Flexible Capture Rod for Drone Net Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing capture systems for hostile flying crafts, such as drones, face challenges in maintaining a stable position and minimizing aerodynamic disturbances, making it difficult to effectively capture and neutralize threats without risking dispersal of hazardous materials or disrupting flight paths.
Innovation Solution
A capture device comprising a rigid rod forming a closed line with a net and a strip for lift, attached to holding wires and a towing wire, allowing for controlled deployment and positioning to facilitate the capture of flying crafts, with the ability to fold and deploy for efficient operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a stationary capture structure is used, then the capture device can maintain a stable position, but it generates aerodynamic disturbances that disrupt the flight of the drone
Solution Approach 1:
The capture device employs a flexible rod instead of a rigid stationary structure. The rod can dynamically adjust its shape and position in response to aerodynamic forces, allowing the capture device to maintain stability while reducing harmful aerodynamic disturbances to the drone's flight path.
Solution Approach 2:
The rod's flexibility allows it to change its physical state from a rigid structure to a dynamic configuration that adapts to flight conditions. This parameter change enables the structure to maintain its capturing function while minimizing interference with the drone's aerodynamic performance.
2Ease of operation
If a parachute is used for capture, then the device can be deployed, but it falls under the drone and is sensitive to wind, making positioning difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible rod acts as an intermediary element between the drone and the net. It transmits forces and maintains the net's position relative to the drone while absorbing aerodynamic variations, providing stable positioning that is not overly sensitive to wind conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The rod's flexible nature allows it to dynamically compensate for wind forces and positioning variations, maintaining the net in a stable position relative to the drone without requiring rigid structural support that would be overly sensitive to aerodynamic disturbances.
3Productivity
If the net diameter is made large to capture the drone, then capture effectiveness improves, but the structure becomes more complex and harder to control
Solution Approach 1:
The capture device is segmented into functional components: the flexible rod, the net, and the holding wires. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently - the rod provides structural flexibility, the net provides capture surface area, and the wires provide controlled tension - while maintaining overall simplicity and controllability.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible rod functions as a thin, flexible structural element that can accommodate large net diameters while maintaining control. Its flexibility allows it to bend and adapt to aerodynamic forces, enabling a large capture surface without the complexity of rigid support structures.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables stable and controlled capture of flying crafts by maintaining the capture device in an optimal position, reducing aerodynamic disturbances and ensuring safe neutralization of threats without dispersal risks, while allowing for safe release in a controlled geographical area.
Implementation Method 1
the strip allows to maintain the capture device in lift, which allows to facilitate the approach of the flying craft for the purpose of its capture
Implementation Method 2
the holding wires and/or the towing wire are elastic
Data Source
AI summary
A capture system (1) includes a drone (4) with a capture device (3) having a net (5) and a shank (6) configured to form a closed line. The shank (6) defines a leading face (6A) and a trailing face (6B). The net (5) has a maximum diameter that is greater than a maximum diameter of the shank (6), and is attached to the shank (6) on the side (7) of the trailing face (6B). A strip (8) attaches completely around the shank (6) outside of the net (5) on the side (7) of the trailing face (6B). Holding wires (9) attach to the shank (6) on the side (10) of the leading face (6A) for towing by the drone (4). The assembly formed by the shank (6) and the strip (8) enabling the capture device (3) to be held in an optimum position for capturing a flying craft (2).