Reconfigurable Ring Wing Sections for UAV Fault Tolerance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) face design tradeoffs between agility and energy efficiency, and lack the capability to maintain control and safety in degraded operational states, such as motor out situations, due to their limited four degrees of freedom and assumption of fully operational conditions.
Innovation Solution
The development of aerial vehicles with a hexagonal ring wing configuration that allows six degrees of freedom, including adjustable wing sections that can reconfigure to maintain control and safety by altering positions, angular orientations, and pitches in response to propulsion mechanism failures, enabling transition between vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and horizontal flight orientations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If UAVs are designed for high agility with fixed four degrees of freedom, then maneuverability is improved, but energy efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic reconfiguration of wing sections that can change their position, angular orientation, and pitch angle in real-time based on flight conditions and operational state. This dynamic adaptability allows the UAV to optimize its aerodynamic characteristics for either agility or energy efficiency depending on the mission requirements, resolving the trade-off between these two parameters.
Solution Approach 2:
The wing sections can alter multiple geometric parameters including position along the fuselage, angular orientation relative to the fuselage axis, and pitch angle. By changing these parameters, the UAV can transition between different flight modes (VTOL, horizontal flight, degraded operation) and optimize the balance between maneuverability and energy consumption for each mode.
2Productivity
If UAVs are designed assuming fully operational state, then performance is optimized, but reliability in degraded states deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates preliminary action by pre-configuring multiple wing sections that can be independently controlled and reconfigured. In the event of propulsion mechanism failure, the control system can preemptively adjust the wing section configurations to compensate for the loss of thrust, maintaining control authority and stability without requiring external intervention or system redesign.
Solution Approach 2:
When propulsion mechanisms fail, the system changes the operational parameters of the remaining functional components by reconfiguring the wing sections to different positions and angles. This parameter adaptation allows the UAV to maintain controlled flight and stable landing even with reduced propulsion capability, thereby improving reliability in degraded states.
3Device complexity
If wing sections are made fixed and simple, then device complexity is reduced, but adaptability to different flight conditions deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the wing into multiple independently controllable sections rather than using a single fixed structure. Each segment can be individually positioned and oriented, providing adaptability to different flight conditions while keeping each individual segment relatively simple in design. The segmentation allows complex adaptive behavior to emerge from simpler modular components.
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
This configuration enhances the stability, maneuverability, and safety of UAVs by allowing them to maintain control and land safely even in degraded states, while also improving controllability and energy efficiency in fully functional states.
Implementation Method 1
The aerial vehicle may include a ring wing having a plurality of sections that extends around and forms a perimeter of the aerial vehicle
Implementation Method 2
The aerial vehicle may include six propulsion mechanisms that are oriented at different angles and therefore, together, can provide thrust in the vertical direction and/or the horizontal direction
Data Source
AI summary
Various reconfigurations of wing sections of a ring wing of an aerial vehicle are described. For example, responsive to a fault or failure of a propulsion mechanism, one or more wing sections may be modified to maintain control and safety of the aerial vehicle. In example embodiments, positions, angular orientations, and/or pitches of one or more wing sections may be modified to maintain control and safety in either a horizontal, wingborn flight orientation, or a vertical, VTOL flight orientation.