Storage and transportation device for folding rotor aircraft

Abstract

The invention discloses a folding rotor aircraft storage and transportation device, which relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicle storage and transportation, and is simple and reasonable in structure, convenient to install and use, low in manufacturing cost and wide in application scene. The problems of low automatic unfolding and folding speed, low position control precision, motor stalling and the like during storage and transportation of the unmanned aerial vehicle are solved. The device is high in environment adaptability, and a 50km sports car road test on a bumpy road section after the device is mounted on a vehicle is completed; in the test task process, the storage and transportation device can be quickly and automatically unfolded and folded, the internal stored and transported aircraft has no structural damage, and the device is worthy of large-area popularization and application.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicle storage and transportation, and in particular to a folding rotorcraft storage and transportation device that can be used on a vehicle. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of aircraft, vehicle-mounted automated aircraft take-off and landing systems suitable for different scenarios are continuously released at home and abroad. Most aircraft fixed-point landings use machine vision to achieve centimeter-level precision landing, which has basically realized the take-off and landing of aircraft while the vehicle is moving under ideal conditions; most vehicle-mounted aircraft take-off and landing systems use a push rod to achieve the return of the aircraft, and can automatically complete battery replacement or contact charging operations.

[0003] However, current aircraft do not have the function of automatically storing blades and automatically folding arms. After landing on the storage and transportation box landing platform, a push rod is used to return the aircraft to its original position. Since the aircraft arms and blades are in an unfolded state, the storage and transportation box occupies a large space, resulting in a great waste of space.

[0004] At the same time, a fixed throttle value is used to control the rotation of the motor. Faced with complex driving environments and bad weather, the motor under the fixed throttle value is difficult to drive the mechanism to move.

[0005] In addition, some storage and transportation boxes only use encoders to record the movement position. Due to the gaps in the moving mechanism, it is difficult to ensure the movement accuracy of the mechanism after long-term operation, which poses certain safety hazards. Summary of the invention

[0006] In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a storage and transportation device for a folding rotorcraft for overcoming the above problems or at least partially solving the above problems.

[0007] The present invention provides the following scheme:

[0008] A storage and transportation device for a folding rotorcraft, comprising:

[0009] A box body, the top of which is open and has a space formed inside for accommodating the aircraft after the rotor arm is folded;

[0010] A door unit, the door unit comprising two sliding doors and a door opening and closing motor, the two sliding doors being arranged on a track at the top of the box body, and the door opening and closing motor being used for driving the two sliding doors to open or close;

[0011] A lifting assembly, the lifting assembly comprising a lifting platform and a lifting motor, the lifting motor being located at the bottom of the inner side of the box, the lifting platform being located inside the box and being connected with the lifting motor, the lifting motor being used to drive the lifting platform to move up and down along the height direction of the box;

[0012] The in-position switch unit includes a door opening limit switch, a door closing limit switch, a rising limit switch and a falling limit switch;

[0013] A control unit, wherein the door opening and closing motor, the lifting motor, the door opening limit switch, the door closing limit switch, the rising limit switch and the falling limit switch are all communicatively connected to the control unit;

[0014] The control unit is used to perform the following operations:

[0015] After power-on, the positions of the door opening and closing motor and the lifting motor are read through the motor encoder, the motor rotation speed is calculated, the current value is collected and filtered, the status of each limit switch is detected, and the encoder is calibrated;

[0016] After receiving the control instruction, determining the execution task content contained in the control instruction; the execution task content includes storing the aircraft or unfolding the aircraft;

[0017] The corresponding motor action is controlled according to the execution task content, and the motor is controlled to stop running after the corresponding limit switch is triggered.

[0018] Preferably: it also includes a centering locking unit, which includes a centering locking motor and a plurality of locking jaws; one ends of the plurality of locking jaws are respectively arranged in the through slots of the lifting platform; the plurality of locking jaws are all connected with the centering locking motor, and the centering locking motor is used to drive the plurality of locking jaws to move axially along the through slots in which they are located, so as to lock or release the aircraft located on the lifting platform.

[0019] Preferably: it also includes a locking limit switch and an unlocking limit switch; the centering locking motor, the locking limit switch and the unlocking limit switch are all communicatively connected with the control unit;

[0020] The mission execution content includes locking the aircraft or releasing the aircraft.

[0021] Preferably, after determining that the control instruction includes storing the aircraft, controlling the corresponding motor action according to the execution task content, and controlling the motor to stop running after the corresponding limit switch is triggered includes:

[0022] The throttle output of the centering locking motor is calculated by the position, speed and current three-loop PID, the centering locking motor is controlled to move, and the centering locking motor is controlled to stop moving after the locking in place limit switch is triggered;

[0023] The throttle output of the lifting motor is calculated by the position, speed and current three-loop PID to control the action of the lifting motor, and the lifting motor is controlled to stop after the lowering limit switch is triggered;

[0024] The throttle output of the door opening and closing motor is calculated through the position, speed and current three-loop PID, the door opening and closing motor is controlled to close the two sliding doors, and the door opening and closing motor is controlled to stop after the door closing limit switch is triggered.

[0025] Preferably, after determining that the control instruction includes storing the aircraft, controlling the corresponding motor action according to the execution task content, and controlling the motor to stop running after the corresponding limit switch is triggered includes:

[0026] The throttle output of the centering locking motor is calculated by the position, speed and current three-loop PID, the door opening and closing motor is controlled to open the two sliding doors, and the door opening and closing motor is controlled to stop after the door opening limit position switch is triggered;

[0027] The throttle output of the lifting motor is calculated by the position, speed and current three-loop PID to control the action of the lifting motor, and the lifting motor is controlled to stop after the rising limit switch is triggered;

[0028] The throttle output of the centering locking motor is calculated through the position, speed and current three-loop PID, the movement of the centering locking motor is controlled, and the centering locking motor is controlled to stop moving after the unlocking limit switch is triggered.

[0029] Preferably: the throttle value is obtained by real-time acquisition of encoder values, motor speed and direction, and current values, and performing first-order low-pass filtering calculation.

[0030] Preferably: it also includes a contact charging unit, the contact charging unit is connected to the lifting platform; the control unit is communicatively connected to the contact charging unit;

[0031] The control unit is further configured to control the contact charging unit to charge the aircraft after determining that the aircraft has been stored.

[0032] Preferably: the control unit comprises a microcontroller based on ARM-CortexM4 architecture.

[0033] Preferably, the box is used to be carried on a transport vehicle.

[0034] According to the specific embodiments provided by the present invention, the present invention discloses the following technical effects:

[0035] The embodiment of the present application provides a storage and transportation device for folding rotorcraft, which has a simple and reasonable structure, is easy to install and use, has a low manufacturing cost, and has a wide range of application scenarios. It solves the problems of slow automatic deployment and folding speed, low position control accuracy, and motor stalling in the storage and transportation of drones. The device has strong environmental adaptability and has completed a 50km sports car road test on a bumpy road section behind the vehicle; during the test mission, the storage and transportation device can be quickly and automatically deployed, and the aircraft stored and transported inside did not suffer structural damage, which is worthy of large-scale promotion and use.

[0036] Of course, any product implementing the present invention does not necessarily need to achieve all of the advantages described above at the same time. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0037] 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 are briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention, and for ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

[0038] Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of a storage and transportation device for a folding rotorcraft provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0039] Figure 2 is another structural schematic diagram of a folding rotorcraft storage and transportation device provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0040] Figure 3 is a structural schematic diagram of an aircraft unlocked state provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0041] Figure 4 is a structural schematic diagram of a locked state of an aircraft provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0042] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the lifting platform after it is lowered provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0043] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a sliding door after being closed provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0044] Figure 7 is a flowchart of a control unit provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0045] Figure 8 is a three-loop PID control flow chart provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0046] Fig. 9 is an automatic storage flow chart provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0047] Fig.10This is an automatic expansion flow chart provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0048] In the figure: box body 1, sliding door 2, door opening and closing motor 3, lifting platform 4, lifting motor 5, door opening limit switch 6, door closing limit switch 7, rising limit switch 8, descending limit switch 9, centering locking motor 10, locking claw 11, locking limit switch 12, unlocking limit switch 13, contact charging unit 14, aircraft 15. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0049] The technical scheme in the embodiment of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiment of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiment is only a part of the embodiment of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiment of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field belong to the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0050] See also Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 3 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 6 , is a storage and transportation device for a folding rotorcraft provided by an embodiment of the present invention, such as Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 3 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 6 As shown, the device may include:

[0051] A box 1, the top of which is open and has a space formed inside for accommodating the aircraft 15 after the rotor arm is folded;

[0052] The box door unit includes two sliding doors 2 of a side-by-side opening type and a door opening and closing motor 3. The two sliding doors 2 are arranged on a track at the top of the box body 1. The door opening and closing motor 3 is used to drive the two sliding doors 2 to open or close. The two sliding doors 2 can be closed by approaching each other at the same time or opened by separating from each other at the same time under the drive of the door opening and closing motor 3.

[0053] A lifting component, the lifting component includes a lifting platform 4 and a lifting motor 5, the lifting motor 5 is located at the bottom of the inner side of the box body 1, the lifting platform 4 is located inside the box body 1 and is connected with the lifting motor 5, and the lifting motor 5 is used to drive the lifting platform 4 to move up and down along the height direction of the box body 1;

[0054] The in-position switch unit includes a door opening limit switch 6, a door closing limit switch 7, an ascending limit switch 8 and a descending limit switch 9;

[0055] The control unit, the door opening and closing motor 3, the lifting motor 5, the door opening limit switch 6, the door closing limit switch 7, the rising limit switch 8 and the falling limit switch 9 are all communicatively connected with the control unit;

[0056] like Figure 7 As shown, the control unit is used to perform the following operations:

[0057] After power-on, the positions of the door opening and closing motor 3 and the lifting motor 5 are read through the motor encoder, the motor rotation speed is calculated, the current value is collected and filtered, the status of each limit switch is detected, and the encoder is calibrated;

[0058] After receiving the control instruction, determining the execution task content contained in the control instruction; the execution task content includes storing the aircraft 15 or unfolding the aircraft 15;

[0059] The corresponding motor action is controlled according to the execution task content, and the motor is controlled to stop running after the corresponding limit switch is triggered.

[0060] The storage and transportation device for the folding rotorcraft 15 provided in the embodiment of the present application can customize the commands for automatic unfolding, automatic storage, single-step door opening, single-step door closing, single-step ascending, single-step descending, single-step locking, single-step unlocking and motor stopping. Figure 8 As shown, the automatic deployment and automatic storage adopts a three-loop PID controller of position loop, speed loop and current loop. By real-time acquisition of encoder values, calculation of motor speed and direction, real-time acquisition of current values ​​and first-order low-pass filtering to calculate the throttle value, it can effectively ensure the motor position control accuracy, operating speed and prevent stalling.

[0061] In order to lock the aircraft 15 when the aircraft 15 is located on the lifting platform 4, the embodiment of the present application can also provide a centering locking unit, which includes a centering locking motor 10 and a plurality of locking jaws 11; one ends of the plurality of locking jaws 11 are respectively arranged in the through grooves of the lifting platform 4; the plurality of locking jaws 11 are all connected with the centering locking motor, and the centering locking motor is used to drive the plurality of locking jaws 11 to move axially along the through grooves in which they are located, so as to lock or release the aircraft 15 located on the lifting platform 4.

[0062] In order to perceive the locking state in real time, the embodiment of the present application may further provide a locked position switch 12 and an unlocked position switch 13; the centering locking motor 10, the locked position switch 12 and the unlocked position switch 13 are all communicatively connected to the control unit;

[0063] The mission execution content includes locking the aircraft 15 or releasing the aircraft 15 .

[0064] The device provided in the embodiment of the present application can realize the automatic execution of various tasks through the control of the control unit. For example, in one implementation, Fig. 9 As shown, the embodiment of the present application can provide that after determining that the control instruction includes storing the aircraft 15; controlling the corresponding motor action according to the execution task content, and controlling the motor to stop running after the corresponding limit switch is triggered includes:

[0065] The throttle output of the centering locking motor is calculated by the position, speed and current three-loop PID, the centering locking motor 10 is controlled to move and the centering locking motor 10 is controlled to stop moving after the locking in place switch 12 is triggered;

[0066] The throttle output of the lifting motor 5 is calculated by the position, speed and current three-loop PID to control the action of the lifting motor 5, and the lifting motor 5 is controlled to stop after the lowering limit switch 9 is triggered;

[0067] The throttle output of the door opening and closing motor 3 is calculated through the position, speed and current three-loop PID, the door opening and closing motor 3 is controlled to close the two sliding doors 2, and the door opening and closing motor 3 is controlled to stop after the door closing limit switch is triggered.

[0068] Further, such as Fig.10 As shown, after determining that the control instruction includes storing the aircraft 15; controlling the corresponding motor action according to the execution task content, and controlling the motor to stop running after the corresponding limit switch is triggered includes:

[0069] The throttle output of the centering locking motor is calculated by the position, speed and current three-loop PID, the door opening and closing motor 3 is controlled to open the two sliding doors 2, and the door opening and closing motor 3 is controlled to stop after the door opening limit position switch 6 is triggered;

[0070] The throttle output of the lifting motor 5 is calculated by the position, speed and current three-loop PID to control the action of the lifting motor 5, and the lifting motor 5 is controlled to stop after the rising limit switch 8 is triggered;

[0071] The throttle output of the centering locking motor is calculated through the position, speed and current three-loop PID, the centering locking motor 10 is controlled to move and the centering locking motor 10 is controlled to stop moving after the unlocking in place switch 13 is triggered.

[0072] In order to accurately obtain the throttle value of a motor, the embodiment of the present application can provide a first-order low-pass filtering calculation to obtain the throttle value by real-time acquisition of encoder values, motor speed and direction, and real-time acquisition of current values.

[0073] In order to charge the drone after it is stored, the embodiment of the present application may provide a contact charging unit 14, wherein the contact charging unit 14 is connected to the lifting platform 4; the control unit is communicatively connected to the contact charging unit 14;

[0074] The control unit is further configured to control the contact charging unit 14 to charge the aircraft 15 after determining that the aircraft 15 has been stored.

[0075] In a specific implementation, the embodiment of the present application may also provide that the control unit includes a microcontroller based on the ARM-CortexM4 architecture.

[0076] It is understandable that the box 1 provided in the embodiment of the present application can be placed on the ground for use, or can be used on a mobile device. For example, in one implementation, the embodiment of the present application can provide the box 1 for being carried on a carrier vehicle. The aircraft 15 can be a multi-rotor drone that can automatically fold its wings.

[0077] When the device provided in the embodiment of the present application is implemented, three brush motors with encoders can be used as driving mechanisms for the storage box door, the lifting platform 4, and the centering mechanism, respectively, and eight limit switches can be used as position limits of the motion mechanism, including one rising limit switch 8, one descending limit switch 9, two door opening limit switches 6, two door closing limit switches 7, one locking limit switch 12, and one unlocking limit switch 13.

[0078] A microcontroller based on the ARM-CortexM4 architecture is used as the main control chip to form a control unit. The encoder value indicates the operating position of the mechanism. The encoder data is collected in real time using a timer, and the rotation speed and direction of each motor are calculated. The current of each motor is collected through the ADC, and the motor current blocking current parameters are set according to the physical properties of the motor to prevent accidents caused by excessive current due to structural obstruction of motor rotation. The limit switches deployed in the storage and transportation box are collected in real time. When the rising limit switch is triggered, the rising motor stops rotating and no longer responds to the rising command. Due to the one-way gap in the operating mechanism, the motor does not drive the moving mechanism when it rotates. The encoder accuracy is difficult to meet the reciprocating motion of the mechanism, so the encoder value is calibrated through the limit switch.

[0079] In summary, the storage and transportation device for folding rotorcraft provided by the present application has a simple and reasonable structure, is easy to install and use, has a low manufacturing cost, and has a wide range of application scenarios. It solves the problems of slow automatic deployment and folding speed, low position control accuracy, and motor stalling in the storage and transportation of drones. The device has strong environmental adaptability and has completed a 50km sports car road test on a bumpy road section behind a vehicle; during the test mission, the storage and transportation device was able to be quickly and automatically deployed, and the aircraft stored and transported inside did not suffer any structural damage, which is worthy of large-scale promotion and use.

[0080] 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 sentence "comprise a ..." do not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the elements.

[0081] It can be known from the description of the above implementation methods that those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the present application can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform. Based on such an understanding, the technical solution of the present application can be essentially or partly embodied in the form of a software product that contributes to the prior art. The computer software product can be stored in a storage medium such as ROM / RAM, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc., and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application or certain parts of the embodiments.

[0082] Each embodiment in this specification is described in a progressive manner, and the same or similar parts between the embodiments can refer to each other, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. In particular, for the system or system embodiment, since it is basically similar to the method embodiment, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can refer to the partial description of the method embodiment. The system and system embodiments described above are merely schematic, wherein the units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place, or they may be distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the scheme of this embodiment. Ordinary technicians in this field can understand and implement it without creative work.

[0083] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the protection scope of the present invention. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention are included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A storage and transportation device for a folding rotorcraft, characterized in that: include: A box body, the top of which is open and has a space formed inside for accommodating the aircraft after the rotor arm is folded; A door unit, the door unit comprising two sliding doors and a door opening and closing motor, the two sliding doors being arranged on a track at the top of the box body, and the door opening and closing motor being used for driving the two sliding doors to open or close; A lifting assembly, the lifting assembly comprising a lifting platform and a lifting motor, the lifting motor being located at the bottom of the inner side of the box, the lifting platform being located inside the box and being connected with the lifting motor, the lifting motor being used to drive the lifting platform to move up and down along the height direction of the box; A position switch unit, the position switch unit comprising a door opening position limit switch, a door closing position limit switch, a rising position limit switch and a falling position limit switch; A control unit, wherein the door opening and closing motor, the lifting motor, the door opening limit switch, the door closing limit switch, the rising limit switch and the falling limit switch are all communicatively connected to the control unit; The control unit is used to perform the following operations: After power-on, the positions of the door opening and closing motor and the lifting motor are read through the motor encoder, the motor rotation speed is calculated, the current value is collected and filtered, the status of each limit switch is detected, and the encoder is calibrated; After receiving the control instruction, determining the execution task content contained in the control instruction; the execution task content includes storing the aircraft or unfolding the aircraft; The corresponding motor action is controlled according to the execution task content, and the motor is controlled to stop running after the corresponding limit switch is triggered.

2. The storage and transportation device for folding rotorcraft according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a centering locking unit, which includes a centering locking motor and a plurality of locking jaws; one ends of the plurality of locking jaws are respectively arranged in the through slots of the lifting platform; the plurality of locking jaws are all connected with the centering locking motor, and the centering locking motor is used to drive the plurality of locking jaws to move axially along the through slots in which they are located, so as to lock or release the aircraft located on the lifting platform.

3. The storage and transportation device for folding rotorcraft according to claim 2, characterized in that: It also includes a locking limit switch and an unlocking limit switch; the centering locking motor, the locking limit switch and the unlocking limit switch are all communicatively connected to the control unit; The mission execution content includes locking the aircraft or releasing the aircraft.

4. The storage and transportation device for folding rotorcraft according to claim 3, characterized in that: After determining that the control instruction includes storing the aircraft; Controlling the corresponding motor action according to the execution task content, and controlling the motor to stop running after the corresponding limit switch is triggered includes: The throttle output of the centering locking motor is calculated by the position, speed and current three-loop PID, the centering locking motor is controlled to move, and the centering locking motor is controlled to stop moving after the locking in place limit switch is triggered; The throttle output of the lifting motor is calculated by the position, speed and current three-loop PID to control the action of the lifting motor, and the lifting motor is controlled to stop after the lowering limit switch is triggered; The throttle output of the door opening and closing motor is calculated through the position, speed and current three-loop PID, the door opening and closing motor is controlled to close the two sliding doors, and the door opening and closing motor is controlled to stop after the door closing limit switch is triggered.

5. The storage and transportation device for folding rotorcraft according to claim 3, characterized in that: After determining that the control instruction includes storing the aircraft; Controlling the corresponding motor action according to the execution task content, and controlling the motor to stop running after the corresponding limit switch is triggered includes: The throttle output of the centering locking motor is calculated by the position, speed and current three-loop PID, the door opening and closing motor is controlled to open the two sliding doors, and the door opening and closing motor is controlled to stop after the door opening limit position switch is triggered; The throttle output of the lifting motor is calculated by the position, speed and current three-loop PID to control the action of the lifting motor, and the lifting motor is controlled to stop after the rising limit switch is triggered; The throttle output of the centering locking motor is calculated through the position, speed and current three-loop PID, the movement of the centering locking motor is controlled, and the centering locking motor is controlled to stop moving after the unlocking limit switch is triggered.

6. The storage and transportation device for folding rotorcraft according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that: The throttle value is obtained by real-time acquisition of encoder values, motor speed and direction, and current values, and performing first-order low-pass filtering calculations.

7. The storage and transportation device for folding rotorcraft according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a contact charging unit, which is connected to the lifting platform; the control unit is communicatively connected to the contact charging unit; The control unit is further configured to control the contact charging unit to charge the aircraft after determining that the aircraft has been stored.

8. The storage and transportation device for folding rotorcraft according to claim 1, characterized in that: The control unit includes a microcontroller based on the ARM-CortexM4 architecture.

9. The storage and transportation device for folding rotorcraft according to claim 1, characterized in that: The box body is used for being carried on a transport vehicle.

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