Rotor wing unmanned aerial vehicle capable of automatically retracting and releasing vehicle arms

Abstract

The utility model discloses a rotor unmanned aerial vehicle capable of automatically retracting and releasing vehicle arms. The rotor unmanned aerial vehicle comprises an unmanned aerial vehicle body; the vehicle arms are arranged at the corners of the unmanned aerial vehicle body; the pressure mechanism is arranged on the unmanned aerial vehicle body, contains gas and can generate pressure change of the gas; the transmission mechanism is connected to the pressure mechanism, transmits the pressure change of the gas of the pressure mechanism and converts the pressure change into power for automatically retracting and releasing the vehicle arm; the connecting mechanism is arranged on the unmanned aerial vehicle body, connected with the vehicle arms and meshed with the transmission mechanism so that the vehicle arms can be driven to rotate through power of the transmission mechanism, and therefore the vehicle arms can be automatically retracted and released. According to the unmanned rotorcraft, autonomous retracting and releasing of the arms can be achieved without a rigid transmission rod structure for power transmission, the influence on the structure of the fuselage of the unmanned rotorcraft is small, and the degree of freedom of design of the unmanned rotorcraft can be improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of unmanned aerial vehicles, and particularly to a rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle with an arm that can be automatically retracted and extended. Background Art

[0002] An unmanned aerial vehicle, abbreviated as "UAV", is an unpiloted aircraft controlled by a radio remote control device and a self-contained program control device. There is no cockpit on the aircraft, but it is equipped with an autopilot, a program control device and other equipment, and the ground conducts tracking, positioning, remote control, telemetry and digital transmission on it. With the development and popularization of UAV technology, UAVs have been gradually applied to various industries.

[0003] A quadrotor UAV is a type of UAV with four arms. Existing quadrotor UAVs usually use worm and worm gear transmission to drive the four arms to retract and extend. Since worm and worm gear transmission requires a rigid transmission rod, when designing the fuselage, space for arranging the transmission rod needs to be reserved, which affects the structural design of the UAV. For example, it may affect the layout of the battery position of the UAV and the replacement of the battery of the UAV.

[0004] Therefore, there is a need for a rotary-wing UAV with an arm that can be automatically retracted and extended to solve the above problems. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In view of this, the present invention provides a rotary-wing UAV with an arm that can be automatically retracted and extended, which can at least solve the aforementioned technical problems.

[0006] According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a rotary-wing UAV with an arm that can be automatically retracted and extended, comprising: a UAV body; an arm disposed at a corner of the UAV body; a pressure mechanism disposed on the UAV body and containing a gas capable of generating a pressure change of the gas; a transmission mechanism connected to the pressure mechanism, transmitting the pressure change of the gas of the pressure mechanism and converting it into power for automatically retracting and extending the arm; and a connecting mechanism disposed on the UAV body, connected to the arm, and engaging with the transmission mechanism to be able to drive the arm to rotate by using the power of the transmission mechanism, so as to automatically retract and extend the arm.

[0007] In some exemplary embodiments, the pressure mechanism further includes: a total pressure chamber disposed in the UAV body and containing gas inside; a piston disposed in the total pressure chamber for squeezing or extracting the gas in the total pressure chamber to cause a pressure change in the gas in the total pressure chamber; an electric control telescopic cylinder disposed outside the total pressure chamber and connected to the piston in the total pressure chamber for driving the piston to move to squeeze or extract the gas in the total pressure chamber; and a pneumatic tube having one end connected to the total pressure chamber and communicating with the space inside the total pressure chamber, and the other end connected to the transmission mechanism to transmit the gas pressure in the total pressure chamber to the transmission mechanism.

[0008] In some exemplary embodiments, the transmission mechanism further includes: a pressure cylinder communicating with the pressure mechanism and receiving the gas pressure from the pressure mechanism; a slider slidably mounted inside the pressure cylinder and sliding in response to a pressure change inside the pressure cylinder; a large lead angle screw disposed outside the pressure cylinder and connected to the slider inside the pressure cylinder to be interlocked with the slider, and meshing with the connection mechanism.

[0009] In some exemplary embodiments, the connection mechanism is provided with a threaded hole for the large lead angle screw to pass through, and the large lead angle screw passes through the threaded hole of the connection mechanism and meshes with the connection mechanism to drive the connection mechanism to rotate.

[0010] In some exemplary embodiments, the connection mechanism further includes: a mounting block fixedly disposed at a position corresponding to the arm at the corner of the UAV body; and an internally threaded block rotatably mounted on the mounting block, connected to the arm, and meshing with the transmission mechanism to drive the arm to rotate by the power transmitted through the transmission mechanism.

[0011] In some exemplary embodiments, the internally threaded block is provided with a threaded hole for the transmission mechanism to pass through, and the transmission mechanism passes through the threaded hole of the internally threaded block and meshes with the internally threaded block to drive the internally threaded block to rotate.

[0012] In some exemplary embodiments, it further includes: a driving propeller connected to the arm.

[0013] In some exemplary embodiments, the rotary-wing UAV is a quad-rotor UAV having arms respectively disposed at four corners of the UAV body.

[0014] According to the present invention, the autonomous retraction and extension of the arm can be achieved without a rigid transmission rod structure for power transmission, which has little impact on the structure of the fuselage of the rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle, does not affect the battery position layout of the rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle, nor does it affect the battery replacement of the rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle, etc. It can easily avoid the battery installation part of the fuselage and improve the design freedom of the rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative efforts.

[0016] Figure 1 FIG. shows a schematic structural diagram of a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle with an autonomously retractable arm according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0017] Figure 2 FIG. shows a schematic structural diagram of a sectional state at the transmission mechanism of a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle with an autonomously retractable arm according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0018] Here, the exemplary embodiments will be described in detail, and the examples are shown in the drawings. When the following description relates to the drawings, unless otherwise indicated, the same numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements. The embodiments described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with the present disclosure. On the contrary, they are merely examples of devices and methods consistent with some aspects of the present disclosure as detailed in the appended claims.

[0019] The essence of the technical solution of the present invention will be elaborated in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0020] Figure 1 FIG. shows a schematic structural diagram of a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle with an autonomously retractable arm according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 FIG. shows a schematic structural diagram of a sectional state at the transmission mechanism of a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle with an autonomously retractable arm according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0021] As Figure 1As shown in the figure, the quadrotor UAV 10 with an autonomously retractable arm according to the present invention includes: a UAV body 11; an arm 12 provided at a corner of the UAV body 11; a pressure mechanism 13 provided on the UAV body 11 and capable of generating a pressure change of gas containing gas; a transmission mechanism 14 that transmits the pressure change of the gas of the pressure mechanism 13 and converts it into power for autonomously retracting and extending the arm 12; and a connecting mechanism 15 provided on the UAV body 11, connected to the arm 12, and engaged with the transmission mechanism 14 to be able to drive the arm 12 to rotate using the power of the transmission mechanism 14, so as to autonomously retract and extend the arm 12.

[0022] The quadrotor UAV 10 with an autonomously retractable arm according to this embodiment further includes drive blades 16 respectively connected to the arms 12 at the corners. The arm 12 and the drive blade 16 together form the wing of the rotor UAV 10. In this embodiment, the arms 12 and the drive blades 16 connected to the arms 12 are respectively provided at the four corners of the UAV body 11 to form a quadrotor UAV.

[0023] The above-mentioned parts will be described in detail below.

[0024] The pressure mechanism 13 generates a gas pressure change for converting into power for autonomously retracting and extending the arm 12. Specifically, in this embodiment, as Figure 1 shown, the pressure mechanism 13 further includes a total pressure chamber 131, a piston 132, an electric control telescopic cylinder 133, and a pneumatic tube 134. The total pressure chamber 131 is provided on the UAV body 11 and can be provided at any position on the UAV body 11, and its interior contains gas. The piston 132 is provided in the total pressure chamber 131 and is used to squeeze or extract the gas in the total pressure chamber 131 to cause a pressure change in the gas in the total pressure chamber 131. The electric control telescopic cylinder 133 is provided outside the total pressure chamber 131 and is connected to the piston 132 in the total pressure chamber 131, and is used to drive the piston 132 to move to squeeze or extract the gas in the total pressure chamber 131. One end of the pneumatic tube 134 is connected to the total pressure chamber 131 and communicates with the space in the total pressure chamber 131, and the other end is connected to the transmission mechanism 14 to transmit the gas pressure in the total pressure chamber 131 to the transmission mechanism 14.

[0025] The transmission mechanism 14 is connected to the pressure mechanism 13 and generates power for autonomously retracting and extending the arm 12 in response to the gas pressure change of the pressure mechanism 13. Specifically, in this embodiment, as Figure 2As shown, the transmission mechanism 14 further includes a pressure cylinder 141, a slider 142, and a large lead screw 143. The pressure cylinder 141 communicates with the pressure mechanism 13, more specifically, with the other end of the air pressure pipe 134 in the pressure mechanism 13, and receives the gas pressure from the pressure mechanism 13, so that the gas pressure in the pressure cylinder 141 follows the gas pressure in the pressure mechanism 13, specifically, the gas pressure in the total pressure chamber 131. The slider 142 is slidably mounted in the pressure cylinder 141 and slides in response to the pressure change in the pressure cylinder 141. The large lead screw 143 is disposed outside the pressure cylinder 141, connected to the slider 142 in the pressure cylinder 141 and interlocked with the slider 142, and the portion outside the pressure cylinder 141 engages with the connection mechanism 15, specifically, the internal thread block 152 of the connection mechanism 15.

[0026] The connection mechanism 15 interconnects the drone body 11, the arm 12, and the transmission mechanism 14. Specifically, in this embodiment, as Figure 1 , 2 shown, the connection mechanism 15 further includes a mounting block 151 and an internal thread block 152. The mounting block 151 is fixedly provided at a position corresponding to the arm 12 at the corner of the drone body 11. The internal thread block 152 is rotatably mounted on the mounting block 151, connected to the arm 12, and engages with the transmission mechanism 14, and the power transmitted through the transmission mechanism 14 drives the arm 12 to rotate. Specifically, in this embodiment, the internal thread block 152 engages with the large lead screw 143 of the transmission mechanism 14 and rotates with the rotation of the large lead screw 143. In one embodiment, the internal thread block 152 is provided with a screw hole for the transmission mechanism 14, specifically, the large lead screw 143 to be inserted through. The transmission mechanism 14, specifically, the large lead screw 143 is inserted through the screw hole of the internal thread block 15 and engages with the internal thread block 152 to drive the internal thread block 152 to rotate.

[0027] When the four-rotor drone 10 with autonomously retractable arms of this embodiment is working, when it is necessary to deploy or retract the arm 12, the electric control telescopic cylinder 133 drives the piston 132 to move to squeeze the gas in the total pressure chamber 131 or extract the gas in the total pressure chamber 131, so that a positive or negative pressure change is generated in the total pressure chamber 131. Then, the gas pressure acts on the pressure cylinder 141 through the air pressure pipe 134. The slider 142 in the pressure cylinder 141 is subjected to positive or negative pressure and slides out of or into the pressure cylinder 141, thereby driving the large lead screw 143 to move into or out of the pressure cylinder 141. Then, it drives the internal thread block 15 engaged with the large lead screw 143 to rotate. The rotation of the internal thread block 15 drives the arm 12 to rotate, thereby realizing the deployment or retraction of the arm 12.

[0028] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, various modifications can also be made to the above embodiments.

[0029] For example, in the above embodiment, a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle 10 with rotors 12 provided at the four corners of the unmanned aerial vehicle body 11 is taken as an example for illustration. However, the number of rotors is not limited to four, and the present invention can be applied to any type of rotor unmanned aerial vehicle.

[0030] For the rotor unmanned aerial vehicle with retractable rotors according to the present invention, the retractable rotors can be autonomously retracted and extended without a rigid transmission rod structure for power transmission, which has little impact on the structure of the fuselage of the rotor unmanned aerial vehicle, does not affect the battery position layout of the rotor unmanned aerial vehicle, nor does it affect the battery replacement of the rotor unmanned aerial vehicle, etc. It can easily avoid the battery installation part of the fuselage and improve the design freedom of the rotor unmanned aerial vehicle.

[0031] As described above, only the embodiments of the present invention are provided, but the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention can easily think of changes or substitutions, which should all be covered within the protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A rotor UAV with an arm that can be automatically retracted and extended, characterized in that, Comprising: The UAV body; The arms disposed at the corners of the UAV body; A pressure mechanism, which is disposed on the UAV body and contains gas and is capable of generating a pressure change of the gas; A transmission mechanism, which is connected to the pressure mechanism, transmits the pressure change of the gas of the pressure mechanism and converts it into power for autonomously retracting and extending the arms; and A connecting mechanism, which is disposed on the UAV body, is connected to the arms, and meshes with the transmission mechanism and is capable of driving the arms to rotate by using the power of the transmission mechanism so as to autonomously retract and extend the arms.

2. The rotor unmanned aerial vehicle with an autonomously retractable machine arm according to claim 1, characterized in that, The pressure mechanism further comprises: A total pressure chamber, which is disposed on the UAV body and contains gas inside; A piston, which is disposed in the total pressure chamber and is used for squeezing or extracting the gas in the total pressure chamber to cause a pressure change of the gas in the total pressure chamber; An electric control telescopic cylinder, which is disposed outside the total pressure chamber and is connected to the piston in the total pressure chamber and is used for driving the piston to move to squeeze or extract the gas in the total pressure chamber; And An air pressure pipe, one end of which is connected to the total pressure chamber and is communicated with the space in the total pressure chamber, and the other end of which is connected to the transmission mechanism and transmits the gas pressure in the total pressure chamber to the transmission mechanism.

3. The rotor UAV with an autonomously retractable machine arm according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The transmission mechanism further comprises: A pressure cylinder, which is communicated with the pressure mechanism and receives the gas pressure from the pressure mechanism; A slider, which is installed in the pressure cylinder in a slidable manner and slides in response to the pressure change in the pressure cylinder; A large lead angle screw, which is disposed outside the pressure cylinder, is connected to the slider in the pressure cylinder and is interlocked with the slider, and meshes with the connecting mechanism.

4. The rotary-wing UAV with arms that can be autonomously retracted and extended according to claim 3, wherein The connecting mechanism is provided with a screw hole for the large lead angle screw to pass through, and the large lead angle screw passes through the screw hole of the connecting mechanism and meshes with the connecting mechanism to drive the connecting mechanism to rotate.

5. The rotor unmanned aerial vehicle with an autonomously retractable machine arm according to claim 1, wherein, The connecting mechanism further comprises: A mounting block, which is fixedly disposed at a position corresponding to the arm at the corner of the UAV body; and An internally threaded block, which is rotatably installed on the mounting block, is connected to the arm, and meshes with the transmission mechanism and drives the arm to rotate by the power transmitted by the transmission mechanism.

6. The rotary-wing UAV with arms that can be autonomously retracted and extended according to claim 5, wherein The internally threaded block is provided with a screw hole for the transmission mechanism to pass through, and the transmission mechanism passes through the screw hole of the internally threaded block and meshes with the internally threaded block to drive the internally threaded block to rotate.

7. The rotor UAV with an autonomously retractable machine arm according to claim 1, wherein, It further includes: A driving propeller blade connected to the arm.

8. The rotary-wing UAV with arms that can be autonomously retracted and extended according to claim 1, wherein The rotary-wing UAV is a quad-rotor UAV with the arms respectively disposed at the four corners of the UAV body.

Images