Multi-rotor control system and method for controlling aircraft body to fly at high speed through horizontal thrust augmentation

Abstract

The invention discloses a multi-rotor control system and method for controlling a machine body to fly at a high speed through horizontal stress application. On the basis of the multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle, horizontal stress application mechanisms based on propellers are installed at the rotor wings, a flight control system cooperatively controls the rotating speed of the rotor wings and horizontal output of the propellers according to a motion instruction given by a user and information fed back by a sensor, the rotor wings and the propellers act together to generate resultant force, and the rotor wings and the propellers are driven to rotate. The unmanned aerial vehicle is driven to do horizontal movement including advancing, retreating, left moving, right moving, anticlockwise rotating and clockwise rotating, the pitching inclination angle of the vehicle body in the flying process can be obviously reduced, energy loss is reduced, and the response speed, the control precision and the stability are improved. The method can be widely applied to unmanned aerial vehicle logistics delivery, unmanned aerial vehicle film and television following shooting, unmanned aerial vehicle high-speed inspection, unmanned aerial vehicle strong wind environment operation and other scenes needing high maneuverability.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the technical field of flight control systems (referred to as flight control systems), and specifically relates to a flight control system and a control method for coupling a multi-rotor with a horizontal afterburner to control the horizontal high-speed flight of an aircraft. Background Art

[0002] Traditional multi-rotor drones rely on the differences in rotor speed to generate lift and torque when performing forward, backward, left, and right movements, thereby generating propulsion and adjusting the drone's attitude. However, this flight control method, which relies solely on rotor speed differences, presents the following technical issues.

[0003] Energy loss: When a traditional multi-rotor drone is in horizontal motion, the speed difference of the rotors causes the body to pitch significantly, forming an inclination angle. The horizontal force generated by the rotors drives the body to move horizontally. The principle is as follows: Figure 1 and Figure 2 . refer to Figure 1 When the rotor UAV is in a horizontal state, the lift generated by each rotor is equal in magnitude, and the resultant force F of the lift is all used to overcome the gravity G of the UAV, so that the UAV can remain in the air or fly vertically. Figure 2 When a rotor drone moves horizontally, the fuselage will tilt. For example, in the figure, the drone wants to move horizontally to the left, and the fuselage will tilt to the left, that is, the left is lower and the right is higher, showing a certain pitch angle; the resultant force F generated by the rotor is decomposed into two components: one is the vertical upward lift component F1, which is used to overcome the gravity G of the drone; the other is the left horizontal component F2, which makes the drone generate a leftward acceleration in the horizontal direction, thereby achieving leftward flight movement. Figure 1 and Figure 2 As can be seen, when the aircraft tilts, the horizontal force component F2 increases, the lift component F1 decreases, and effective lift is lost. The greater the tilt angle, the greater the horizontal force component, and the faster the drone flies, but the greater the lift loss. Therefore, the rotors need to continuously increase their output to provide additional lift to offset gravity, resulting in significant energy consumption and reduced endurance.

[0004] Slow response speed and low accuracy: Rotor differential control generally has response delays. When facing complex environments or when rapid and large maneuvers are required to adjust the attitude, the response speed cannot meet higher requirements. It is difficult for the drone to complete attitude adjustments quickly and accurately, resulting in untimely movement or inaccurate attitude, and overshoot oscillation is prone to occur during large maneuvers.

[0005] Poor motion stability: The adjustment range of the rotor speed is limited, and the lift difference and driving force generated are also limited. It is easily affected by external interference such as airflow and strong wind, resulting in flight jitter, trajectory deviation, etc.; when performing yaw motion, it relies on the rotor torque difference, which can easily cause unnecessary coupling motion and lead to position drift. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present invention addresses the problems of large energy loss, slow response speed, low adjustment accuracy and poor motion stability in the current traditional multi-rotor UAV flight control method that relies on the rotor speed difference. It provides a multi-rotor control system and method for horizontal power boost control of the aircraft body at high speed, so as to solve the many technical problems existing in the flight control of traditional multi-rotor UAVs in the background technology.

[0007] The present invention effectively solves the technical problem of traditional multi-rotors relying solely on rotor speed difference for flight control by installing a propeller on the multi-rotor fuselage as a horizontal boost assist device and combining it with traditional rotor control, thus bringing the following significant technical effects: Improve energy utilization efficiency: The introduction of horizontal auxiliary thrust generated by the thruster can significantly reduce the pitch angle of the UAV, and even make the pitch angle infinitely close to zero. The reduction of the pitch angle reduces the lift loss caused by generating the horizontal component force, thereby reducing the energy consumed by the rotor to maintain the pitch angle, improving the energy utilization efficiency of the UAV and extending the UAV's flight time.

[0008] Improve motion response speed and attitude control accuracy: The thrusters have no output response delay and can directly and quickly provide additional horizontal auxiliary thrust, making the UAV's motion control more timely; and the amount of auxiliary thrust provided by the thrusters can be directly controlled, which can make more precise adjustments to the UAV's attitude, thereby responding to environmental changes and user control commands more quickly and accurately. Enhanced motion stability: The horizontal auxiliary thrust provided by the thruster can make up for the lack of driving force caused by the rotor speed difference, quickly compensate for external disturbances, reduce jitter and deviation during flight, improve the accuracy of the flight trajectory, and significantly improve the stability of the drone. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] Figure 1 It is the force diagram of the rotor UAV in the horizontal state.

[0010] Figure 2 It is the force diagram of the rotor UAV in tilted state.

[0011] Figure 3 It is a system block diagram of the present invention.

[0012] Figure 4 It is a control flow chart of the present invention.

[0013] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the forward motion of the present invention.

[0014] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of the backward movement of the present invention.

[0015] Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of the left shift movement of the present invention.

[0016] Figure 8 It is a schematic diagram of the right movement of the present invention.

[0017] Figure 9 It is a schematic diagram of the counterclockwise rotation motion of the present invention.

[0018] Figure 10 It is a schematic diagram of the clockwise rotation movement of the present invention.

[0019] Figure 11 It is a schematic diagram of the device structure of an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. The following embodiments are used to illustrate the present invention.

[0021] The following embodiments are described using a quad-rotor drone, and the technical solutions of other hexa-rotor, octa-rotor, and N-rotor drones can be derived by analogy.

[0022] See also Figure 3 , a system block diagram of an embodiment proposed by the present invention is given.

[0023] The flight control system of the present invention includes a sensor module, a control module, a rotor motor drive unit, and a propeller drive unit. The sensor module is used to collect information such as the attitude, speed, and position of the drone. The control module is used to receive motion commands from the user and, based on the sensor data, generate control signals for the rotor motors and propellers. The rotor motor drive unit is used to adjust the speed of each rotor motor according to the control signal. The propeller drive unit is used to adjust the output direction and thrust of each propeller according to the control signal.

[0024] The rotor motor drive unit drives the rotor motors corresponding to rotors 1 through 4. The four rotors are mounted at the four corners of the fuselage. From a top-down perspective, rotor 1 is in the upper right corner, rotor 2 is in the upper left corner, rotor 3 is in the lower left corner, and rotor 4 is in the lower right corner. Rotors 1 and 3 rotate counterclockwise, while rotors 2 and 4 rotate clockwise.

[0025] The thruster drive unit drives thrusters 1 through 4. Each thruster is mounted near the center of rotors 1 through 4, equidistant from the drone's center of gravity. Each thruster delivers horizontal thrust, and the direction of thrust can be adjusted based on control commands, such as forward, backward, left, or right. The magnitude of thrust output is also adjustable.

[0026] See also Figure 4 , a control flow chart of an embodiment proposed by the present invention is given.

[0027] First, the flight control system receives the control command input by the user and determines whether the movement type issued by the control command is forward, backward, left, right, counterclockwise or clockwise yaw; The flight control system then uses the drone's attitude, speed, and position information acquired in real time by sensors to allocate the driving force between the rotor and the propeller, ensuring that the combined force of the rotor and propeller equals the control command's requirements. On the one hand, the flight control system calculates the speed parameters of each rotor based on the driving force generated by the rotor, and then sends the control signal to the rotor motor drive unit to achieve precise control of the propeller; On the other hand, the flight control system calculates the output parameters of each thruster based on the driving force generated by the thruster, and then sends the control signal to the thruster drive unit to achieve precise control of the thruster; At the same time, the flight control system continuously and dynamically adjusts the rotor speed and the control signal output by the thruster based on the real-time feedback information from the sensor, thereby enabling the drone to complete forward and backward movement, left and right movement, and yaw movement.

[0028] See also Figures 5 to 10 When the drone needs to adjust to other postures and perform different movements in the hovering state, the flight control system coordinates the control of the rotor speed and propeller output according to the movement instructions and sensor feedback information. The specific control method is as follows: Forward and backward motion control: See also Figure 5 ,Forward control: The flight control system issues a forward command, increasing the speed of the rear rotors 3 and 4, while maintaining the speed of the front rotors 1 and 2, forming a front-to-back lift difference, making the drone "low in front and high in the back", and the rotor thrust produces a component force in the positive direction of the X-axis; at the same time, the thrusters corresponding to the rotors 3 and 4 are controlled to output horizontally backward, and the output power is equal, providing additional forward thrust, and jointly driving the drone forward. See also Figure 6 , Backward control: The flight control system issues a backward command, increasing the speed of the front rotors 1 and 2, while maintaining the speed of the rear rotors 3 and 4, forming a front-to-back lift difference, making the drone "low at the back and high at the front", and the rotor thrust produces a component in the negative direction of the X-axis; at the same time, the thrusters corresponding to the rotors 1 and 2 are controlled to output forward horizontally, and the output power is equal, providing additional backward thrust to jointly drive the drone backward.

[0029] Left and right movement control: See also Figure 7 , Left shift control: The flight control system issues a left shift command, increasing the speed of the rotors 1 and 4 on the right, and maintaining the speed of the rotors 2 and 3 on the left, forming a lift difference between the left and right, and the drone is "low on the left and high on the right", and the rotor thrust produces a component force in the positive direction of the Y axis; at the same time, the thrusters corresponding to the rotors 1 and 4 are controlled to output horizontally to the right, and the output power is equal, providing additional left thrust, and jointly driving the drone to move left. See also Figure 8 Right shift control: The flight control system issues a right shift command, increasing the speed of the left rotors 2 and 3, while maintaining the speed of the right rotors 1 and 4, forming a left-right lift difference, and the drone moves to the "right lower and left higher", and the rotor thrust produces a component in the negative direction of the Y axis; at the same time, the thrusters corresponding to the No. 2 and No. 3 rotors are controlled to output horizontally to the left, and the output power is equal, providing additional rightward thrust, which jointly drives the drone to move right. Yaw motion control: See also Figure 9 , Counterclockwise rotation control: The flight control system sends a counterclockwise yaw command to increase the speed of rotors 1 and 3 while the speed of rotors 2 and 4 remains unchanged. Then the torque generated by rotors 1 and 3 on the fuselage is greater than the torque of rotors 2 and 4; at the same time, the propeller corresponding to rotor 1 is controlled to output horizontally to the right, and the propeller corresponding to rotor 3 is controlled to output horizontally to the left, and the output power is equal. The torque generated by the two propellers works together with the rotor torque to make the drone rotate counterclockwise around the Z axis. See also Figure 10 Clockwise rotation control: The flight control system issues a clockwise yaw command to increase the speed of rotors 2 and 4 while the speed of rotors 1 and 3 remains unchanged. The torque generated by rotors 2 and 4 on the fuselage is greater than the torque of rotors 1 and 3. At the same time, the thruster corresponding to rotor 2 is controlled to output horizontally to the left, and the thruster corresponding to rotor 4 is controlled to output horizontally to the right, and the output power is equal. The torque generated by the two thrusters works synergistically with the rotor torque to make the drone rotate clockwise around the Z axis.

[0030] The propeller in the above embodiment is a jet propeller. If it is replaced with other types of propellers, such as propeller propellers, electric propellers, ion propellers, etc., the control method is also the same.

[0031] The principle of the present invention is described as follows: Traditional quadcopter drones generate torque through the speed difference of the rotors. During forward and backward, left and right horizontal motion, the speed difference between the front and back or left and right rotors forms an inclination angle driven by the thrust component. During yaw motion, the speed difference between one set of diagonal rotors and the other set of diagonal rotors forms a torque difference.

[0032] In this invention, the propeller is integrated with the rotor system, superimposing horizontal thrust on the rotor system to reduce reliance on rotor pitch. During forward and backward, left and right horizontal movement, the propeller thrust directly provides an X-axis or Y-axis force component, reducing rotor pitch requirements. The superposition of the propeller thrust and the rotor pitch component creates a compound propulsion mode combining rotor speed difference and horizontal thrust. During yaw motion, the propeller thrust generates a reaction torque that supplements the rotor torque difference, reducing reliance on rotor torque.

[0033] In this invention, vertical lift is generated by the rotation of the rotor (based on Bernoulli's principle, the difference in flow velocity between the upper and lower surfaces of the rotor creates lift). The propeller only provides auxiliary thrust in the horizontal direction and does not directly participate in the generation of vertical lift.

[0034] In this invention, the rotor consumes over 60% of the total energy, primarily used to maintain hovering and vertical motion, and generate the horizontal thrust component. The propeller consumes less than 40% of the total energy, generating horizontal auxiliary thrust. The energy distribution between the two can be dynamically adjusted based on motion commands, and the flight control system can allocate the energy consumption of the rotor and propeller in real time, enabling complex control.

[0035] The present invention is mainly used in high-maneuverability scenarios, such as: precise logistics delivery by drones, which can achieve rapid translation while keeping the cargo box level to avoid swinging; drone filming, which can achieve acceleration and steering while keeping the fuselage level, without position drift, and improve gimbal stability; drone high-speed inspections, with thrusters assisting in rapid acceleration and braking to reduce rotor response delays; and operations in strong wind environments, with thrusters assisting in real-time offsetting wind disturbances to reduce attitude fluctuations.

[0036] See also Figure 11 , a device structure of an embodiment of the present invention is given. Figure 11 This is a quad-rotor drone structure, with the outer shell, rotors, landing gear, electronic equipment, and batteries removed for easier observation. The main fuselage frame 100 is used to support key components such as electronic equipment and batteries. Four arms extend from the main fuselage frame 100, each with a motor mount 101 mounted at its end. Motor mounts 101 are used to mount rotor motors, providing flight power for the drone. Propeller mounts 102 are equidistantly positioned on the four arms, just below the motor mounts 101. Spherical devices 103 are mounted below these mounts. Their spherical shape allows the propeller boom 104 attached to them to rotate freely. Propeller boom 104 serves as a load-bearing structure, and its other end is connected to a propeller 105 that can rotate 360 ​​degrees around propeller boom 104. This structure allows propeller 105 to flexibly adjust its angle in space, meeting the drone's flight maneuvers. For example, when the main fuselage frame 100 tilts, propeller 105 can be adjusted to a horizontal orientation to generate horizontal thrust.

[0037] In this embodiment, the propeller is installed below the rotor. It has a small size and low thrust. It is coaxial with the rotor or close to the center of the rotor. The rotor downwash is used to enhance the nozzle efficiency, form an aerodynamic coupling effect, and improve the thrust effect.

[0038] Matters not fully described in the present invention are known in the art.

[0039] The embodiments described above are merely descriptions of preferred implementations of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Without departing from the spirit of the present invention, various modifications and improvements made to the technical solutions of the present invention by ordinary technicians in this field should fall within the scope of protection determined by the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a multi-rotor aircraft in high-speed flight with horizontal afterburner control, characterized in that: Based on a multi-rotor drone, a propeller is installed near each rotor. The propeller can adjust the output direction and thrust size according to the movement requirements of the drone. When the drone needs to perform different horizontal movements, the flight control system coordinates and controls the speed of each rotor and whether each propeller outputs, the output direction and the output power according to the movement instructions issued by the user and the information fed back by the sensor, so that the rotor and the propeller work together to generate a resultant force, driving the drone to perform horizontal movements including forward, backward, left, right, counterclockwise rotation and clockwise rotation.

2. The multi-rotor control method for high-speed flight of a horizontal afterburner-controlled aircraft according to claim 1, characterized in that: The flight control system can distribute the magnitude of the driving force generated by the rotor and the propeller so that the resultant force of the driving force generated by the rotor and the propeller is equal to the motion instruction requirement.

3. The multi-rotor control method for high-speed flight of a horizontal afterburner-controlled aircraft according to claim 1, characterized in that: The flight control system can dynamically adjust the rotor speed and propeller output continuously based on real-time feedback information from sensors.

4. The multi-rotor control method for high-speed flight of a horizontally powered aircraft according to claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: Define the front of the drone as the positive direction of the X axis, the back as the negative direction of the X axis, the left as the positive direction of the Y axis, the right as the negative direction of the Y axis, the top as the positive direction of the Z axis, and the bottom as the negative direction of the Z axis when looking down. The lift that maintains the Z-axis height of the drone and enables the drone to move vertically on the Z-axis is generated by the rotor; Forward motion control: The flight control system issues a forward command, causing the rear rotor of the drone to rotate faster than the front rotor, creating a lift differential between the front and rear. The drone assumes a "low front, high back" attitude, with the rotor thrust generating a component in the positive X-axis direction. Simultaneously, the propeller near the rear rotor is controlled to output horizontally backward, providing additional forward thrust. The rotor and propeller work together to propel the drone forward. Backward motion control: The flight control system issues a backward motion command, causing the front rotor of the drone to rotate faster than the rear rotor, creating a front-to-rear lift differential. The drone assumes a "low back, high front" attitude, with the rotor thrust generating a component in the negative X-axis direction. Simultaneously, the propeller near the front rotor is controlled to output forward horizontally, providing additional backward thrust. The rotor and propeller work together to drive the drone backward. Left motion control: The flight control system issues a left motion command, causing the right rotor of the drone to rotate faster than the left rotor, creating a lift difference between the left and right sides. The drone assumes a "low on the left, high on the right" attitude, and the rotor thrust generates a component in the positive Y-axis direction. At the same time, the propeller near the right rotor is controlled to output horizontally to the right, providing additional leftward thrust. The rotor and propeller work together to drive the drone to the left. Right-shift motion control: The flight control system issues a right-shift command, causing the left rotor to rotate faster than the right, creating a lift difference between the left and right sides. The drone assumes a "right-low, left-high" attitude, with the rotor thrust generating a component in the negative Y-axis direction. Simultaneously, the propeller near the left rotor is controlled to output horizontally to the left, providing additional rightward thrust. The rotor and propeller work together to drive the drone to the right. Counterclockwise rotation motion control: The flight control system issues a counterclockwise yaw command, causing the rotation speed of the upper right and lower left rotors of the drone to be greater than that of the upper left and lower right rotors. The counterclockwise torque generated by the upper right and lower left rotors on the aircraft is greater than the clockwise torque generated by the upper left and lower right rotors on the aircraft. At the same time, the thrusters near the upper right rotor are controlled to output horizontally to the right, and the thrusters near the lower left rotor are controlled to output horizontally to the left. The rotors and thrusters work together to rotate the drone counterclockwise around the Z axis. Clockwise rotation motion control: The flight control system issues a clockwise yaw command, making the rotation speed of the upper left and lower right rotors of the drone greater than that of the upper right and lower left rotors. The clockwise torque generated by the upper left and lower right rotors on the fuselage is greater than the counterclockwise torque generated by the upper right and lower left rotors on the fuselage. At the same time, the thruster near the upper left rotor is controlled to output horizontally to the left, and the thruster near the lower right rotor is controlled to output horizontally to the right. The rotor and thruster work together to make the drone rotate clockwise around the Z axis.

5. The multi-rotor control method for high-speed flight of a horizontal afterburner-controlled aircraft according to claim 4, characterized in that: In the aforementioned forward, backward, leftward, rightward, counterclockwise, and clockwise motion controls, if multiple propellers need to be activated in each motion control, the thrusts of these propellers are equal.

6. A multi-rotor control system for controlling high-speed flight of an aircraft with horizontal afterburner according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: include: The multi-rotor drone body includes a fuselage, multiple rotors, and rotor motors corresponding to each rotor; A horizontal booster mechanism, comprising a plurality of thrusters mounted near each rotor, said thrusters being capable of delivering horizontal thrust, the direction of which can be adjusted according to control instructions, and the magnitude of which can also be adjusted according to control instructions; The flight control system includes a sensor module for collecting the drone's attitude, speed, and position information; a control module for receiving motion commands from the user and generating control signals for the rotor motors and thrusters based on the data collected by the sensor module; a rotor motor drive unit for adjusting the speed of each rotor motor according to the control signal; and a thruster drive unit for adjusting the output direction and thrust of each thruster according to the control signal.

7. The multi-rotor control system for horizontal afterburner control of high-speed flight of an aircraft according to claim 6, characterized in that: The thruster is a device for generating horizontal thrust, and its types include jet thrusters, propeller thrusters, electric thrusters, and ion thrusters.

8. The multi-rotor control system for horizontal afterburner control of high-speed flight of an aircraft according to claim 6, characterized in that: The propellers are arranged coaxially with the rotor or close to the center of the rotor, and the distance between each propeller and the center of gravity of the UAV is equal.

9. The multi-rotor control system for horizontal afterburner control of high-speed flight of an aircraft according to claim 6, characterized in that: The propeller has a plurality of nozzles capable of multi-directional output, or has a single nozzle with adjustable direction.

10. The multi-rotor control system for horizontal afterburner control of high-speed flight of an aircraft according to claim 6, characterized in that: When the multi-rotor UAV body is a quad-rotor: it includes a fuselage, a first rotor, a second rotor, a third rotor, a fourth rotor and a rotor motor corresponding to each rotor, and each rotor is installed at the four corners of the fuselage. When viewed from a top down angle, the upper right corner is the first rotor, the upper left corner is the second rotor, the lower left corner is the third rotor, and the lower right corner is the fourth rotor, wherein the first rotor and the third rotor rotate counterclockwise, and the second rotor and the fourth rotor rotate clockwise; a propeller is installed near each rotor, and the propeller can realize horizontal thrust output, and its output direction can be adjusted according to the control instruction, and can be adjusted to one of the following in the horizontal direction: horizontal forward, horizontal backward, horizontal left, and horizontal right; its thrust size can also be adjusted according to the control instruction.

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