Drone Workpiece Delivery Control for Maintenance Downtime Reduction

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Solution Overview

Problem

In traditional maintenance operations, the lack of necessary tools or parts often requires maintenance personnel to interrupt their work and retrieve the required items from storage, leading to decreased efficiency, especially in narrow or complex environments.

Innovation Solution

A control method and apparatus for drone-assisted maintenance, which involves determining a target workpiece and its storage location in response to an assistance message, planning a flight path for the drone to transport the workpiece, and controlling the drone to transport the workpiece to the construction location.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Quantity of substance

If maintenance personnel return to warehouse to obtain tools or parts, then the necessary workpiece can be obtained, but maintenance efficiency decreases significantly

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveworkpiece availabilityVSAvoidmaintenance efficiency
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

A drone is introduced as an intermediary carrier to transport workpieces between the warehouse and construction location. The drone receives transport requests from terminals, navigates to retrieve the workpiece, and delivers it to the maintenance personnel, eliminating the need for personnel to leave the construction site and thus maintaining high maintenance efficiency while ensuring workpiece availability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Quantity of substance

If maintenance personnel leave construction location to retrieve workpiece, then the absent workpiece is obtained, but maintenance operation time increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveworkpiece deliveryVSAvoidmaintenance downtime
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The manual mechanical system of personnel physically traveling to the warehouse is replaced with an automated aerial drone system. The drone可以快速 navigate to the warehouse, retrieve the workpiece, and return to the construction location, significantly reducing the time required compared to manual retrieval and eliminating the need for maintenance personnel to interrupt their work.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

3Quantity of substance

If traditional manual transport is used in narrow space or complex environment, then workpiece can be transported, but transport difficulty increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveworkpiece transportVSAvoidtransport ease
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The transport problem in narrow or complex ground environments is solved by transitioning to aerial three-dimensional space. The drone can fly overhead and deliver workpieces directly to the construction location, avoiding obstacles and difficult terrain that would impede ground-based manual transport, thereby significantly improving transport ease in challenging environments.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

Data Source

PatentEP4564257A1Control method and apparatus for drone-assisted maintenance, device and storage medium
Publication Date: 2025.06.04 ZHEJIANG HENGYI PETROCHEMICAL CO LTD
  • EP4564257A1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP4564257A1 patent drawingFigure 3
  • EP4564257A1 patent drawing

AI summary

The present disclosure provides a control method and apparatus for drone-assisted maintenance, a device and a storage medium. The method includes: determining (S101) a target workpiece and a storage location thereof in response to an assistance message obtained by a first terminal located at a construction location, wherein the assistance message is used to indicate the target workpiece absent in a maintenance operation; planning (S102) a flight path for a transport task according to the construction location and the storage location; and controlling (S103) a drone to transport the target workpiece to the construction location according to the flight path.