Foldable Rotary Drone With Shared Axis Articulation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Foldable rotary-wing drones tend to be heavier than non-foldable counterparts due to the presence of joints, which can affect flight dynamics and range, necessitating a design that minimizes weight while maintaining compact transportability.
Innovation Solution
The drone features a group of arms mounted mobile in rotation on the drone body around a common axis, sharing a common articulation system to reduce the number and weight of articulation systems, and a limited number of articulation locations on the drone body, along with foldable rotor blades for enhanced compactness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If a foldable drone structure is provided to facilitate transport, then the drone can be made more compact for transport, but the drone structure becomes heavier due to the presence of hinges
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple arms share a common articulation system mounted on a single axis, merging what would otherwise be separate hinge assemblies. This reduces the total number of articulation systems from four (one per arm) to two (one shared axis serving multiple arms), directly reducing structure weight while maintaining foldability for compact transport
Solution Approach 2:
The common articulation system serves multiple functions: it articulates multiple arms simultaneously, provides a shared mounting mechanism, and enables both flight configuration deployment and transport configuration folding. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate articulation systems for each arm, reducing overall weight
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple articulation systems are provided for each arm, then each arm can be independently mounted, but the number of articulation systems and overall weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple arm mounting functions into a single common articulation system. Instead of providing separate articulation systems for each arm, multiple arms are mounted on a shared articulation axis, reducing the number of articulation systems while maintaining the ability to independently position and configure each arm for different operational modes
Data Source
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AI summary
The rotary-wing drone includes at least one rotor carried by a drone structure (10), the drone structure (10) comprising a drone body (12) and at least one group of arms (18) comprising several arms (14) mounted movably in rotation on the drone body (12) around the same axis of rotation (A), between an unfolded position for flight and a folded position for transport.