Passive Guide Rail Landing System for Flying Objects
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional flying objects that take off and land on flat surfaces face challenges with unstable control and difficulty in quickly guiding the object to a desired position due to the need to reduce propeller thrust during landing, which leads to issues with disturbances and the ground effect.
Innovation Solution
A flying object landing system featuring a pair of guide rails with increasing space towards one set of tips, allowing for rotational support at the tips, and a suspension portion on the flying object to guide it smoothly between the guide rails and land at a desired position.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If flying objects land on flat surfaces by reducing propeller thrust, then landing is achieved, but control stability deteriorates and ground effect disturbances increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces guide rails as an intermediary mechanism between the flying object and the landing surface. The guide rails provide passive guidance through their geometric configuration (wider at entry, narrower at landing), physically guiding the flying object to the desired position without requiring active control inputs, thereby eliminating ground effect disturbances and control instability
Solution Approach 2:
The landing system is segmented into distinct functional components: the guide rails (with varying width), the flying object with suspension portion, and the landing surface. This segmentation allows the guide rails to independently provide guidance functionality while the flying object focuses on propulsion and landing execution, resolving the control stability issue
2Reliability
If flying objects reduce propeller thrust during landing, then landing is achieved, but the time to guide to desired position increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide rails are pre-configured with a specific geometric shape (wider at entry, narrower at landing) that passively directs the flying object along the desired trajectory. This preliminary arrangement of the guidance structure eliminates the need for time-consuming active guidance adjustments during landing
Solution Approach 2:
The guide rails act as a passive intermediary that automatically guides the flying object to the target position through their geometric configuration, eliminating the time loss associated with active control adjustments and thrust reduction maneuvers
3Ease of operation
If guide rails are arranged with increasing space towards one set of tips, then smooth guidance is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide rails employ a curved geometric configuration (wider at entry, narrower at landing) instead of straight parallel rails. This curvature smoothly guides the flying object along the desired trajectory, and while the shape is complex, the implementation uses simple curved profiles rather than complex mechanical mechanisms
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
To provide a passive guidance mechanism that enables smooth guiding to a desired position; and a flying object landing system that enables smooth guiding to and landing at a desired position. A pair of guide rails 21a and 21b are arranged side by side with a space therebetween, and are provided so that the space increases toward one set of tips of the guide rails 21a and 21b. One guide rail 21a is supported so as to be rotatable about a first shaft 23 extending in a direction perpendicular to a plane including the guide rails 21a and 21b, at or near the tip of the guide rail 21a. The other guide rail 21b is supported so as to be rotatable about a second shaft 24 extending in a direction perpendicular to the plane including the guide rails 21a and 21b, at or near the tip of the guide rail 21b.