Unmanned aerial vehicle charging device

Abstract

The invention provides an unmanned aerial vehicle charging device, and belongs to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicle charging. The charging device comprises a charging panel and a plurality of panel charging contacts arranged on the charging panel; the plurality of panel charging contact pieces comprise a first charging contact piece group located around the center of the charging panel, the first charging contact piece group is provided with at least two charging contact pieces which are circumferentially distributed around the center of the charging panel, the polarities of the two adjacent contact pieces are opposite, and positive and negative poles are alternately distributed; the two machine body charging contacts can be in contact conduction with any two adjacent charging contact pieces in the first charging contact piece group; a battery on the machine body is provided with a rectifying circuit. According to the invention, the at least two charging contact pieces which are arranged on the charging panel and are circumferentially distributed around the center of the charging panel and have opposite polarities are respectively contacted and conducted with the two vehicle body charging contact points on the vehicle body, and are rectified by the rectifying circuit in the vehicle body battery to charge the battery on the vehicle body of the unmanned aerial vehicle; the unmanned aerial vehicle can be charged when the unmanned aerial vehicle stops in multiple directions.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicle charging, and in particular to a unmanned aerial vehicle charging device. Background Art

[0002] With the continuous development and progress of science and technology, the inspection work in mines is gradually transforming towards automation and intelligence. This transformation is not only an inevitable trend of technological development, but also an important measure to improve mine safety and inspection efficiency. Although traditional manual inspection has played an important role in the past, it is easily affected by a variety of subjective and objective factors. For example, the professional level, sense of responsibility and fatigue level of technicians at work may directly affect the effect and quality of inspection. In this case, it becomes particularly difficult to ensure the efficiency and stability of inspection work.

[0003] Therefore, it is particularly necessary to use high-tech means to improve the inspection conditions in mines. In recent years, the rapid development of drone technology has brought new opportunities in this field. More and more companies and research institutions have begun to explore the application of drones in mine safety inspections, equipment monitoring, and environmental assessments. Drones can not only perform tasks in complex and dangerous environments, but also transmit data in real time to improve the efficiency and accuracy of inspections. In addition, the use of drones can also reduce the risks of manual operations and protect the safety of inspection personnel.

[0004] In short, with the continuous maturity of drone technology, the intelligent and automated mine inspection has opened up new directions for the safety and development of the mining industry. Drones can not only perform tasks in complex and dangerous environments, but also transmit data in real time to improve the efficiency and accuracy of inspections. In addition, the use of drones can also reduce the risks of manual operations and protect the safety of inspection personnel.

[0005] Although the technological progress in the field of drone inspection has achieved remarkable results, there are still some obvious problems that limit the efficiency and application scope of drone inspection in mines:

[0006] 1. Charging is difficult. Due to the complex and changeable environment under the mine, drones cannot land anywhere to get charging services, which makes charging quite inconvenient.

[0007] 2. Currently, the charging process of drones mostly relies on manual operation, and the battery usually needs to be removed for charging. However, in mines, due to the limitations of on-site conditions, the difficulty of manual operation increases significantly, and workers may face challenges in narrow spaces, low light and other unfavorable conditions. Therefore, it is impossible to provide safe and efficient charging services for drones in a timely manner, which directly affects the inspection frequency and operating efficiency of drones.

[0008] 3. The current drone charging system usually requires contact in a specific direction to charge normally, which further increases the difficulty of successfully charging the drone. In the complex mine environment, it is difficult to require the drone to enter the charging link in a specific direction, which to a certain extent reduces the overall work efficiency of the drone and may also cause the drone to fail to complete the inspection task in time.

[0009] Therefore, how to enable the charging device to charge the drone when the drone lands on the charging panel in different orientations is a technical problem that needs to be urgently solved by those skilled in the art. Summary of the invention

[0010] The object of the present invention is to provide a drone charging device for charging drones that land on a charging panel in different orientations.

[0011] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following technical solutions:

[0012] A charging device for a drone is used for charging a drone. The drone comprises a body and a plurality of arms located around the body. A battery is arranged on the body. Two body charging contacts electrically connected to the battery on the body are arranged at the bottom of the body. The charging device comprises a charging panel and a plurality of panel charging contacts arranged on the charging panel. The plurality of panel charging contacts comprise a first charging contact group located around the center of the charging panel, the first charging contact group comprises at least two charging contacts circumferentially distributed around the center of the charging panel, and two adjacent contacts have opposite polarities and are alternately distributed with positive and negative electrodes. The two body charging contacts can be in contact and conduct with any two adjacent charging contacts in the first charging contact group. The battery on the body has a rectifier circuit.

[0013] In order to meet the requirements of long-endurance flight of drones in mines, the present invention provides an optimal charging scheme for independent batteries distributed on arms, wherein at least one arm is provided with a battery, and the bottom of the arm is provided with two positive and negative arm charging contacts electrically connected to the battery thereon; the plurality of panel charging contacts also include a second charging contact group distributed on the periphery of the first charging contact group and a third charging contact group distributed on the periphery of the second charging contact group; the charging contacts of the second charging contact group are grounded, and the charging contacts of the third charging contact group are positive; the two positive and negative arm charging contacts of each arm can be respectively contacted and conducted with the charging contacts of the third charging contact group and the charging contacts of the second charging contact group.

[0014] In a scheme where each of the four arms of the drone is provided with an independent battery, in order to realize charging when the drone is stopped with its nose facing in the four directions of east, south, west, and north, the present invention provides a preferred scheme, wherein the first charging contact piece group, the second charging contact piece group and the third charging contact piece group each include four charging contacts distributed circumferentially around the center of the charging panel, forming four line segments distributed in a cross with the center of the panel; three panel charging contacts are distributed on each line segment; each charging contact piece in the second charging contact piece group is grounded; each charging contact piece in the third charging contact piece group is a positive electrode; the two positive and negative arm charging contacts of each arm can respectively contact and conduct with a charging contact piece in the third charging contact piece group and a charging contact piece in the second charging contact piece group on any line segment.

[0015] In order to ensure good contact between the body charging contacts, the arm charging contacts and the panel charging contacts, the present invention provides a preferred solution, wherein the charging contacts of the first charging contact group, the second charging contact group and the third charging contact group are provided with multiple vias, and the diameter of each via is smaller than the body charging contacts and / or the arm charging contacts.

[0016] In order to ensure reliable connection and fixation between the charging panel and the apron, the present invention provides a preferred solution, wherein a plurality of patch terminal fixing seats are distributed on the charging panel for connecting fixed terminals, and the charging panel and the apron are fixed by the fixed terminals.

[0017] In order to further improve the reliable connection and fixation between the charging panel and the apron, the present invention provides a more preferred solution, in which the patch terminal fixing seats are distributed on the edge of the charging panel and the two diagonals of the charging panel.

[0018] In a solution where each of the four arms of the drone is provided with an independent battery, in order to achieve charging when the drone is stopped with its head facing in all directions, the present invention provides a preferred solution, wherein the charging contacts of the first charging contact group are all in the shape of arc rings and are located on the same circular ring; the second charging contact group is in the shape of a circular ring, and the third charging contact group is in the shape of a circular ring; the circular ring where the first charging contact group is located, the circular ring where the second charging contact group is located, and the circular ring where the third charging contact group is located are concentric.

[0019] Compared with the prior art, the above technical solution has the following advantages:

[0020] The drone charging device of the present invention is provided with at least two charging contacts with opposite polarities (positive and negative) on the charging panel and distributed circumferentially around the center of the charging panel (the charging contacts can be arranged to have a certain length, such as an arc ring, or the number of charging contacts can be increased, such as 4 charging contacts with positive and negative poles alternately distributed), which are respectively contacted and connected with two body charging contacts on the body, and the battery on the drone body is charged after being rectified by the rectifier circuit inside the body battery. The drone can be charged when it is stopped in multiple directions, that is, when the drone lands on the charging panel in multiple different directions, the charging device can still charge the drone. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on the provided drawings without paying creative work.

[0022] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the front structure of a drone charging device provided by a specific embodiment of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the back structure of a drone charging device provided by a specific embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the structure of a panel charging contact piece of a drone charging device provided in a specific embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the contact between a panel charging contact piece of a drone charging device and a spring contact of a drone provided by a specific embodiment of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the structure of a patch terminal of a drone charging device provided in a specific embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] The reference numerals are as follows: charging panel 1 , first charging contact group 21 , second charging contact group 22 , third charging contact group 23 , patch terminal fixing seat 3 , copper plating area 31 , welding area 32 , spring contact 4 , via 5 . DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. 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] Embodiment 1

[0030] The mining drone is mainly composed of a body and four arms located around the body. This embodiment provides a charging device under the first drone battery distribution scheme, that is, only the battery is set on the body. This type of drone is more common in traditional drones. Specifically, it is as follows:

[0031] A battery is arranged on the body, and two body charging contacts electrically connected to the battery on the body are arranged at the bottom of the body. This embodiment provides a drone charging device for charging the above-mentioned drone. The charging device includes a charging panel 1 (i.e., a charging PCB board) and a plurality of panel charging contacts arranged on the charging panel 1. The plurality of panel charging contacts mainly include a first charging contact group 21 located around the center of the charging panel 1, and the first charging contact group 21 has at least two charging contacts distributed circumferentially around the center of the charging panel. Here, the number of charging contacts is generally an even number. In one embodiment, if two charging contacts are selected, they can be set to have a certain length, such as two arc rings with opposite polarities, and the two arc rings are located on the same ring. When the drone is stopped for charging on the charging panel 1, the drone can be stopped at multiple angles, and it can also ensure that the two body charging contacts can be respectively contacted and conducted with the two arc rings with opposite polarities, and after being rectified by the rectifier circuit inside the body battery, the battery on the drone body is charged, so that the drone can be charged when stopped in multiple directions.

[0032] In another embodiment, please refer to Figure 1 , or the number of charging contacts can be increased, for example, 4 charging contacts are alternately distributed with positive and negative poles, and the polarities of two adjacent contacts are opposite, and the positive and negative poles are alternately distributed. The two body charging contacts can be in contact and conductive with any two adjacent charging contacts in the first charging contact group 21, and after rectification by the rectifier circuit inside the body battery, the battery on the drone body is charged, and the drone can be charged when it is stopped in multiple directions, that is, when the drone lands on the charging panel in multiple different directions, the charging device can still charge the drone. In this implementation, the contacts are in the form of contacts, and the drone can be required to stop in the four directions of east, south, west, and north, which not only provides multiple directions for stopping and charging, but also facilitates positioning.

[0033] Embodiment 2

[0034] This embodiment provides a charging device under the second UAV battery distribution scheme, that is, a battery is provided on the body, and an independent battery is provided on each of the four arms. The bottom of each arm is provided with two positive and negative arm charging contacts electrically connected to the battery thereon. This type of UAV has been widely used as a mine inspection UAV at present, because a traditional UAV with only one battery installed on the body cannot meet the requirement of long battery life for UAV inspection in mines. Specifically, it is as follows:

[0035] The main control board of the ground handling warehouse is responsible for managing and controlling the switch status of the five-way charging service, and transmits the required charging voltage to the charging PCB board through the aviation plug. Considering the special explosion-proof environment under the mine, the design of the battery capacity of the drone is subject to certain restrictions. Among them, the drone body of this embodiment adopts a distributed power supply system in the power supply design. This power supply system is divided into five independent subsystems, and the battery installation position of the drone is reasonably distributed in the four arms and the lower part / inside of the center (body) of the drone.

[0036] The panel charging contacts also include a second charging contact group 22 distributed around the first charging contact group 21 and a third charging contact group 23 distributed around the second charging contact group 22; the charging contacts of the second charging contact group 22 are grounded, and the charging contacts of the third charging contact group 23 are positive; the two positive and negative arm charging contacts of each arm can be respectively contacted and conducted with the charging contacts of the third charging contact group 23 and the charging contacts of the second charging contact group 22. Similar to the contact type selection of the first charging contact group 21 in Example 1, multi-directional charging can be achieved by setting the contact length or by increasing the number of charging contacts. This embodiment takes the form of circular contacts as an example, please refer to Figure 1 The first charging contact group 21, the second charging contact group 22 and the third charging contact group 23 each include four charging contacts distributed circumferentially around the center of the charging panel, forming four line segments distributed in a cross with the center of the panel; three panel charging contacts are distributed on each line segment. Each charging contact in the second charging contact group 22 is grounded; each charging contact in the third charging contact group 23 is a positive electrode; the two positive and negative arm charging contacts of each arm can be respectively contacted and connected with a charging contact in the third charging contact group 23 and a charging contact in the second charging contact group 22 on any line segment. More specifically, the charging PCB board is designed to be square, and its front is designed as follows Figure 1As shown. Preferably, the charging contacts on each line segment are evenly spaced, and three charging contacts are evenly spaced on each end point and the center line of the charging PCB board. Among them, the two contacts in the outer circle are a group, which are responsible for the charging service of a battery in the arm respectively. The outermost contacts output a +12V voltage signal, and the middle contact is grounded (GND). The remaining four inner circle contacts are responsible for the charging service of the central battery of the drone body. The polarity of the two adjacent contacts is opposite, and the positive and negative electrodes are alternately distributed. The positive electrode outputs +12V and the negative electrode is grounded. The inner circle contacts of the charging PCB board, that is, the first charging contact group 21, are responsible for the charging service of the central battery (body battery) of the drone. The central battery of the drone is equipped with two spring contacts. When the direction of the drone head changes, the two spring contacts may choose to receive a +12V voltage signal or a ground (GND) signal. For this situation, a rectifier circuit is provided inside the central battery of the drone to ensure that the drone can still be charged normally in different directions. Therefore, the charging of the central battery of the drone is not affected by the direction of the drone head. The four sets of contacts on the charging PCB board responsible for charging the battery on the arm are distributed in a highly symmetrical position. When the drone's nose faces any of the four directions, each battery's set of charging contacts can safely contact the corresponding set of charging contacts and ensure that the positive and negative poles are correctly connected. Therefore, the charging of the battery on the arm is not affected by the direction of the drone's nose.

[0037] Please refer to Figure 2 The back of the charging PCB board is designed to be square with a side length of 350mm. Each contact ring (first charging contact group 21, second charging contact group 22, third charging contact group 23) is composed of four charging contacts, and the four contacts are evenly distributed on the four vertices of the square. The sides of the squares where the inner, middle and outer three contact rings are located are 102mm, 166mm and 230mm respectively. The diameter of each charging contact is 22mm to ensure a reasonable spacing between the contacts to avoid short circuit and interference. The width of the trace is designed to be 2.5mm to ensure that the current during charging can be conducted safely and effectively. The copper plating area on the back of the charging contact is circular with a diameter of 20mm, which provides sufficient conductive area for current transmission.

[0038] Please refer to Figure 3 and Figure 4 In a preferred embodiment, the body charging contacts and the arm charging contacts both use spring contacts 4, and in order to ensure good contact between the spring contacts of the drone and the charging contact surfaces on the PCB board, the charging contacts on the PCB board of this embodiment use a multi-via method to conduct current between the top and bottom of the PCB board. The inner diameter of the via is 0.8 mm, which is smaller than the end diameter of the spring contact 4 of the drone.

[0039] Please refer to Figure 5In a preferred embodiment, a plurality of patch terminal holders 3 are distributed on the charging panel 1, which are used to connect fixed terminals and fix the charging panel 1 to the apron through the fixed terminals. In the figure, the large rectangular area represents the device package of the patch terminal holder, whose main function is to firmly fix the charging PCB board to the apron, and the small rectangular area is the welding area, which is used to weld the fixed terminals. The patch terminal holders 3 are distributed on the edge of the charging panel 1 and the two diagonals of the charging panel 1. The distance between two adjacent fixed terminals at the edge of the charging PCB board is 55mm, the distance between the center and the edge of the charging PCB board is 10mm, and the distance between the fixed terminals on the diagonal of the square is 45.26mm. This design makes the fixation more stable; the patch terminal fixing seat 3 includes a copper-plated area 31 located on the front and back sides of the charging panel 1, a welding area 32 located on the back side of the charging panel 1, and a via 5 arranged in the outer circle of the copper-plated area. The welding area of ​​each patch terminal fixing seat is provided with a front and back rectangular copper-plated area and a peripheral via. This design can enhance the tensile resistance of the patch terminal, thereby ensuring a reliable connection between the charging PCB board and the apron.

[0040] Embodiment 3

[0041] This embodiment is consistent with the drone charging solution applicable to the second embodiment, and provides a charging device solution different from the second embodiment. The second embodiment uses a charging contact point to achieve a solution that can still be charged when the drone head is facing any of the four directions of east, south, west, and north. This embodiment provides a ring-shaped charging contact sheet solution. The details are as follows:

[0042] The charging contacts of the first charging contact group 21 are all in the shape of arc rings and are located on the same ring. In other words, as mentioned in Example 1, two charging contacts are used, and they can be set to have a certain length, such as two arc rings with opposite polarities, and the two arc rings are located on the same ring, as long as the two arc ring contacts of the first charging contact group 21 are not connected. In this way, it can be applied to more aircraft parking charging angles. Similarly, the second charging contact group 22 can also be set in the shape of an arc ring. Of course, because each contact of the second charging contact group 22 requires grounding, it can be directly set to a ring shape to connect each contact point. Similarly, the third charging contact group 23 can also be set in the shape of an arc ring. Of course, because each contact of the third charging contact group 23 requires +12V, it can be directly set to a ring shape to connect each contact point. The ring where the first charging contact group 21 is located, the ring where the second charging contact group 22 is located, and the ring where the third charging contact group 23 is located are concentric. To this end, the aircraft can be parked and charged in more directions and angles.

[0043] In summary, in actual mine drone inspection applications, the drone charging device provided by the above embodiment can adaptively charge in multiple directions, provide charging services for drones parked in ground service warehouses, and ensure that the drone head can successfully complete the charging operation when facing any of the four directions of southeast, northwest, and northeast, so as to provide drones with more efficient and convenient charging services. It can ensure that the drone can be charged quickly and safely after landing, thereby improving the overall efficiency and reliability of inspections.

[0044] The above is a detailed introduction to a drone charging device provided by the present application. This article uses specific examples to illustrate the principles and implementation methods of the present application. The description of the above embodiments is only used to help understand the method of the present application and its core idea. It should be pointed out that for ordinary technicians in this technical field, without departing from the principles of the present application, several improvements and modifications can be made to the present application, and these improvements and modifications also fall within the scope of protection of the claims of the present application.

Claims

1. A UAV charging device, used for charging a UAV; the UAV comprises a body and a plurality of arms located around the body; the characteristics are: A battery is arranged on the body; two body charging contacts electrically connected to the battery on the body are arranged at the bottom of the body; the charging device comprises a charging panel (1) and a plurality of panel charging contacts arranged on the charging panel (1); the plurality of panel charging contacts comprises a first charging contact group (21) located around the center of the charging panel (1), the first charging contact group (21) having at least two charging contacts distributed circumferentially around the center of the charging panel, and two adjacent contacts having opposite polarities, with positive and negative poles distributed alternately; the two body charging contacts can be in contact and conduct with any two adjacent charging contacts in the first charging contact group (21); and the battery on the body has a rectifier circuit.

2. The UAV charging device according to claim 1, characterized in that: At least one of the arms is provided with a battery, and the bottom of the arm is provided with two positive and negative arm charging contacts electrically connected to the battery thereon; the plurality of panel charging contacts also include a second charging contact group (22) distributed on the periphery of the first charging contact group (21) and a third charging contact group (23) distributed on the periphery of the second charging contact group (22); the charging contacts of the second charging contact group (22) are grounded, and the charging contacts of the third charging contact group (23) are positive; the two positive and negative arm charging contacts of each arm can be respectively contacted and conducted with the charging contacts of the third charging contact group (23) and the charging contacts of the second charging contact group (22).

3. The UAV charging device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The first charging contact group (21), the second charging contact group (22) and the third charging contact group (23) each include four charging contacts distributed circumferentially around the center of the charging panel, forming four line segments distributed in a cross at the center of the panel; three charging contacts of the panel are distributed on each line segment; each charging contact in the second charging contact group (22) is grounded; each charging contact in the third charging contact group (23) is a positive electrode; and the two positive and negative arm charging contacts of each arm can respectively contact and conduct with a charging contact in the third charging contact group (23) and a charging contact in the second charging contact group (22) on any line segment.

4. The UAV charging device according to claim 3, characterized in that: The charging contacts on each line segment are equidistantly distributed, and the charging contacts of the first charging contact group (21), the second charging contact group (22) and the third charging contact group (23) are all circular contacts.

5. The UAV charging device according to claim 2, 3 or 4, characterized in that: The body charging contact and / or the arm charging contact adopts a spring contact (4).

6. The UAV charging device according to claim 2, 3 or 4, characterized in that: The charging contacts of the first charging contact group (21), the second charging contact group (22) and the third charging contact group (23) are provided with a plurality of via holes (5), and the diameter of each via hole is smaller than the body charging contact and / or the arm charging contact.

7. The UAV charging device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: A plurality of patch terminal fixing seats (3) are distributed on the charging panel (1) and are used to connect fixing terminals, and the charging panel (1) is fixed to the apron via the fixing terminals.

8. The UAV charging device according to claim 7, characterized in that: The patch terminal fixing seats (3) are distributed on the edge of the charging panel (1) and on two diagonal lines of the charging panel (1).

9. The UAV charging device according to claim 7, characterized in that: The patch terminal fixing seat (3) comprises copper-plated areas (31) located on the front and back sides of the charging panel (1), a welding area (32) located on the back side of the charging panel (1), and vias (5) arranged on the outer ring of the copper-plated areas.

10. The UAV charging device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The charging contacts of the first charging contact group (21) are all in the shape of arc rings and are located on the same circular ring; the second charging contact group (22) is in the shape of a circular ring, and the third charging contact group (23) is in the shape of a circular ring; the circular ring where the first charging contact group (21) is located, the circular ring where the second charging contact group (22) is located, and the circular ring where the third charging contact group (23) is located are concentric.

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