Flying body and maas providing method

Abstract

To improve a control technique for a charging speed of a battery-driven flying body.SOLUTION: A battery-driven flying body comprises a controller and a battery charged by a power supply, the controller controlling the charging speed for the battery on the basis of flight information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a battery-powered flying vehicle and a MaaS provision method. [Background technology]

[0002] It has been disclosed in the past that a multi-unit linked electric rotary-wing unmanned aircraft can be provided, which can secure electricity for work and working time for the work unmanned aircraft by connecting the work unmanned aircraft and the power supply unmanned aircraft with an electric cable (for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2018-62324 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The technology of Patent Document 1 does not consider controlling the charging rate. In other words, there is room for improvement in the technology for controlling the charging rate of a battery-powered aircraft.

[0005] In view of the above, an object of the present disclosure is to improve the control technology for the charging rate of a battery-powered flying object. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] An aircraft according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes: A battery-powered flying vehicle, A control unit; a battery charged by a power supply; Equipped with The control unit The charging rate of the battery is controlled based on flight information. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, an improved technique for controlling the charging rate of a battery-powered air vehicle is provided. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the flying object. [Figure 3] 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the flying object. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described.

[0010] (Outline of the embodiment) An overview of a system 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 1. The system 1 includes an aircraft 10 and a power supply device 20.

[0011] The aircraft 10 according to this embodiment has electric rotors and flies on battery power. For example, the aircraft 10 is an eVTOL (electric Vertical Take Off and Landing). The eVTOL has a cabin approximately the same size as a passenger car that can accommodate one or more occupants, and a mechanism including one or more electric rotors for generating lift and thrust. The eVTOL is operated at least in part under visual flight rules (VFR). Note that the aircraft 10 is not limited to eVTOLs and includes helicopters, drones, etc. The aircraft 10 has a drive mechanism including a motor for driving the electric rotors, a control unit for the drive mechanism, and a battery for supplying power to the drive mechanism. The battery is, for example, a lithium-ion battery. The aircraft 10 may also be operated under instrument flight rules (IFR), for example.

[0012] The flying vehicle 10 is connected to a power supply device 20 during flight, and the battery of the flying vehicle 10 is charged by the power supply device 20.

[0013] The power supply device 20 is a device that supplies power to charge the battery of the air vehicle 10. The power supply device 20 may include, for example, a generator, a battery, etc. If the power supply device 20 includes a generator, the power supply device 20 also includes fuel. Such fuel may be, for example, gasoline, diesel, natural gas, etc.

[0014] The power supply device 20 is connected to the aircraft 10 via a power supply cable 30 for power supply and charges the battery of the aircraft 10. The power supply cable 30 may include a refrigerant pipe for circulating a refrigerant for cooling the battery. The power supply device 20 is connected to the aircraft 10 via a plurality of wires 40 and is held in place by the wires 40 when the aircraft 10 is flying. In other words, the power supply device 20 is suspended and held in place in the air by the wires 40. This allows the aircraft 10 to be charged by the power supply device 20 during flight.

[0015] First, an overview of this embodiment will be described, and details will be described later. The flying object 10 according to this embodiment is battery-powered and is characterized by controlling the charging rate of the battery based on flight information.

[0016] Thus, according to this embodiment, the flying vehicle 10 controls the battery charging rate based on flight information, thereby improving the charging rate control technology for battery-powered flying vehicles in that the battery charging rate can be adaptively controlled according to flight information.

[0017] Next, each component of the aircraft 10 will be described in detail.

[0018] (Aircraft configuration) As shown in FIG. 2, the aircraft 10 includes a control unit 11, a memory unit 12, an input unit 13, an output unit 14, a communication unit 15, a positioning unit 16, a detection unit 17, and a battery 18.

[0019] The control unit 11 includes at least one processor, at least one dedicated circuit, or a combination thereof. The processor is a general-purpose processor such as a central processing unit (CPU) or a graphics processing unit (GPU), or a dedicated processor specialized for a specific process. The dedicated circuit is, for example, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The control unit 11 controls each part of the aircraft 10 and executes processes related to the operation of the aircraft 10. For example, the control unit 11 controls a drive mechanism including a motor for driving electric rotors.

[0020] The memory unit 12 includes at least one semiconductor memory, at least one magnetic memory, at least one optical memory, or a combination of at least two of these. The semiconductor memory is, for example, a random access memory (RAM) or a read-only memory (ROM). The RAM is, for example, a static random access memory (SRAM) or a dynamic random access memory (DRAM). The ROM is, for example, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). The memory unit 12 functions, for example, as a main memory device, an auxiliary memory device, or a cache memory. The memory unit 12 stores data used in the operation of the aircraft 10 and data obtained by the operation of the aircraft 10.

[0021] The input unit 13 includes at least one input interface. The input interface may be, for example, a physical key, a capacitive key, a pointing device, or a touch screen integrated with a display. The input interface may also be, for example, a sound sensor that accepts voice input, or a camera that accepts gesture input. The input unit 13 accepts operations to input data used in the operation of the aircraft 10. The input unit 13 may be connected to the aircraft 10 as an external input device instead of being provided in the aircraft 10. Any connection method may be used, for example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB), a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) (registered trademark), or Bluetooth (registered trademark).

[0022] The output unit 14 includes at least one output interface. The output interface is, for example, a display that outputs information as a video, or a speaker that outputs information as an audio. The display is, for example, an LCD (liquid crystal display) or an organic EL (electroluminescence) display. The output unit 14 displays and outputs data obtained by the operation of the aircraft 10. The output unit 14 may be connected to the aircraft 10 as an external output device instead of being provided in the aircraft 10. Any connection method can be used, for example, USB, HDMI (registered trademark), or Bluetooth (registered trademark).

[0023] The communication unit 15 includes at least one external communication interface. The communication interface may be either a wired or wireless communication interface. In the case of wired communication, the communication interface is, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network) interface or a USB (Universal Serial Bus). In the case of wireless communication, the communication interface is, for example, an interface compatible with mobile communication standards such as LTE (Long Term Evolution), 4G (4th generation), or 5G (5th generation), or an interface compatible with short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark). The communication unit 15 receives data used in the operation of the aircraft 10 and transmits data obtained by the operation of the aircraft 10.

[0024] The positioning unit 16 includes sensors or receivers for acquiring the position of the aircraft 10 using autonomous navigation, electronic navigation, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), or the like. Sensors for autonomous navigation include, for example, an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, a compass, and an altimeter. The receiver for electronic navigation includes, for example, a receiver for receiving radio waves from terrestrial radio facilities such as a VHF omnidirectional radio range (VOR) and an Instrument Landing System (ILS). Furthermore, the GNSS receiver includes, for example, at least one of a Global Positioning System (GPS), a Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), BeiDou, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), and Galileo. The positioning unit 16 acquires position information of the aircraft 10 and sends the position information to the control unit 11. Here, the position information includes altitude information of the aircraft 10.

[0025] The detection unit 17 has one or more sensors or an interface with the sensors that detect the status or operation of each part of the flying object 10, and sends information indicating the detection results of the sensors to the control unit 11. The sensors include sensors that detect the status or operation of the drive mechanism including the motor, the rotation speed of the propeller, the remaining charge of the battery 18, the temperature, the charging rate, etc. The sensors also include a wind speed sensor, wind direction sensor, temperature sensor, air pressure sensor, humidity sensor, illuminance sensor, rainfall sensor, camera, etc. that detect the status of the external environment of the flying object 10.

[0026] The battery 18 supplies power to the drive mechanism of the aircraft 10. The battery 18 may be, for example, a lithium-ion battery, a solid electrolyte battery, a nickel-metal hydride battery, etc. The battery 18 is rechargeable by a power supply device 20.

[0027] (Flying vehicle operation) The operation of the system 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

[0028] Step S10: The control unit 11 of the flying object 10 acquires flight information. For example, the flight information may include at least one of flight speed, flight altitude, and propeller rotation speed.

[0029] Any method can be used to acquire the flight information. For example, the control unit 11 may acquire the flight information from the positioning unit 16.

[0030] Step S20: The control unit 11 controls the charging rate of the battery 18 based on the flight information.

[0031] Any method can be used to control the charging rate. For example, the control unit 11 may control the charging rate by sending a charge rate control instruction to the power supply device 20 via the communication unit 15.

[0032] Here, the charging rate is adaptively controlled based on the flight information. For example, if the flight information includes the flight speed, the control unit 11 may increase the charging rate of the battery 18 as the flight speed increases. The higher the flight speed, the more the temperature rise of the battery 18 during charging is suppressed, so the charging rate can be increased. This allows the battery 18 to be charged efficiently.

[0033] Furthermore, for example, if the flight information includes flight altitude, the control unit 11 may increase the charging rate of the battery 18 as the flight altitude increases. As described above, the higher the flight altitude, the more the temperature rise during charging of the battery 18 is suppressed, and therefore the charging rate can be increased. This allows the battery 18 to be charged efficiently.

[0034] Furthermore, for example, if the flight information includes the rotation speed of the propeller, the control unit 11 may increase the charging rate of the battery 18 as the rotation speed of the propeller increases. As described above, the higher the rotation speed of the propeller, the faster the flight speed, which suppresses the temperature rise of the battery 18 during charging, and therefore the charging rate can be increased. This allows the battery 18 to be charged efficiently.

[0035] As described above, the control unit 11 of the aircraft 10 according to this embodiment controls the charging rate of the battery 18 based on flight information of the aircraft 10. Therefore, the charging rate control technology for the battery-powered aircraft 10 is improved in that the charging rate of the battery 18 can be adaptively controlled in accordance with the flight information.

[0036] Although the present disclosure has been described based on the drawings and examples, it should be noted that those skilled in the art may make various modifications and alterations based on the present disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these modifications and alterations are included in the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the functions included in each component or step can be rearranged so as not to be logically inconsistent, and multiple components or steps can be combined or divided into one.

[0037] For example, the flight information may include environmental information at the flight altitude. Such environmental information may include at least one of outside temperature, wind speed, weather information, and air pressure. The temperature rise of the battery 18 during charging may vary depending on the outside temperature, wind speed, weather information, air pressure, etc. The control unit 11 may control the charging rate of the battery 18 based on the environmental information. For example, when the outside temperature at the flight altitude is low, the temperature rise of the battery 18 during charging is suppressed. Therefore, the control unit 11 may control the charging rate to be higher the lower the outside temperature at the flight altitude. This allows the battery 18 to be charged efficiently.

[0038] For example, in the present embodiment, one aircraft 10 and the power supply device 20 are connected by a wire 40 to hold the power supply device 20 during flight, but this is not limited to this. For example, multiple aircraft 10 and the power supply device 20 may be connected by wires 40 to hold the power supply device 20 during flight. In this manner, the load of the power supply device 20 can be distributed among the multiple aircraft 10. When multiple aircraft 10 hold the power supply device 20, the charging rates of the multiple aircraft 10 may be the same or different. When the charging rates of the multiple aircraft 10 are to be the same, the control unit 11 of one of the multiple aircraft 10 (hereinafter also referred to as the master) may acquire flight information and determine the charging rate. Furthermore, the control unit 11 of the master aircraft 10 may transmit information on the determined charging rate to the other aircraft 10 (hereinafter also referred to as the slave) via the communication unit 15. The control unit 11 of the slave aircraft 10 may charge its own battery based on the charging rate received from the master.

[0039] For example, the air vehicle 10 and the power supply device 20 do not have to be connected by the wire 40. For example, the power supply device 20 may be attached to the outside of the air vehicle 10. Alternatively, the power supply device 20 may be provided inside the air vehicle 10.

[0040] In addition, for example, in the above-described embodiment, the configuration and operation of the aircraft 10 may be distributed among multiple computers that can communicate with each other. For example, some components of the aircraft 10 may be provided in an external server device.

[0041] In one example, the aircraft 10 may be used to provide MaaS (Mobility as a Service), which is a service that utilizes mobility. In one example, the processing procedure in the flowchart of Figure 3 may be executed when providing a service (MaaS) using the aircraft 10. In this case, the information processing method according to the above processing procedure is an example of a method for providing a service (MaaS) using the aircraft 10. [Explanation of symbols]

[0042] 1 System 10 Flying Objects 11 Control section 12 Storage section 13 Input section 14 Output section 15 Communications Department 16 Positioning unit 17 Detection unit 18 Battery 20 Power supply device 30 Power supply cable 40 wire

Claims

1. A battery-powered flying vehicle, A control unit; a battery charged by a power supply; Equipped with The control unit The air vehicle controls the charging rate of the battery based on flight information.

2. The flying vehicle according to claim 1, The flight information of the flying object includes at least one of flight speed, flight altitude, and propeller rotation speed.

3. The flying vehicle according to claim 2, The flight information includes flight speed, and the control unit increases the charging rate of the battery as the flight speed increases.

4. The flying vehicle according to claim 1, The flight information includes environmental information at flight altitude.

5. The flying vehicle according to claim 4, The environmental information includes at least one of outside temperature, wind speed, weather information, and air pressure.

6. A method for providing MaaS (Mobility as a Service) using the aircraft described in claim 1.

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