Three-dimensional spraying unmanned aerial vehicle and operation method thereof

Abstract

The invention discloses a three-dimensional spraying unmanned aerial vehicle and an operation method thereof.The three-dimensional spraying unmanned aerial vehicle comprises a vehicle body, vehicle arms, an undercarriage, a power system assembly, a spraying operation assembly, a vehicle body telescopic assembly and a minimum control unit, the vehicle body is in a rounded-corner-rectangle-shaped hollow layout, and the diameter of the vehicle body can be telescopically controlled through the vehicle body telescopic assembly; the machine arms extend outwards from the center points of the four round corners. The power system assembly comprises a rotor wing, a motor and a motor base; the spraying operation assembly comprises a pesticide box, a water pump, a hose and a nozzle; the fuselage telescopic assembly comprises a laser radar and an electric push rod; the minimum control unit comprises a flight controller, a GPS, a receiver and a wireless data transmission unit. By means of the device, the problem that a traditional unmanned aerial vehicle cannot thoroughly spray pesticide in the spraying process is effectively solved, pesticide liquid can be evenly sprayed to all parts of tree canopies, and the pesticide spraying operation effect of the unmanned aerial vehicle is effectively improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of agricultural aviation plant protection, and in particular to a three-dimensional spraying unmanned aerial vehicle and an operation method thereof. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, with the advancement of agricultural modernization, the level of agricultural mechanization has been significantly improved. Compared with traditional manual operations, agricultural aviation plant protection technology has greatly improved its efficiency, which has led to more and more widespread use of agricultural aviation. However, in the process of aerial plant protection operations, for some trees with tall trunks and more canopy layers, due to the influence of leaf shading, traditional four-rotor or fixed-wing plant protection drones cannot reach or effectively act on all target positions, and it is difficult for droplets to settle to the bottom of the canopy, resulting in uneven operation results. The current solution is usually to increase the number of rotors to increase the wind force of the downward pressure wind field, thereby improving the penetration of droplets, but excessive wind speeds can also cause irreversible damage to trees. Summary of the invention

[0003] The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art and provide a three-dimensional spraying UAV and an operating method thereof. The UAV of this design can give full play to the advantages of a "hollow" structure UAV during the aerial plant protection spraying process for taller trees. According to the model of the target operation tree scanned by the laser radar carried by the UAV, the fuselage telescopic component is controlled in real time to adjust the fuselage diameter, so that the UAV can always circle around the tree for three-dimensional spraying operations, thereby forming an operating method for a three-dimensional spraying UAV, effectively solving the problems of poor droplet penetration and uneven operating effects in the operation process of traditional plant protection UAVs, and improving the efficiency and effect of aerial plant protection operations.

[0004] The preferred technical solution of the present invention to solve the above technical problems is:

[0005] A three-dimensional spraying UAV comprises: a fuselage, an arm, a landing gear, a power system component, a spraying operation component, a fuselage telescopic component, and a minimum control unit; the fuselage is a rounded rectangular hollow layout, and can be telescoped to control the diameter of the fuselage through the fuselage telescopic component; the fuselage telescopic component comprises: a laser radar, an electric push rod; the arm extends outward from the center point of four rounded corners; the power system component comprises: a rotor, a motor, a motor base, and a battery; the spraying operation component comprises: a water pump, a medicine box, and a spray head; the minimum control unit comprises: a flight controller, a GPS, a receiver, and a wireless data transmission.

[0006] In the above scheme, the fuselage has a rounded rectangular hollow layout and is made of a round tube.

[0007] In the above solution, the number of the arms is 4, and the 4 arms are respectively connected to the four rounded corners of the fuselage through connecting parts, and extend outward from the center point of the rounded corner.

[0008] In the above solution, the motor is installed at the end of the machine arm through a motor base, and the rotor is installed on the output head of the motor; the battery is installed under the fuselage.

[0009] In the above solution, the landing gear is installed below the motor base and is parallel to the arm and the fuselage.

[0010] In the above scheme, the water pump and the medicine box are installed under the arm; the quality of the liquid medicine in the four medicine boxes changes in the same way during the operation of the drone, thereby ensuring the stable flight of the drone; the nozzle is installed on the inner side of the landing gear and presents a certain angle with the vertical direction.

[0011] In the above scheme, the laser radar is installed under the fuselage in the positive direction of the UAV's forward movement, and the electric push rod is installed on the inner side of the fuselage tube in four directions; when the UAV needs to increase the fuselage diameter, the electric push rod rotates forward to control the push rod to extend; when the UAV needs to reduce the fuselage diameter, the electric push rod rotates reversely to control the push rod to retract.

[0012] In the above scheme, the minimum control unit is installed under the fuselage in the positive direction of the UAV's forward movement. The minimum control unit is used to integrate the flight controller, GPS, receiver and wireless data transmission to achieve precise control and real-time monitoring of the UAV.

[0013] A method for operating a three-dimensional spraying drone is characterized by comprising the following steps:

[0014] A1: Before taking off, place the drone in an open area, with the drone body at its minimum diameter and the electric push rod fully retracted. Load the relevant liquid medicine into the drone medicine box, keeping the quality of the liquid medicine in the four medicine boxes equal.

[0015] A2: The drone takes off and is controlled to fly to the operation area. At this time, the lidar starts working, scanning the tree information below the drone in real time and modeling it.

[0016] A3: The flight controller of the UAV analyzes and calculates the data scanned by the laser radar to keep the UAV hovering directly above the target tree and record the current position S0.

[0017] A4: The drone begins to spray in three dimensions. At this time, the drone slowly descends, and the nozzle continues to spray the liquid. At the same time, the electric push rod controls the extension of the push rod according to the diameter information of the tree canopy scanned by the laser radar, so as to keep the diameter of the drone body matching the diameter of the tree canopy. During the descent of the drone, the flight controller changes the speed of the four motors to put the drone in a slow clockwise yaw motion, so as to keep the liquid spraying covering every direction of every canopy plane. The laser radar continues to work, constantly improving and supplementing the point cloud information of each canopy of the current tree, and saves the above information and the height of the drone in the established tree model. At the same time, the mapping of the target operation trees is completed, and the collected model information provides data support and guidance for subsequent operations.

[0018] A5: After the operation is completed, the spraying of the liquid medicine stops, and the operator controls the drone to slowly rise. At the same time, the diameter of the fuselage slowly shrinks according to the tree canopy diameter information scanned by the lidar until it reaches the operation starting point above the operating tree, that is, S0.

[0019] A6: The drone moves to the next target operation area and repeats steps A2-A5.

[0020] A4 also includes:

[0021] A41: The drone always completely encloses the target tree during descent. The flight control uses the tree canopy information scanned by the laser radar to control the fuselage telescopic module to make the diameter of the drone always larger than the tree canopy diameter on the current horizontal plane, ensuring the safety of the drone operation.

[0022] A42: During the descent of the drone, the flight controller changes the speed of the four motors to make the drone in a slow clockwise yaw motion, so as to ensure that the spraying of the liquid can cover every direction of every canopy plane;

[0023] A43: During the descent of the drone, the lidar continues to work, constantly improving and supplementing the point cloud information of each canopy layer of the current trees, and saves the above information and the altitude of the drone in the established tree model. At the same time, it completes the mapping of the target trees. The collected model information is used to provide data support and guidance for subsequent operations. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Figure 1 The schematic diagram of the structure of the three-dimensional spraying drone of the present invention is

[0025] Figure 2 A partial enlarged view of the three-dimensional spraying drone of the present invention

[0026] Figure 3Schematic diagram of the electric push rod of the three-dimensional spraying drone of the present invention

[0027] Figure 4 The schematic diagram of the operation of the three-dimensional spraying drone of the present invention is DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] The technical solution of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the embodiments and drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0029] like Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the structure of the three-dimensional spraying drone of the present invention; when the electric push rod installed inside the fuselage tube is extended, the diameter of the fuselage increases, as shown in the schematic diagram Figure 3 shown.

[0030] The unmanned aerial vehicle of the present invention comprises a fuselage, an arm, a landing gear, a power system component, a spraying operation component, a fuselage telescopic component, and a minimum control unit (2), wherein the fuselage is in a rounded rectangular hollow layout, the fuselage is made of a round tube, the number of the arms is 4, and the 4 arms are respectively connected to the four rounded corners of the fuselage through connecting pieces, and extend outward from the center point of the rounded corner; the motor base 8 is installed at the end of the arm, the landing gear is installed below the motor base 8, and is kept perpendicular to the arm and the fuselage plane, and the direction is vertically downward, the water pump 9 and the medicine box 10 are installed below the arm, and the rotor 6 is installed on the output head of the motor 7; the battery 3 is installed below the fuselage. The laser radar 1 is installed under the fuselage in the positive direction of the UAV's advance, and the electric push rod 4 is installed on the inner side of the fuselage tube in four directions; when the UAV needs to increase the fuselage diameter, the electric push rod 4 rotates forward to control the push rod to extend; when the UAV needs to reduce the fuselage diameter, the electric push rod 4 reverses to control the push rod to retract; the minimum control unit 2 is installed under the fuselage in the positive direction of the UAV's advance, and the minimum control unit 2 is used to integrate the flight controller, GPS, receiver and wireless data transmission to achieve precise control and real-time monitoring of the UAV. The minimum control unit 2 is the core control module of the UAV, responsible for the flight control, navigation, communication and data transmission functions of the UAV.

[0031] The minimum control unit adjusts the attitude, altitude, speed and direction of the drone in real time through the flight controller to ensure that the drone can fly according to the predetermined flight path and operation requirements. The GPS module is used to obtain the geographic location information of the drone, and combined with the data of the flight controller to achieve accurate positioning and navigation of the drone. Through the receiver and wireless data transmission module, real-time communication and data transmission between the drone and the ground control station are achieved, ensuring that the operator can monitor the status and operation progress of the drone in real time. The minimum control unit is also responsible for processing data collected by sensors such as lidar, generating a three-dimensional model of the tree canopy, and adjusting the flight parameters and fuselage diameter of the drone according to the model to ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of the three-dimensional spraying operation.

[0032] Before taking off, the three-dimensional spraying drone is placed in an open field. At this time, the drone fuselage is in the minimum diameter state, and the electric push rod is fully retracted, which is convenient for drone inspection, liquid loading, equipment debugging and transportation before operation. The spraying material is loaded in the drone's medicine box, and the quality of the liquid in the four medicine boxes is equal. The liquid in each medicine box is used by one nozzle. In this way, during the operation of the drone, the liquid in the four medicine boxes always maintains the same change trend, which can improve the stability during the flight. The drone takes off, and the operator controls it to fly to the operation area. At this time, the laser radar starts to work, scanning the tree information under the drone in real time, and establishing a point cloud 3D model of the trees below based on the scanned information. The flight controller of the drone analyzes and calculates the model obtained by the laser radar, calculates the center point coordinates of the target operation tree, controls the drone to hover directly above the target operation tree, and records the position information of the drone at this time, which is recorded as S0. Then the drone began to perform three-dimensional spraying operations. The drone slowly descended under the command of the operator, and the nozzles arranged on the inside of the landing gear began to spray the liquid medicine continuously. At the same time, the fuselage telescopic component controlled the extension and contraction of the electric push rod according to the diameter information of the tree canopy scanned by the laser radar, keeping the fuselage diameter of the drone matching the diameter of the tree canopy, so that the diameter of the drone is always larger than the diameter of the tree canopy in the current horizontal plane, ensuring the safety of the drone operation and improving the effect of liquid medicine spraying. During the entire operation, the drone always circles the tree to keep the canopy inside the hollow fuselage. During the descent of the drone, the flight controller changes the speed of the four motors to put the drone in a slow yaw motion clockwise or counterclockwise, so that the liquid medicine can be sprayed in every direction of the canopy. The liquid medicine sprayed by the oblique downward spraying adheres to the leaves of the tree canopy under the action of the wind field generated by the drone rotor. The up and down movement and yaw movement of the drone enable the liquid medicine to be widely and evenly covered in every layer and every direction of the canopy. After the operation is completed, the spraying of the liquid medicine stops, and the operator controls the drone to slowly rise. At this time, the drone stops yaw movement, and the fuselage diameter slowly shrinks according to the tree canopy diameter information scanned by the lidar until it reaches the operation starting point above the operating tree, that is, S0. The drone goes to the next target operation area and repeats the above steps.

[0033] In a preferred embodiment, when the canopy of the target tree is dense and multiple spraying operations are required, the spraying state can be maintained during the ascending stage of the drone, and the drone also continues to maintain slow yaw motion. Since the drone has established a complete tree canopy model and corresponding drone height information during the previous descent process, during the ascent process, the information in the model can be directly read to control the drone's electric push rod, keeping the drone's fuselage diameter matching the tree canopy diameter, so that the drone's diameter is always larger than the tree canopy diameter at the current horizontal plane, ensuring the safety of the drone operation.

[0034] The above is a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above content. Any other changes, modifications, substitutions, combinations, and simplifications that do not deviate from the spirit and principles of the present invention should be equivalent replacement methods and are included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A three-dimensional spraying drone, characterized in that: include: Fuselage, arms, landing gear, power system components, spraying operation components, fuselage telescopic components, minimum control unit (2); The fuselage is a rounded rectangular hollow layout, and can be extended and retracted by a fuselage telescopic component to control the diameter of the fuselage; the fuselage telescopic component includes: a laser radar (1), an electric push rod (4); the fuselage arm extends outward from the center point of the four rounded corners; the power system component includes: a rotor (6), a motor (7), a motor base (8), and a battery (3); the spraying operation component includes: a water pump (9), a medicine box (10), and a spray head (11); the minimum control unit (2) includes: a flight controller, a GPS, a receiver, and a wireless data transmission.

2. A three-dimensional spraying drone according to claim 1, characterized in that: The fuselage is in a rounded rectangular hollow structure and is made of a round tube.

3. A three-dimensional spraying drone according to claim 1, characterized in that: The number of the arms is 4, and the 4 arms are respectively connected to the four rounded corners of the fuselage through connecting pieces, and extend outward from the center point of the rounded corner.

4. A three-dimensional spraying drone according to claim 1, characterized in that: The motor (7) is installed at the end of the machine arm through a motor base (8), and the rotor (6) is installed on the output head of the motor (7); the battery (3) is installed below the machine body.

5. The three-dimensional spraying drone according to claim 1, characterized in that: The landing gear is installed below the motor base (8), is kept perpendicular to the plane of the machine arm and the fuselage, and is oriented vertically downward.

6. The three-dimensional spraying drone according to claim 1, characterized in that: The water pump (9) and the medicine box (10) are installed under the arm; the quality of the liquid medicine in the four medicine boxes changes in the same way during the operation of the UAV, thereby ensuring the stable flight of the UAV; the nozzle (11) is installed on the inner side of the landing gear and presents a certain angle with the vertical direction.

7. The three-dimensional spraying drone according to claim 1, characterized in that: The laser radar (1) is installed below the fuselage in the forward direction of the UAV, and the electric push rod (4) is installed on the inner side of the fuselage tube in four directions; when the UAV needs to increase the fuselage diameter, the electric push rod (4) rotates forward to control the push rod to extend; when the UAV needs to reduce the fuselage diameter, the electric push rod (4) rotates reversely to control the push rod to retract.

8. The three-dimensional spraying drone according to claim 1, characterized in that: The minimum control unit (2) is installed below the fuselage of the drone in the positive direction of travel. The minimum control unit (2) is used to integrate the flight controller, GPS, receiver and wireless data transmission to achieve precise control and real-time monitoring of the drone.

9. A three-dimensional spraying drone operation method, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: A1: Before taking off, place the drone in an open area. At this time, the drone body is in the smallest diameter state and the electric push rod is fully retracted. Load the relevant liquid medicine in the drone medicine box and keep the liquid medicine in the four medicine boxes of equal quality. A2: The drone takes off and is controlled to fly to the operation area. At this time, the lidar starts to work, scanning the tree information below the drone in real time and modeling it; A3: The flight controller of the drone analyzes and calculates the data scanned by the laser radar to keep the drone hovering directly above the target tree and record the position S0 at that time; A4: The drone starts the three-dimensional spraying operation. At this time, the drone slowly descends, and the nozzle continues to spray the liquid. At the same time, the electric push rod controls the extension of the push rod according to the diameter information of the tree canopy scanned by the laser radar, so as to keep the diameter of the drone body matching the diameter of the tree canopy; A5: After the operation is completed, the spraying of the liquid medicine stops, and the operator controls the drone to slowly rise. At the same time, the fuselage diameter slowly shrinks according to the tree canopy diameter information scanned by the lidar until it reaches the operation starting point above the operating tree, that is, S0; A6: The drone moves to the next target operation area and repeats steps A2-A5.

10. The three-dimensional spraying drone operation method according to claim 9, characterized in that: Said A4 further includes: A41: The drone always completely encloses the target tree during descent. The flight control uses the tree canopy information scanned by the laser radar to control the fuselage telescopic module to make the diameter of the drone always larger than the tree canopy diameter on the current horizontal plane, ensuring the safety of the drone operation. A42: During the descent of the drone, the flight controller changes the speed of the four motors to make the drone in a slow clockwise yaw motion, so as to ensure that the spraying of the liquid can cover every direction of every canopy plane; A43: During the descent of the drone, the lidar continues to work, constantly improving and supplementing the point cloud information of each canopy layer of the current trees, and saves the above information and the altitude of the drone in the established tree model. At the same time, it completes the mapping of the target trees. The collected model information is used to provide data support and guidance for subsequent operations.

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