Fuel cell drone

Abstract

To provide a fuel cell drone that allows a gas tank to avoid directly impacting on the ground surface at a weak point at the time of falling.SOLUTION: A fuel cell drone 10 travels with a fuel cell 12, the fuel cell drone 10 including a body 11, a cylindrical high-pressure gas tank 13 mounted to the body 11 and filled with a fuel gas for the fuel cell 12, and a leg 16 installed so as to be rotatable about an axis orthogonal to an axial direction of the high-pressure gas tank 13 relative to the body 11 and a vertical axial direction. The leg 16 rotates such that the center of gravity of the leg 16 moves on a side of an end 13B of the high-pressure gas tank 13 at the time of falling.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a fuel cell drone that navigates by a fuel cell.

Background Art

[0002] Drones are known as unmanned aerial vehicles. A fuel cell drone is a drone that navigates by a fuel cell. For example, a fuel cell drone navigates by driving a motor with electric power supplied by a fuel cell and rotating a propeller by the motor (for example, Patent Document 1).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] The above-described fuel cell drone includes a high-pressure gas tank filled with fuel. When the fuel cell drone becomes unable to navigate due to a failure or the like in the air and falls, the vulnerable part (for example, the body part) of the high-pressure gas tank may directly hit the ground, causing the high-pressure gas tank to break and high-pressure gas to leak.

[0005] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a fuel cell drone capable of avoiding the vulnerable part of the gas tank directly hitting the ground during a fall.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The fuel cell drone according to the present invention is a fuel cell drone that navigates by a fuel cell, and includes a main body, a cylindrical high-pressure gas tank mounted on the main body and filled with fuel gas of the fuel cell, and legs provided rotatably around an axis orthogonal to the axial direction and the vertical axis direction of the high-pressure gas tank with respect to the main body. During a fall, the legs are rotated so that the center of gravity of the legs moves to the end side of the gas tank.

Advantages of the Invention

[0007] According to the fuel cell drone of the present invention, it is possible to avoid the vulnerable part of the gas tank hitting the ground directly during a fall.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0008]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0009] Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail. In the following description, specific shapes, materials, directions, numerical values, etc. are examples for facilitating the understanding of the present invention, and can be appropriately changed according to applications, purposes, specifications, etc.

[0010] [Fuel Cell Drone] With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a fuel cell drone 10 which is an example of an embodiment will be described.

[0011] The fuel cell drone 10 is an unmanned aerial vehicle that sails by means of a fuel cell 12. The fuel cell drone 10 is equipped with, for example, sensors, cameras, etc. The fuel cell drone 10 is used in fields such as agriculture, surveying, policing, logistics, disaster investigation, inspection or maintenance of structures, security, search, reporting, etc. The fuel cell drone 10 may be provided with a transmitter that transmits a control signal from an operator and a receiver that receives the control signal. Further, the fuel cell drone 10 may have an automatic control function.

[0012] As shown in FIG. 1, the fuel cell drone 10 includes a main body 11, a fuel cell 12 mounted on the main body 11, a high-pressure gas tank 13 filled with fuel gas to be supplied to the fuel cell 12, a plurality of motors 14 driven by the electric power generated by the fuel cell 12, a plurality of rotors 15 rotated by the respective motors 14, legs 16 rotatably provided with respect to the main body 11, and a controller (not shown) that controls each device of the fuel cell drone 10.

[0013] In the fuel cell drone 10, the fuel filled in the high-pressure gas tank 13 is supplied to the fuel cell 12, the motor 14 is driven by the electric power generated by the fuel cell 12, and the rotor 15 is rotationally driven by the motor 14 to sail. The fuel cell drone 10 can perform ascending, descending, horizontal movement in the front, rear, left, and right directions, or a combination thereof, or hovering at a fixed position in the air by coordinating each rotor 15 with other rotors 15.

[0014] The fuel cell 12 is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel such as hydrogen and an oxidant such as oxygen into electricity through a pair of oxidation-reduction reactions. In this embodiment, a solid molecular type fuel cell is used as the fuel cell 12. The electricity generated by the fuel cell 12 is supplied to the motor 14 or electrical equipment (not shown), sensors, etc. In the fuel cell 12, hydrogen (negative electrode active material) is supplied from the high-pressure gas tank 13 to the hydrogen electrode (negative electrode), and oxygen is supplied to the air electrode (positive electrode), and power generation is performed to supply power of a predetermined (rated output) to each motor 14. Note that oxygen is taken in from the outside air.

[0015] The high-pressure gas tank 13 is a cylindrical high-pressure container filled with hydrogen as a fuel. The high-pressure gas tank 13 of this embodiment is provided at the lower part of the main body 11. However, the high-pressure gas tank of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and may be provided, for example, at the upper part of the main body 11. Hydrogen is supplied from the high-pressure gas tank 13 to the fuel cell 12 through a hydrogen supply pipe.

[0016] As shown in FIG. 2, the high-pressure gas tank 13 has a body portion 13A and an end portion 13B. A valve or the like is provided at one end portion 13B. The body portion 13A has lower strength than the end portion 13B. For example, when the fuel cell drone 10 becomes unable to fly due to a failure or the like in the air and falls, the vulnerable part (body portion 13A) of the high-pressure gas tank 13 may hit the ground directly, causing the high-pressure gas tank 13 to be damaged and high-pressure gas to leak.

[0017] Therefore, in the fuel cell drone 10 of this embodiment, when the fuel cell drone 10 falls in the "falling posture" described later, the body portion 13A of the high-pressure gas tank 13 is prevented from hitting the ground directly.

[0018] As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the leg 16 is a member that safely lands the fuel cell drone 10 without causing the main body 11 or the like to collide with the ground. Further, the leg 16 prevents the collision of the high-pressure gas tank 13 as a protective fence for the high-pressure gas tank 13 provided at the lower part of the main body 11. The leg 16 of the present embodiment is provided so as to straddle the high-pressure gas tank 13 at the lower part of the main body 11. However, the leg of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and may have a configuration that does not straddle the high-pressure gas tank 13.

[0019] As shown in FIG. 2, the leg 16 is rotatably provided with respect to the main body 11 as described above. More specifically, the leg 16 is rotatable around an axis orthogonal to the axial direction and the vertical axis direction of the high-pressure gas tank 13 by the motor 21. In the fuel cell drone 10, by rotating the leg 16, as shown in FIG. 2(A), from the "normal posture" in which the center of gravity of the leg 16 is located below the body portion 13A of the high-pressure gas tank 13, as shown in FIG. 2(B), the center of gravity of the leg 16 can be changed to the "falling posture" in which it moves to the end portion 13B of the high-pressure gas tank 13.

[0020] The "normal posture" is the posture maintained by the fuel cell drone 10 during normal flight. The "falling posture" is the posture when the fuel cell drone 10 becomes unable to fly due to a failure or the like in the air and falls. According to the "falling posture", when the center of gravity of the leg 16 moves to the end portion 13B of the high-pressure gas tank 13, it will fall from the end portion 13B of the high-pressure gas tank 13.

[0021] Thereby, for example, when the fuel cell drone 10 falls, the end portion 13B having a higher strength compared to the body portion 13A of the high-pressure gas tank 13 is brought into contact with the ground, reducing the possibility of damage to the high-pressure gas tank 13. In other words, it is possible to avoid the body portion 13A, which is the weak point of the high-pressure gas tank 13, from directly hitting the ground when the fuel cell drone 10 falls.

[0022] The controller is a device that controls each device of the fuel cell drone 10 as described above. The controller includes a speed controller that controls the rotational speed of the motor 14, a flight controller that automatically controls the stabilization, autonomous flight, etc. of the main body 11 of the fuel cell drone 10, a fuel cell controller that controls the power supply amount by the fuel cell 12, and an attitude change controller 20 (see Fig. 3) that changes the attitude of the fuel cell drone 10 from the "normal attitude" to the "falling attitude".

[0023] [Attitude Change Control] The configuration of the attitude change controller 20 will be described with reference to Fig. 3.

[0024] The attitude change controller 20 is a controller that executes "attitude change control" to change the attitude of the fuel cell drone 10 from the "normal attitude" to the "falling attitude" as described above. The attitude change controller 20 is connected to a motor 21 that rotates the leg 16 and an acceleration sensor 22 of the fuel cell drone 10.

[0025] The attitude change controller 20 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) as an arithmetic processing unit and a storage unit such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) and a ROM (Read Only Memory), and performs signal processing according to a program stored in advance in the ROM while using the temporary storage function of the RAM.

[0026] The attitude change controller 20 has a fall determination unit 25 and an attitude change unit 26, the details of which will be described later. The fall determination unit 25 and the attitude change unit 26 are realized by the CPU executing a program stored in the ROM or RAM.

[0027] The fall determination unit 25 determines whether the fuel cell drone 10 is falling. More specifically, for example, the fall determination unit 25 determines that the fuel cell drone 10 is falling when the acceleration in the vertical direction detected by the acceleration sensor 22 is equal to or greater than a predetermined acceleration.

[0028] When the fall determination unit 25 determines that the fuel cell drone 10 is falling, the posture change unit 26 changes the posture of the fuel cell drone 10 from the "normal posture" to the "fall posture". According to the posture change unit 26, by changing the posture of the fuel cell drone 10 to the "fall posture", the end portion 13B having a higher strength is brought into contact with the ground as compared with the body portion 13A of the high-pressure gas tank 13, thereby reducing the possibility of damage to the high-pressure gas tank 13. In other words, it is possible to avoid the body portion 13A, which is a weak part of the high-pressure gas tank 13, from directly hitting the ground when the fuel cell drone 10 falls.

[0029] Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and their modifications, and it goes without saying that various changes and improvements can be made within the scope of the matters described in the claims of the present application.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0030] 10 Fuel cell drone, 11 Main body, 12 Fuel cell, 13 High-pressure gas tank, 13A Body portion, 13B End portion, 14 Motor, 15 Rotor, 16 Leg, 20 Posture change controller, 21 Motor, 22 Acceleration sensor, 25 Fall determination unit, 26 Posture change unit

Claims

【Claim 1】 A fuel cell drone that sails by a fuel cell, a main body, a cylindrical high-pressure gas tank mounted on the main body and filled with the fuel gas of the fuel cell, legs provided rotatably around an axis orthogonal to the axial direction and the vertical axis direction of the high-pressure gas tank with respect to the main body, and comprising at the time of falling, the legs are rotated so that the center of gravity of the legs moves to the end side of the high-pressure gas tank, a fuel cell drone.

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