Flight control method and device of unmanned aerial vehicle and unmanned aerial vehicle

Abstract

The present application proposes a flight control method, device and drone of a drone, wherein the drone includes a fuselage, a first power unit, a second power unit, a control mechanism and a vertical rotor, and the method includes: controlling the second power unit to maintain in a first orientation, controlling the first power unit to maintain in a second orientation, and controlling the drone to rise in a multi-rotor mode through a control mechanism; when the drone rises to a specified height, controlling the second power unit to gradually swing from the first orientation to the second orientation through a control mechanism, and the drone increases the forward flight speed in a transitional mode; when the forward flight speed of the drone reaches the minimum speed of the fixed-wing mode, the drone is controlled to cruise in a fixed-wing mode, and then the first power unit and the second power unit are controlled to synchronously maintain in a third orientation through the control mechanism. The present application can realize vertical take-off and landing of the drone, while reducing the dead weight of the entire machine structure, thereby improving the drone's load and endurance.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and in particular to a flight control method and device for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and the UAV. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of science and technology, in recent years, there are many types of UAV equipment, including fixed-wing, multi-rotor, helicopter, vertical take-off fixed-wing and other products with various flight modes. Among them, fixed-wing UAVs need a runway to take off and land, and have high requirements for the take-off environment; multi-rotor UAVs cannot fly for a long time due to their high energy consumption; while vertical take-off fixed-wing can achieve vertical take-off and landing and have a longer endurance.

[0003] Existing vertical take-off fixed-wing UAVs mainly achieve vertical take-off and landing through multiple vertical take-off rotors, and then achieve level flight and attitude adjustment through the coordination of the tail thrust rotor, the lift surface of the wing and the rudder surface. Not only is the control complicated, but the entire machine has too much dead weight, resulting in a low payload of the UAV. Summary of the invention

[0004] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present application proposes a flight control method, device and drone for an unmanned aerial vehicle, which can realize vertical take-off and landing of the drone, while greatly reducing the dead weight of the entire machine structure, thereby improving the drone's load and endurance.

[0005] According to a first aspect of the present application, a flight control method for a drone is provided, which is applied to a drone, wherein the drone comprises a fuselage, a power assembly and a vertical take-off rotor;

[0006] The power assembly comprises a first power device and a second power device respectively arranged on both sides of the fuselage, the first power device and the second power device can be respectively controlled by a control mechanism to swing up and down in the heading direction of the UAV, and the vertical rotor is arranged at the rear of the fuselage and faces upward;

[0007] Wherein, the rotation directions of the first power device and the second power device are respectively toward the outer sides of the fuselage, and the rotation direction of the first power device is opposite to that of the vertical rotor;

[0008] The method comprises:

[0009] The control mechanism controls the second power device to maintain a first orientation facing upward, controls the first power device to maintain a second orientation tilted forward, and controls the UAV to ascend in a multi-rotor mode;

[0010] When the UAV rises to a specified height, the control mechanism controls the second power device to gradually swing from the first orientation to the second orientation, and the first power device and the second power device jointly offset the anti-torque of the vertical rotor, so that the UAV increases the forward flight speed in a transition mode;

[0011] When the forward flight speed of the UAV reaches the minimum speed of the fixed-wing mode, the UAV is controlled to cruise in the fixed-wing mode, and then the first power device and the second power device are controlled by the control mechanism to synchronously maintain a third orientation facing forward.

[0012] Preferably, controlling the drone to ascend in a multi-rotor mode comprises:

[0013] Controlling the vertical rotor to maintain in a working state, and maintaining the first power device in the second orientation to offset the anti-torque force of the vertical rotor;

[0014] The controlling the UAV to cruise in fixed-wing mode comprises:

[0015] The vertical take-off rotor is controlled to stop working.

[0016] Preferably, the method further comprises:

[0017] The vertical rotor is controlled to maintain in a working state, the first power unit is controlled to maintain in the second orientation and the second power unit is controlled to maintain in the first orientation through the control mechanism, and the throttle amount of the first power unit, the second power unit and the vertical rotor is synchronously reduced to control the UAV to descend in a multi-rotor mode.

[0018] Preferably, when the UAV is in a multi-rotor mode, the power of the first power device is controlled to be greater than the power of the second power device;

[0019] When the UAV is in the transition mode, the power of the first power device is controlled to be equal to the power of the second power device.

[0020] Preferably, the fuselage includes two side wings and a tail wing, the first power unit and the second power unit are respectively arranged on the two side wings, and the two side wings and the tail wing are not provided with rudder surfaces.

[0021] Preferably, the swing angle range of the first power device and the second power device is greater than 90°, and when the UAV is in fixed-wing mode cruising flight, the method further includes:

[0022] When the UAV rises to a second specified height, the flight attitude of the UAV is controlled by changing the states of the first power device and the second power device, including:

[0023] Controlling the yaw direction of the UAV by controlling the differential speed of the first power device and the second power device;

[0024] The pitch and roll of the UAV are controlled by controlling the first power device and / or the second power device to swing upward or downward in the heading direction.

[0025] Preferably, the first power unit and the second power unit are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the fuselage along the center of gravity of the fuselage, and the fuselage also includes a tail boom at the rear, the central axis of the tail boom is colinear with the symmetry line of the first power unit and the second power unit, and the vertical rotor is arranged on the tail boom.

[0026] According to a second aspect of the present application, a flight control device for an unmanned aerial vehicle is proposed, comprising:

[0027] a take-off module, configured to control the second power device to maintain a first orientation facing upwards, control the first power device to maintain a second orientation tilted forwards, and control the UAV to ascend in a multi-rotor mode through the control mechanism;

[0028] a transition module, configured to control the second power device to gradually swing from the first orientation to the second orientation through the control mechanism when the UAV rises to a specified height, so that the first power device and the second power device jointly offset the anti-torque force of the vertical take-off rotor, and the UAV increases the forward flight speed in a transition mode;

[0029] The cruise module is configured to control the UAV to cruise in the fixed-wing mode when the forward flight speed of the UAV reaches the minimum speed of the fixed-wing mode, and then control the first power device and the second power device to synchronously maintain a third orientation facing forward through the control mechanism.

[0030] Preferably, the device further comprises:

[0031] A landing module is configured to control the vertical rotor to maintain a working state, control the first power unit to maintain the second orientation and the second power unit to maintain the first orientation through the control mechanism, and synchronously reduce the throttle amount of the first power unit, the second power unit and the vertical rotor to control the UAV to descend in a multi-rotor mode.

[0032] According to a third aspect of the present application, a drone is provided, using the flight control method of the drone provided by any one of the embodiments of the first aspect above, wherein the drone includes a fuselage, a power assembly, and a vertical rotor;

[0033] The power assembly comprises a first power device and a second power device respectively arranged on both sides of the fuselage, the first power device and the second power device can be respectively controlled by a control mechanism to swing up and down in the heading direction of the UAV, and the vertical rotor is arranged at the rear of the fuselage and faces upward;

[0034] The first power device and the second power device rotate in directions toward the outer sides of the fuselage, respectively, and the first power device rotates in the opposite direction to the vertical rotor.

[0035] The present application proposes a flight control method, device and drone of an unmanned aerial vehicle. In the take-off stage, a control mechanism is used to control a first power unit to be in a second orientation and a second power unit to be in a first orientation, and a vertical rotor is opened at the same time, so that the unmanned aerial vehicle rises in a multi-rotor mode; when the unmanned aerial vehicle rises to a specified height, the control mechanism is used to control the second power unit to gradually swing from the first orientation to the second orientation, so that the unmanned aerial vehicle increases its forward flight speed in a transitional mode; when the forward flight speed of the unmanned aerial vehicle reaches the minimum speed that satisfies the fixed-wing mode, the vertical rotor is closed, and the control mechanism is used to control the first power unit and the second power unit to swing synchronously to a third orientation, so that the unmanned aerial vehicle switches from the multi-rotor mode to the fixed-wing mode for cruising; similarly, in the landing stage, the vertical rotor is reopened, and the control mechanism is used to control the first power unit to be in the second orientation again and the second power unit to be in the first orientation again, and then the throttle amounts of the first power unit, the second power unit and the vertical rotor are synchronously reduced, so that the unmanned aerial vehicle switches from the fixed-wing mode to the multi-rotor mode for landing. By adopting a control mechanism to switch between multi-rotor mode-transition mode-fixed-wing mode, the control complexity of the UAV is simplified and the safety of UAV flight control is improved.

[0036] Furthermore, during the fixed-wing mode cruise flight, the flight attitude of the UAV can be controlled by controlling the differential speed and swing direction of the first power unit and the second power unit. The UAV does not need to be equipped with rudder control, which greatly reduces the weight and manufacturing cost of the entire machine and improves the UAV's payload and endurance. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0037] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the embodiments and are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification. The accompanying drawings illustrate the embodiments and are used together with the description to explain the principles of the present invention. It will be easy to recognize other embodiments and many expected advantages of the embodiments because they become better understood by reference to the following detailed description. The elements of the drawings are not necessarily to scale with each other. The same reference numerals refer to corresponding similar parts.

[0038] Figure 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a drone according to a specific embodiment of the present application;

[0039] Figure 2 is a force analysis diagram of a UAV flight control process according to a specific embodiment of the present application;

[0040] Figure 3 is a force analysis diagram of a UAV when the first power device is in the second orientation according to a specific embodiment of the present application;

[0041] Figure 4 is a flow chart of a flight control method for a drone according to a specific embodiment of the present application;

[0042] Figure 5 is an architectural diagram of a flight control device for a drone according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0043] Explanation of the accompanying reference numerals: 1. fuselage; 2. wing; 3. first power unit; 4. second power unit; 5. control mechanism; 6. tail boom; 7. vertical rotor; 8. tail wing. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0044] The features and exemplary embodiments of various aspects of the present invention will be described in detail below. In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and Examples. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only configured to explain the present invention and are not configured to limit the present invention. For those skilled in the art, the present invention can be implemented without the need for some of these specific details. The following description of the embodiments is only to provide a better understanding of the present invention by illustrating examples of the present invention.

[0045] It should be noted that, in this article, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "include", "comprise" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, the elements defined by the statement "include..." do not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the elements.

[0046] This application proposes a drone, Figure 1 FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a drone structure according to a specific embodiment of the present application. Figure 1 As shown, the UAV includes a fuselage 1, wings 2, a power assembly, a control mechanism 5, a tail rod 6, a vertical rotor 7 and a tail 8. Among them, the wings 2 are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the front of the fuselage 1, and the power assembly includes a first power device 3 and a second power device 4 symmetrically arranged on the wings 2 on both sides along the center of gravity of the fuselage 1. The wings 2 on both sides are respectively provided with control mechanisms 5, and the control mechanisms 5 are directly connected to the first power device 3 and the second power device 4 respectively, and are used to directly drive the first power device 3 and the second power device 4 to swing up and down in the direction of the UAV, and the swingable angle range is greater than 90°. The tail rod 6 is arranged at the rear of the fuselage 1, and the central axis of the tail rod 6 is colinear with the symmetry line of the first power device 3 and the second power device 4, and the vertical rotor 7 is arranged on the tail rod 6 and is arranged upward. The tail 8 is connected to the end of the tail rod 6. Among them, the rotation directions of the first power device 3 and the second power device 4 are respectively toward the outer sides of the fuselage 1, and the rotation directions of the first power device 3 and the vertical rotor 7 are opposite, and the wings 2 on both sides and the tail 8 are not provided with rudders.

[0047] In this embodiment, the first power device 3 and the second power device 4 both output power by driving the propeller to rotate. In other embodiments, the first power device and the second power device may also output power by other means such as fan blades, which is not limited here.

[0048] Specifically, during the flight control process of the UAV, the first power device 3 and the second power device 4 have at least three position states under the control of the control mechanism 5, the first state is a first orientation facing upward, the second state is a second orientation tilted forward, and the third state is a third orientation facing forward. The vertical rotor 7 as the rotor of the UAV always remains facing upward.

[0049] Thus, the following flight control can be achieved: the first power device 3 and the second power device 4 are maintained in the first direction (such as Figure 1 The vertical rotor 7 always keeps facing upwards, and when working, it serves as the rotor at the rear of the UAV, provides the UAV with upward lift, and maintains balance with the first power device 3 and the second power device 4 at the front, so that the UAV rises in a multi-rotor mode; the first power device 3 and the second power device 4 are maintained in the third orientation, providing the UAV with power to fly forward, and the vertical rotor 7 stops working, so that the UAV cruises in a fixed-wing mode.

[0050] Figure 2 FIG. 1 shows a force analysis diagram of a UAV flight control process according to a specific embodiment of the present application, such as Figure 2 As shown, in the above control process, the first power device 3 and the second power device 4 have opposite power directions, so their counter-torque forces can offset each other, but since the whole machine has no counter-torque force to offset the vertical rotor 7, the whole machine will rotate in the direction opposite to the rotation direction of the vertical rotor 7.

[0051] Therefore, one of the first power device 3 and the second power device 4 needs to be maintained in the second orientation to offset the counter-torque of the vertical rotor 7. Specifically, in the multi-rotor mode ascending stage, the second power device 4 is controlled by the control mechanism 5 to be maintained in the first orientation, while the first power device 3 is tilted forward at a certain angle to be maintained in the second orientation. When the UAV rises to a specified height, the second power device 4 is controlled by the control mechanism 5 to be synchronously maintained in the second orientation with the first power device 3, and the UAV increases the forward flight speed in a transition mode. When the forward flight speed of the UAV reaches the minimum speed of the fixed-wing mode, the first power device 3 and the second power device 4 are controlled by the control mechanism 5 to be maintained in the third orientation, and the UAV cruises in the fixed-wing mode.

[0052] Figure 3 FIG. 4 shows a force analysis diagram of a UAV when the first power device is in the second orientation according to a specific embodiment of the present application. Figure 3 As shown, when the first power device 3 tilts forward at a certain angle and maintains in the second orientation, the upward component force F1 of the first power device 3 is equal to the lift force F of the second power device 4. 2升 , the upward force F1 of the first power device 3 and the lift F of the second power device 4 2升 The combined force F1+F 2升 Equal to the lift F of the vertical rotor 7 3升 At the same time, the horizontal force F2 of the first power device 3 is equal to the anti-torque F of the vertical rotor 7 3扭 .

[0053] The first power device 3 is maintained in the second direction to offset the counter-torque of the vertical rotor 7, so that the balance of the whole machine can be maintained. Furthermore, by maintaining the first power device 3 in the second direction, the second power device 4 in the first direction, and the vertical rotor 7 in operation, switching to the first power device 3 and the second power device 4 synchronously maintained in the second direction, the vertical rotor 7 in operation, and then switching to the first power device 3 and the second power device 4 simultaneously maintained in the third direction, and the vertical rotor 7 stopped working, the UAV can switch from multi-rotor mode-transition mode-fixed-wing mode. Through the above-mentioned flight control method, the UAV can achieve vertical take-off and landing, and at the same time can perform long-distance flight in fixed-wing mode to enhance endurance.

[0054] It should be noted that the rotation directions of the first power unit 3 and the second power unit 4 of this embodiment are respectively toward the outer sides of the fuselage 1. Under this rotation direction, the UAV can effectively offset the induced drag when it is in fixed-wing mode cruising flight, thereby improving the fixed-wing flight performance of the entire aircraft.

[0055] Furthermore, after the UAV flies in fixed-wing mode, the flight attitude of the UAV can be controlled by the state change of the first power device 3 and the second power device 4. For example, the yaw direction of the UAV can be controlled by controlling the differential speed of the first power device 3 and the second power device 4; the pitch and roll of the UAV can be controlled by controlling the first power device 3 and / or the second power device 4 to swing upward or downward in the along-course direction.

[0056] It should be noted that, in this embodiment, when the first power unit 3 or the second power unit 4 is in the first orientation, the angle between the central axis of the first power unit 3 or the second power unit 4 and the plane where the fuselage 1 is located is 90°; when the first power unit 3 or the second power unit 4 is in the second orientation, the angle between the central axis of the first power unit 3 or the second power unit 4 and the plane where the fuselage 1 is located is 60°-90° (that is, tilted forward 0°-30° from the vertical upward state); when the first power unit 3 or the second power unit 4 is in the third orientation, the central axis of the first power unit 3 or the second power unit 4 is coplanar or parallel to the plane where the fuselage 1 is located; the angle between the central axis of the vertical rotor 7 and the plane where the fuselage 1 is located is 90°.

[0057] It should be further explained that, in other embodiments, taking into account the situation that the drone may suddenly brake, when the first power unit or the second power unit is in the first orientation, the angle between the central axis of the first power unit or the second power unit and the plane where the fuselage is located may be slightly greater than 90°; when the first power unit or the second power unit is in the third orientation, the central axis of the first power unit or the second power unit and the plane where the fuselage is located may also not be coplanar or parallel, and the first power unit or the second power unit may be swung downward by a certain angle so that the central axis of the first power unit or the second power unit has a slight angle with the plane where the fuselage is located.

[0058] Based on the above-mentioned UAV, this application proposes a flight control method for the UAV. Figure 4 A flowchart of a flight control method for a drone according to a specific embodiment of the present application is shown. Figure 4 As shown, the method comprises the following steps:

[0059] Step S10, controlling the second power device to maintain a first orientation facing upwards, controlling the first power device to maintain a second orientation tilted forwards, and controlling the UAV to ascend in a multi-rotor mode.

[0060] Specifically, during the take-off phase of the drone, the vertical rotor is controlled to maintain a working state, and at the same time, the second power unit is controlled by the control mechanism to maintain a first orientation facing upward, and the first power unit is controlled by the control mechanism to maintain a second orientation tilted forward. Since the first power unit is in a state of slightly tilting forward, the first power unit will generate a horizontal component force to offset the anti-torque force of the vertical rotor, so that the first power unit, the second power unit and the vertical rotor act as rotors to provide upward lift for the drone, and the drone rises steadily in a multi-rotor mode. At this time, the angle between the central axis of the first power unit and the plane where the fuselage is located is 60°-90°, and the angle between the central axis of the second power unit and the plane where the fuselage is located is 90°.

[0061] It should be noted that in the multi-rotor mode, since the first power unit is in the second orientation tilted forward, and the upward component of the second power unit must be equal to the upward lift of the first power unit, the power of the first power unit is greater than the power of the second power unit.

[0062] It should be further explained that, in the present embodiment, in the multi-rotor mode, the power of the first power unit is increased only by controlling the first power unit to swing forward to the second direction to offset the anti-torque of the vertical rotor. The above method requires the first power unit to increase its power greatly in some working conditions, which may not be able to meet the demand. Therefore, in other embodiments, the second power unit can also be controlled to swing backward to the fourth direction at the same time, and then the power of the second power unit can be increased, and the anti-torque of the vertical rotor can be offset by the component forces of the first power unit and the second power unit in the horizontal direction, wherein the fourth direction and the second direction are a set of symmetrical directions in the vertical direction. In this way, the anti-torque of the vertical rotor is shared by the first power unit and the second power unit, which can meet the needs of more working conditions.

[0063] Step S20, when the UAV rises to a specified height, the control mechanism controls the second power device to gradually swing from the first orientation to the second orientation, and the first power device and the second power device jointly offset the anti-torque of the vertical rotor, so that the UAV increases its forward flight speed in a transition mode.

[0064] Specifically, when the drone reaches the specified height, the control mechanism controls the second power device to gradually swing from the first direction to the second direction, and the horizontal forces of the first power device and the second power device jointly offset the anti-torque of the vertical rotor, while increasing the forward flight speed of the drone, so that the lift of the wings on both sides of the drone gradually increases, and the drone switches from the multi-rotor mode to the transition mode. At this time, the angle between the central axis of the first power device and the second power device and the plane where the fuselage is located is.

[0065] It should be noted that, since the first power device and the second power device jointly offset the anti-torque of the vertical rotor in the transition mode, the power of the first power device and the second power device in this mode is reduced, and the power of the first power device is equal to the power of the second power device.

[0066] Step S30: When the forward flight speed of the UAV reaches the minimum speed of the fixed-wing mode, the UAV is controlled to cruise in the fixed-wing mode, and then the first power device and the second power device are controlled by the control mechanism to synchronously maintain the third orientation facing forward.

[0067] Specifically, when the forward flight speed of the drone reaches the minimum speed of the fixed-wing mode, it means that the wings on both sides of the drone can provide sufficient lift as lift surfaces, so that the drone can maintain cruising flight at the specified altitude. At this time, the vertical take-off rotor is controlled to stop working, and then the first power unit and the second power unit are controlled by the control mechanism to synchronously maintain the third orientation facing forward, and the drone switches from the transition mode to the fixed-wing mode cruising flight. At this time, the central axis of the first power unit and the second power unit is coplanar or parallel to the plane where the fuselage is located.

[0068] It should be noted that during fixed-wing mode cruise flight, the flight attitude of the drone can be controlled by the state change of the first power unit and the second power unit. Specifically, the yaw direction of the drone is controlled by controlling the differential speed of the first power unit and the second power unit; the pitch and roll of the drone are controlled by controlling the first power unit and / or the second power unit to swing upward or downward in the down-course direction. Therefore, the wings and tail of the drone on both sides of the drone of this embodiment do not need to be provided with rudders, which greatly reduces the weight and manufacturing cost of the whole machine and improves the payload and endurance of the drone.

[0069] Step S40, control the vertical rotor to maintain in a working state, control the first power unit to maintain in the second orientation and the second power unit to maintain in the first orientation through the control mechanism, and synchronously reduce the throttle amount of the first power unit, the second power unit and the vertical rotor to control the UAV to descend in a multi-rotor mode.

[0070] Specifically, during the landing phase of the drone, the vertical rotor is first controlled to work again. At this time, in order to maintain the lift and balance of the drone, the first power unit and the second power unit need to increase the throttle to increase the power. Then, the control mechanism controls the first power unit to maintain the second orientation and the second power unit to maintain the first orientation, that is, to return to the state of the multi-rotor mode. At this time, the power of the first power unit is greater than the power of the second power unit. Finally, the throttle of the first power unit, the second power unit and the vertical rotor is synchronously reduced to control the drone to descend in the multi-rotor mode.

[0071] In summary, there are four stages in the entire flight process of the drone:

[0072] Multi-rotor modal ascent phase: the first power unit is maintained in the second orientation, the second power unit is maintained in the first orientation, the power of the first power unit is greater than the power of the second power unit, the vertical rotor is in working state, and the horizontal component force of the first power unit offsets the anti-torque force of the vertical rotor.

[0073] Transition stage: the first power unit is maintained in the second orientation, the second power unit is maintained in the second orientation, the power of the first power unit is equal to the power of the second power unit, the vertical rotor is in working state, and the horizontal components of the first power unit and the second power unit jointly offset the anti-torque force of the vertical rotor.

[0074] Fixed-wing modal cruise flight phase: the first power unit is maintained in the third orientation, the second power unit is maintained in the third orientation, the power of the first power unit is equal to the power of the second power unit, and the vertical rotor is in a stopped state.

[0075] Multi-rotor modal descent stage: the first power unit is maintained in the second orientation, the second power unit is maintained in the first orientation, the power of the first power unit is greater than the power of the second power unit, the vertical rotor is in working state, and the horizontal component force of the first power unit offsets the anti-torque force of the vertical rotor.

[0076] Thus, by using a control mechanism to switch between multi-rotor mode-transition mode-fixed-wing mode, the control complexity of the UAV is simplified and the safety of the UAV flight control is improved. In addition, during the fixed-wing mode cruise flight, the flight attitude of the UAV can be controlled by controlling the differential speed and swing direction of the first power unit and the second power unit. The UAV does not need to be equipped with rudder control, which greatly reduces the weight and manufacturing cost of the whole machine and improves the UAV's load and endurance.

[0077] Based on the above-mentioned UAV flight control method and the same concept, the present application also proposes a UAV flight control device. Figure 5 FIG. 4 shows an architecture diagram of a flight control device of a drone according to an embodiment of the present application. Figure 5 As shown, the device comprises:

[0078] The take-off module 100 is configured to control the second power device to maintain a first orientation facing upwards, control the first power device to maintain a second orientation tilted forwards, and control the UAV to ascend in a multi-rotor mode.

[0079] The transition module 200 is configured to control the second power device to gradually swing from a first orientation to a second orientation through a control mechanism when the UAV rises to a specified height. The first power device and the second power device jointly offset the anti-torque of the vertical rotor, and the UAV increases its forward flight speed in a transition mode.

[0080] The cruise module 300 is configured to control the drone to cruise in the fixed-wing mode when the forward flight speed of the drone reaches the minimum speed of the fixed-wing mode, and then control the first power device and the second power device to synchronously maintain a third orientation facing forward through a control mechanism.

[0081] The landing module 400 is configured to control the vertical rotor to maintain a working state, control the first power unit to maintain the second orientation and the second power unit to maintain the first orientation through a control mechanism, and simultaneously reduce the throttle of the first power unit, the second power unit and the vertical rotor to control the UAV to descend in a multi-rotor mode.

[0082] In the embodiments of the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed technical content can be implemented in other ways. Among them, the device / system / method embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units can be a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of units or modules, which can be electrical or other forms.

[0083] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed on multiple units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the present embodiment.

[0084] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

[0085] If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including a number of instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present invention. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, read-only memory (ROM, Read-Only Memory), random access memory (RAM, Random Access Memory), mobile hard disk, magnetic disk or optical disk and other media that can store program codes.

[0086] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various modifications and changes to the embodiments of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. In this way, if these modifications and changes are within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalents, the present invention is also intended to cover these modifications and changes. The word "comprising" does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps not listed in the claims. The simple fact that certain measures are recorded in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that the combination of these measures cannot be used to profit. Any reference numerals in the claims should not be considered to limit the scope.

Claims

1. A flight control method for an unmanned aerial vehicle, applied to an unmanned aerial vehicle, characterized in that: The UAV comprises a fuselage, a power assembly and a vertical take-off rotor; The power assembly comprises a first power device and a second power device respectively arranged on both sides of the fuselage, the first power device and the second power device can be respectively controlled by a control mechanism to swing up and down in the heading direction of the UAV, and the vertical rotor is arranged at the rear of the fuselage and faces upward; Wherein, the rotation directions of the first power device and the second power device are respectively toward the outer sides of the fuselage, and the rotation direction of the first power device is opposite to that of the vertical rotor; The method comprises: The control mechanism controls the second power device to maintain a first orientation facing upward, controls the first power device to maintain a second orientation tilted forward, and controls the UAV to ascend in a multi-rotor mode; When the UAV rises to a specified height, the control mechanism controls the second power device to gradually swing from the first orientation to the second orientation, and the first power device and the second power device jointly offset the anti-torque of the vertical rotor, so that the UAV increases the forward flight speed in a transition mode; When the forward flight speed of the UAV reaches the minimum speed of the fixed-wing mode, the UAV is controlled to cruise in the fixed-wing mode, and then the first power device and the second power device are controlled by the control mechanism to synchronously maintain a third orientation facing forward; The method further comprises: Controlling the vertical rotor to maintain in a working state, controlling the first power device to maintain in the second orientation and the second power device to maintain in the first orientation through the control mechanism, and synchronously reducing the throttle amount of the first power device, the second power device and the vertical rotor to control the UAV to descend in a multi-rotor mode; The swing angle range of the first power device and the second power device is greater than 90°, and when the UAV is in fixed-wing mode cruising flight, the method further includes: Controlling the flight attitude of the UAV by changing the states of the first power device and the second power device includes: Controlling the yaw direction of the UAV by controlling the differential speed of the first power device and the second power device; The pitch and roll of the UAV are controlled by controlling the first power device and / or the second power device to swing upward or downward in the heading direction.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The controlling the drone to ascend in a multi-rotor mode comprises: Controlling the vertical rotor to maintain in a working state, and maintaining the first power device in the second orientation to offset the anti-torque force of the vertical rotor; The controlling the UAV to cruise in fixed-wing mode comprises: The vertical take-off rotor is controlled to stop working.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the UAV is in a multi-rotor mode, the power of the first power device is controlled to be greater than the power of the second power device; When the UAV is in the transition mode, the power of the first power device is controlled to be equal to the power of the second power device.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The fuselage includes two side wings and a tail wing, the first power device and the second power device are respectively arranged on the two side wings, and the two side wings and the tail wing are not provided with rudder surfaces.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first power unit and the second power unit are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the fuselage along the center of gravity of the fuselage. The fuselage also includes a tail boom at the rear, the central axis of the tail boom is colinear with the symmetry line of the first power unit and the second power unit, and the vertical rotor is arranged on the tail boom.

6. A flight control device for an unmanned aerial vehicle, applied to an unmanned aerial vehicle, characterized in that: The device is used to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, and the device includes: a take-off module, configured to control the second power device to maintain a first orientation facing upwards, control the first power device to maintain a second orientation tilted forwards, and control the UAV to ascend in a multi-rotor mode through the control mechanism; a transition module, configured to control the second power device to gradually swing from the first orientation to the second orientation through the control mechanism when the UAV rises to a specified height, so that the first power device and the second power device jointly offset the anti-torque force of the vertical take-off rotor, and the UAV increases the forward flight speed in a transition mode; a cruise module configured to control the UAV to cruise in the fixed-wing mode when the forward flight speed of the UAV reaches the minimum speed of the fixed-wing mode, and then control the first power device and the second power device to synchronously maintain a third orientation facing forward through the control mechanism; a landing module, configured to control the vertical rotor to maintain a working state, control the first power device to maintain the second orientation and the second power device to maintain the first orientation through the control mechanism, and synchronously reduce the throttle amount of the first power device, the second power device and the vertical rotor to control the UAV to descend in a multi-rotor mode; Among them, the swing angle range of the first power unit and the second power unit is greater than 90°, and the cruise module is also configured to control the flight attitude of the UAV through the state changes of the first power unit and the second power unit, including: controlling the yaw direction of the UAV by controlling the differential speed of the first power unit and the second power unit; controlling the pitch and roll of the UAV by controlling the first power unit and / or the second power unit to swing upward or downward in the along-course direction.

7. A drone, characterized in that: According to any one of claims 1 to 5, the UAV comprises a fuselage, a power assembly and a vertical rotor; The power assembly comprises a first power device and a second power device respectively arranged on both sides of the fuselage, the first power device and the second power device can be respectively controlled by a control mechanism to swing up and down in the heading direction of the UAV, and the vertical rotor is arranged at the rear of the fuselage and faces upward; The first power device and the second power device rotate in directions toward the outer sides of the fuselage, respectively, and the first power device rotates in the opposite direction to the vertical rotor.

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