Removable Aerial Application System for Aircraft
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current aerial application systems for agriculture are often expensive, inflexible, and lack precision in distributing seeds or dry materials, as they require permanent modifications to aircraft, limiting their use to specific operations and failing to meet standard airworthiness certification.
Innovation Solution
A removable aerial application system comprising a tank, delivery conduits, augers, a collector assembly, and a hydraulic system with processing circuitry, allowing for precise control over material distribution and easy installation/removal from aircraft, enabling operation in various categories without compromising airworthiness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If permanent modifications are made to the aircraft for aerial application systems, then the system can be reliably used for specific operations, but the aircraft cannot meet standard category airworthiness certificate requirements and becomes restricted to specific operations only
Solution Approach 1:
The aerial application system is divided into separate, removable components (tank, delivery conduits, augers, collector assembly, distribution assembly) that can be detached from the aircraft. This segmentation allows the aircraft to maintain its standard category airworthiness certificate while still enabling reliable aerial application operations when the system is installed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a permanent fixed installation to a dynamic, removable configuration. The aerial application system can be installed and removed as needed, allowing the aircraft to switch between standard category operations and restricted category aerial application operations, thereby maintaining adaptability while ensuring reliability during application operations.
2Measurement precision
If active systems with pumps and pressurized fluid are used, then precision delivery of materials is achieved, but the system complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses a hydraulic system to drive the augers within the delivery conduits. This hydraulic actuation provides precise control over material delivery rates and timing without requiring complex pump-and-nozzle systems, thereby achieving measurement precision while keeping device complexity manageable.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces traditional mechanical pump-and-nozzle delivery mechanisms with a hydraulic auger-based delivery system. The hydraulic system provides controlled, precise material delivery through the augers, substituting complex mechanical pumping mechanisms with a more streamlined hydraulic drive system.
3Device complexity
If passive systems utilizing wind and turbulence are used, then system simplicity is maintained, but control over application rate and swath is severely limited
Solution Approach 1:
The hydraulic system provides active control over the auger rotation speed and material flow rate, enabling precise control over application rate and swath. This hydraulic actuation system maintains relative simplicity while dramatically improving measurement precision compared to passive wind-dependent systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the aircraft's own hydraulic system (already present for other aircraft functions) to power the aerial application delivery mechanism. This self-service approach allows the aircraft to control its own material delivery precision without adding extensive external control systems, maintaining simplicity while achieving active control.
4Quantity of substance
If slung systems are used for fire suppression, then large volumes of material can be delivered, but the system is not suitable for precision agricultural applications and cannot operate in all agricultural areas
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the material delivery function into controlled portions through the tank, delivery conduits, and distribution assembly. This segmentation allows for both volume delivery capability (similar to slung systems) and precise control over application rate and placement (unlike slung systems), making it suitable for both fire suppression and precision agriculture.
Solution Approach 2:
The hydraulic control system enables precise regulation of material flow rates from the tank through the delivery conduits, allowing the system to deliver large volumes when needed (fire suppression) while maintaining precise control over application rates for agricultural operations, thereby resolving the contradiction between volume and precision.
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
Enables precise and flexible aerial application of materials, maintaining standard airworthiness certification by allowing the system to be easily installed and removed, thus supporting diverse agricultural operations without the need for costly, permanent aircraft modifications.
Implementation Method 1
a hydraulic system in mechanical communication with each of the first and second augers
Implementation Method 2
a first auger within the first delivery conduit and a second auger within the second delivery conduit
Data Source
AI summary
A removable aerial application system and a method of installing the removable aerial application system in an aircraft such as a helicopter. In one embodiment, a removable aerial application system for an aircraft comprises: a tank insertable into a cabin of the aircraft; a first delivery conduit and a second delivery conduit, the first and second delivery conduits being in communication with the tank and extending aftward beneath a fuselage of the aircraft, a first auger within the first delivery conduit and a second auger within the second delivery conduit; a collector assembly defining a chamber, each of the first and second delivery conduits being in communication with the chamber; a distribution system coupled to the collector assembly; and a hydraulic system in mechanical communication with each of the first and second augers.