Autorotating Payload Delivery with Collective Pitch Navigation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing air drop devices struggle to accurately and safely deliver payloads to predetermined targets on land, water, or structures, due to limitations in control and navigation systems, particularly in ensuring stable and controlled descent.
Innovation Solution
The development of a payload delivery device equipped with a support member, a flight control and navigation system module, a control surface assembly module, a rotor assembly with collective and cyclic pitch control, and a collective control assembly module, allowing for precise control of the payload's orientation and descent.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a traditional air drop device is used without advanced rotor control, then the device complexity is reduced, but the payload delivery precision and descent stability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The rotor assembly transitions from static to dynamic control through collective and cyclic pitch mechanisms. The collective pitch control adjusts all blades simultaneously for vertical descent rate control, while cyclic pitch control creates asymmetric blade angles for lateral and longitudinal positioning, enabling precise payload delivery to predetermined targets
Solution Approach 2:
The flight control system continuously monitors payload position and descent rate, then automatically adjusts rotor blade pitch angles to correct deviations from the intended flight path. This closed-loop feedback control ensures accurate payload delivery despite variations in air density, wind conditions, or payload weight
2Speed
If autorotation configuration is used for deceleration, then the descent speed is reduced, but the control precision over trajectory deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces passive autorotation with active mechanical pitch control. Instead of relying solely on aerodynamic forces from fixed-blade autorotation, the invention uses motorized pitch linkages to actively control blade angles, enabling precise trajectory control while maintaining controlled descent speeds through coordinated collective and cyclic pitch adjustments
3Measurement precision
If collective and cyclic pitch control systems are added, then the navigation accuracy is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control system is segmented into distinct functional modules: collective pitch control for vertical descent rate, cyclic pitch control for lateral/longitudinal positioning, and flight control navigation for overall trajectory management. This modular segmentation allows each subsystem to be optimized independently while maintaining overall system coherence and manageable complexity
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 precise navigation and controlled descent of payloads to predetermined landing destinations, ensuring safety and accuracy by utilizing advanced flight control and navigation systems in conjunction with a rotor assembly for stabilization and thrust.
Implementation Method 1
The pararotor is a device like an unpowered helicopter rotor that spins in an autorotation configuration when the attached payload is descending through an airstream impinging upon the pararotor
Implementation Method 2
A drag force in the direction of the incident airstream flow is generated over the autorotating rotor, where the drag exerted over the rotor is greater if the rotor is spinning in an autorotating configuration
Implementation Method 3
a control surface assembly module including a plurality of control surfaces, the control surface assembly module connected to the support member and in communication with the flight control and navigation module to receive commands to control orientation
Implementation Method 4
A second type of a 'swashplate-less' configuration may include greater control of collective and cyclic pitch of the rotor blades of a rotor assembly by directly controlling the rotor blades by servomotor actuators
Data Source
AI summary
A payload delivery device configured to deliver an aircraft deployed payload along a flight path to a predetermined landing destination includes a support member configured to be removably attached to the payload, a flight control and navigation system module configured to control orientation of the plurality of control surfaces while the payload is travelling along the flight path to the predetermined landing destination, a control surface assembly module including a plurality of control surfaces, a rotor assembly including a plurality of rotor blades having a central axis of rotation, and a collective control assembly module including at least one collective servomotor configured to control a plurality of control linkages connected to the plurality of rotor blades.