an extrusion process to form an insulating core wire, and a plurality of insulating core wires are twisted with a two-core single-mode loose tube optical cable to form a cable core;

[0015] The polyester tape is wrapped on the cable core through a wrapping process; the braided tensile coating sheath is wrapped outside the wrapping layer to obtain an optoelectronic composite cable for drones.

[0016] In certain implementations of the second aspect, the step of forming the conductor includes: cleaning the conductor before wrapping, and after the ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer is fully melted in an extrusion device, extruding and tightly wrapping it on the conductor.

[0017] In combination with the second aspect and the above implementations, in some implementations of the second aspect, the step of wrapping the braided tensile coating sheath outside the wrapping layer includes:

[0018] High tensile strength and UV protection para-aramid is used for weaving to form a braided layer outside the wrapping layer;

[0019] The braided layer is coated with a high temperature resistant composite latex paint and then dried.

[0020] In combination with the second aspect and the above-mentioned implementations, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the paint film thickness of the high temperature resistant composite emulsion paint is 40 to 60 μm.

[0021] The technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present invention brings the following beneficial technical effects:

[0022] The present invention provides an optoelectronic composite cable for drones and a preparation method thereof. The optoelectronic composite cable for drones uses a silver-plated copper-aluminum alloy as the conductor material of the insulating core wire. Compared with conventionally used plated copper conductors, the weight can be greatly reduced. At the same time, it has good electrical conductivity, better adapts to the requirements of lightweight drones, and effectively improves the endurance of drones.

[0023] Additional aspects and advantages of the present application will be given in subsequent parts and will be understood in detail from the subsequent description or learned through specific implementations of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the cross-sectional structure of an optoelectronic composite cable for a drone in one embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 2 The figure is a schematic flow chart of a method for preparing an optoelectronic composite cable for a drone in one embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] Description of reference numerals:

[0027] 10-optical cable, 20-insulated core wire, 30-braided tensile coating sheath;

[0028] 21- conductor, 22- insulation layer, 31- wrapping layer, 32- braiding layer, 33- coating layer. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] In order to facilitate the understanding of the present invention, the present invention will be described more fully below with reference to the relevant drawings. Possible embodiments of the present invention are shown in the drawings. However, the present invention can be implemented in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein by the drawings. The embodiments described with reference to the drawings are exemplary and are used to make the understanding of the disclosure of the present invention more thorough and comprehensive, and cannot be interpreted as limiting the present invention. In addition, if the detailed description of the known technology is non-essential technology for the features of the present invention shown, these technical details may be omitted.

[0030] It will be understood by those skilled in the relevant art that, unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as those generally understood by those skilled in the art in the art to which the present invention belongs. It should also be understood that terms such as those defined in common dictionaries should be understood to have meanings consistent with those in the prior art, and will not be interpreted with idealized or overly formal meanings unless specifically defined as herein.

[0031] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that, unless otherwise stated, the singular forms "a", "an", "said" and "the" used herein may also include plural forms. It should be further understood that the term "comprising" used in the specification of the present application refers to the presence of the features, integers, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and / or groups thereof. It should be understood that the term "and / or" used herein includes all or any unit and all combinations of one or more associated listed items.

[0032] The technical solution of the present invention and how the technical solution solves the above-mentioned technical problems are described in detail below with specific embodiments.

[0033] The embodiment of the first aspect of the present application provides an optoelectronic composite cable for a drone, such as Figure 1 As shown, it includes an optical cable 10, an insulating core wire 20 and a braided tensile coating sheath 30; the optical cable 10 and the insulating core wire 20 are twisted to form a cable core, and the braided tensile coating sheath 30 covers a plurality of cable cores.

[0034] The conductor 21 of the insulated core wire 20 is made of a silver-plated copper-aluminum alloy, which includes aluminum, copper, magnesium, iron and titanium. The conductor 21 is a special high-strength silver-plated copper-aluminum alloy conductor 21, which contains a variety of trace alloy elements such as Cu, Mg, Fe, and Ti. In terms of mass fraction, Zn 3% to 4%, Mg 2% to 2.5%, Cu 3.5% to 4%, Zr 0.15% to 0.2%, Ti 0.5% to 0.6%, and the balance is Al. In a specific embodiment, the content of each element of the conductor is as follows:

[0035] Zn Mg Cu Zr Ti Al 3.31 2.057 3.8 0.151 0.59 margin

[0036] The conductor is made of aluminum ingots with a specification of 85*85mm. The conductor 21 is drawn by a large drawing machine and a tungsten steel alloy sizing die with an inner diameter of 0.40mm. The wire is drawn into a 0.40mm aluminum alloy monofilament. Due to the high chemical stability of silver, it has excellent acid and alkali corrosion resistance, flame resistance, aging resistance, and electrical conductivity. A 1.5μm silver layer is electroplated through the silver electroplating process to improve its conductivity. Its resistivity can be less than 0.0260Ω·mm 2 / m,. Then, the compact twisting process is carried out, and low-temperature aging and high-temperature aging annealing are required. Low-temperature pre-aging forms a large number of fine gp zones, which can be used as particle cores for conversion to η phase. High-temperature aging precipitates η phase inside the grains, reducing its aging time. The phase aggregation precipitated at the grain boundary still maintains a certain degree of continuity to ensure the high strength of this aluminum alloy conductor. The strength can be increased by more than 15% compared with the conventional aluminum conductor 21 and aluminum alloy conductor 21. The annealing steps and temperature zones are as follows:

[0037] Temperature ℃ Insulation time Other requirements 105～140 20～24 185～210 4～8 water quenching 105～140 20～35 air cooling 450～480 2

[0038] Therefore, the conductor has excellent conductivity and high mechanical strength. At the same time, due to the silver plating layer, its welding performance is good. At the same time, the optoelectronic composite cable for drones provided by the present invention and the preparation method thereof, the optoelectronic composite cable for drones uses silver-plated copper-aluminum alloy as the conductor 21 material of the insulating core wire 20, which can reduce the weight by more than 70% compared with the conventionally used plated copper conductor 21 and the conventionally used plated copper conductor 21 of wires and cables. At the same time, it has good electrical conductivity, better adapts to the requirements of lightweight drones, and effectively improves the endurance of drones.

[0039] Optionally, in some embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the insulating layer 22 is coated with the conductor 21 by an extrusion process to form an insulating core wire 20. In some implementations of some embodiments of the first aspect, the insulating layer 22 is made of ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer. The insulating layer 22 is made of ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer (ETFE), which is the toughest fluoroplastic. While maintaining the good heat resistance, chemical resistance and electrical insulation properties of polytetrafluoroethylene, ETFE has greatly improved radiation resistance and mechanical properties. As a partially crystalline polymer, it has a melting point between 256 and 280°C, has corrosion resistance, and has strong adhesion to metals, overcoming the non-adhesive defect of polytetrafluoroethylene to metals. In addition, its average linear expansion coefficient is close to that of carbon steel, making ETFE an ideal composite material with metals and having excellent negative pressure resistance.

[0040] Optionally, in combination with the embodiment of the first aspect and the above implementation, in other implementations of the embodiment of the first aspect, such as Figure 1 As shown, the braided tensile coating sheath 30 includes a wrapping layer 31, which is made of polyester film and is wrapped on the cable core in a wrapping manner. The wrapping layer 31 is made of polyester film, which has certain hydrophobic properties and protective effects.

[0041] In combination with the first aspect and the above implementations, in some implementations of the first aspect, such as Figure 1As shown, the braided tensile coating protective layer 30 also includes a braided layer 32 and a coating layer 33. The coating material of the coating layer 33 is a high-temperature resistant composite emulsion paint. The coating layer 33 is attached to the braided layer 32. The material of the braided layer 32 is para-aramid. The coating layer 33 adopts a coating process and a drying process, is attached to the braided layer 32 to form a braided tensile coating protective layer 30 and is coated on the outside of the wrapping layer 31, playing a protective and tensile role. The para-aramid specifically adopts high-tensile and UV-resistant para-aramid. As a synthetic fiber, the material has excellent properties such as ultra-high strength, high modulus, high temperature resistance, acid and alkali resistance, and light weight. The coating layer 33 adopts a high-temperature resistant composite emulsion paint, and the emulsion paint is prepared in the following manner: 60% concentration of Fluon PTFE AD916E modified polytetrafluoroethylene water dispersion (accounting for 75%), TF281 fluorocarbon surfactant (accounting for 5%), BR57 high-temperature resistant thermosetting PI paint (accounting for 20%), and does not contain harmful substances such as benzene. The coating has excellent heat resistance, chemical resistance, solvent resistance stability, and high electrical insulation. It is a tough, soft material with good low-temperature performance. When the temperature is as low as 4K (-269°C), PTFE still has good ductility and is the main component of latex paint. Thermosetting PI paint can increase the viscosity of the emulsion, making it easier to adhere to aramid. Fluorocarbon surfactants can fully emulsify and disperse the above two materials and reduce surface tension.

[0042] The embodiment of the second aspect of the present application provides a method for preparing an optoelectronic composite cable for a drone as described in any one of the first aspect of the present application, such as Figure 2 As shown, the following steps are included:

[0043] S100: The aluminum alloy rod containing copper, magnesium, iron and titanium elements is subjected to a wire drawing annealing process, and then subjected to a silver electroplating process and a compacting and twisting process to form a conductor 21.

[0044] S200: coating the ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer on the conductor 21 through an extrusion process to form an insulating core wire 20, and twisting a plurality of insulating core wires 20 and a two-core single-mode loose tube optical cable 10 into a cable core.

[0045] S300: Wrap the polyester tape on the cable core through a wrapping process; wrap the braided tensile coating sheath 30 outside the wrapping layer 31 to obtain an optoelectronic composite cable for drones.

[0046] Optionally, in some implementations of the second aspect, the step of forming the conductor 21 includes: cleaning the conductor 21 before wrapping, and after the ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer is fully melted in the extrusion device, extruding and tightly wrapping the conductor 21. The silver-plated copper-aluminum alloy is drawn and annealed, and then coated with metallic silver on its surface and twisted.

[0047] Specifically, in combination with the embodiment of the second aspect, in some specific implementations, the step of wrapping the braided tensile coating protective layer 30 on the outside of the wrapping layer 31 in S300 includes: weaving with high tensile and UV-resistant para-aramid to form a braided layer 32 outside the wrapping layer 31; coating the braided layer 32 with a high-temperature resistant composite emulsion paint and drying it. Optionally, the film thickness of the high-temperature resistant composite emulsion paint is 40 to 60 μm. Weaving is performed with para-aramid with high tensile and UV-resistant properties, and the high-temperature resistant composite emulsion paint is attached to the braided layer 32 using a coating process and a drying process to form a braided tensile coating protective layer 30, and the braided tensile coating protective layer 30 is wrapped on the outside of the wrapping layer 31.

[0048] The cable core needs to be controlled to pass through the production line at a certain pay-off and take-up line tension, first through a container filled with high-temperature resistant composite emulsion paint, and then through a coating mold tooling. The excess high-temperature resistant composite emulsion paint is removed and recycled so that it can be reused. The cable core first passes through a metal trough filled with high-temperature resistant composite emulsion paint in the tooling at a certain line speed on the production line at a certain pay-off and take-up line tension, so that the cable core is fully impregnated with the high-temperature resistant composite emulsion paint. The cable core coated with the high-temperature resistant composite emulsion paint needs to be dried by a high-temperature device, with a drying temperature range of 200℃~260℃ and a line speed of 25m / min, so that the high-temperature resistant composite emulsion paint is fully cured outside the braided layer 32.

[0049] The optoelectronic composite cable for drones provided in this application is mainly used in devices for communication connection between drones and ground base stations and for optoelectronic signal transmission. The product's structural dimensions, electrical properties, tensile properties, optical transmission properties and other technical indicators all meet user requirements. The product adopts aramid weaving technology and paint film coating technology, uses an aramid braided sheath, and adds a layer of paint film sheath, which greatly reduces the weight of the cable while having a certain tensile strength. The paint film sheath gives the cable a certain hydrophobicity. The product has certain environmental performance requirements such as UV resistance, hydrophobicity, wear resistance, tensile resistance, light weight, etc., and has good softness.

[0050] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various operations, methods, steps, measures, and schemes in the processes discussed in this application may be alternated, altered, combined, or deleted. Further, other steps, measures, and schemes in the various operations, methods, and processes discussed in this application may also be alternated, altered, rearranged, decomposed, combined, or deleted. Further, the steps, measures, and schemes in the prior art that are similar to those disclosed in this application may also be alternated, altered, rearranged, decomposed, combined, or deleted.

[0051] The terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, "plurality" means two or more.

[0052] In the description of this specification, specific features, structures, materials or characteristics may be combined in an appropriate manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.

[0053] It should be understood that, although the steps in the flowchart of the accompanying drawings are displayed in sequence as indicated by the arrows, these steps are not necessarily executed in sequence in the order indicated by the arrows. Unless otherwise specified herein, there is no strict order restriction on the execution of these steps, and they can be executed in other orders. Moreover, at least a part of the steps in the flowchart of the accompanying drawings may include multiple sub-steps or multiple stages, and these sub-steps or stages are not necessarily executed at the same time, but can be executed at different times, and their execution order is not necessarily sequential, but can be executed in turn or alternately with other steps or at least a part of the sub-steps or stages of other steps.

[0054] The above description is only a partial implementation method of the present application. It should be pointed out that for ordinary technicians in this technical field, several improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the principles of the present application. These improvements and modifications should also be regarded as the scope of protection of the present application.

Claims

1. An optoelectronic composite cable for drones, characterized in that: It comprises an optical cable, an insulating core wire and a braided tensile coating sheath; the optical cable and the insulating core wire are twisted to form a cable core, and the braided tensile coating sheath covers a plurality of the cable cores; The conductor of the insulated core wire is made of silver-plated copper-aluminum alloy, which includes aluminum, copper, magnesium, zinc, zirconium and titanium elements. By mass fraction, Zn is 3% to 4%, Mg is 2% to 2.5%, Cu is 3.5% to 4%, Zr is 0.15% to 0.2%, Ti is 0.5% to 0.6%, and the balance is Al.

2. The optoelectronic composite cable for drone according to claim 1, characterized in that: The insulation layer is wrapped around the conductor through an extrusion process to form an insulated core wire.

3. The optoelectronic composite cable for drone according to claim 2, characterized in that: The insulating layer is made of ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer.

4. The optoelectronic composite cable for drone according to claim 1, characterized in that: The braided tensile coating sheath is coated with a wrapping layer; the wrapping layer is made of polyester film and is wrapped on the cable core in a wrapping manner.

5. The optoelectronic composite cable for drone according to claim 1, characterized in that: The braided tensile coating sheath also includes a braided layer and a coating layer. The coating material of the coating layer is a high-temperature resistant composite latex paint. The latex paint is formulated in the following manner: 60% concentration of FluonPTFEAD916E modified polytetrafluoroethylene aqueous dispersion, TF281 fluorocarbon surfactant, BR57 high-temperature resistant thermosetting PI paint; the coating layer is attached to the braided layer, and the material of the braided layer is para-aramid.

6. The optoelectronic composite cable for drone according to claim 1, characterized in that: The conductor is made of an aluminum ingot with a specification of 85*85mm, which is stretched into a 0.40mm aluminum alloy monofilament through a wire drawing process, and then a 1.5μm silver layer is electroplated through a silver electroplating process to improve its conductivity; Then, the conductor is formed by a compact twisting process, and needs to be subjected to continuous annealing of low temperature aging and high temperature aging to ensure the high strength of the conductor.

7. A method for preparing an optoelectronic composite cable for a drone as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: The conductor is formed by subjecting an aluminum alloy rod containing copper, magnesium, iron and titanium elements to a wire drawing annealing process, a silver electroplating process and a compacting and twisting process; The ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer is coated on the conductor through an extrusion process to form an insulating core wire, and a plurality of insulating core wires are twisted with a two-core single-mode loose tube optical cable to form a cable core; The polyester tape is formed into a wrapping layer and coated on the cable core through a wrapping process; the braided tensile coating sheath is coated outside the wrapping layer to obtain an optoelectronic composite cable for drones.

8. The method for preparing an optoelectronic composite cable for a drone according to claim 7, characterized in that: After the step of forming the conductor, the method further includes: cleaning the conductor before wrapping, and after the ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer is fully melted in the extrusion equipment, extruding and tightly wrapping it on the conductor.

9. The method for preparing an optoelectronic composite cable for a drone according to claim 7, characterized in that: The step of wrapping the braided tensile coating sheath outside the wrapping layer comprises: High tensile strength and UV protection para-aramid is used for weaving, and coated outside the wrapping layer to form a braided layer; The braided layer is coated with a high temperature resistant composite latex paint and then dried.

10. The method for preparing an optoelectronic composite cable for a drone according to claim 9, characterized in that: The paint film thickness of the high temperature resistant composite emulsion paint is 40 to 60 μm.

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