Ropeway Vehicle Network for Drone Delivery Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Drones face challenges in heavily populated areas due to safety hazards from malfunctions, flight restrictions, energy limitations affecting payload capacity, range, and flight time, and inconvenient battery recharging or replacement.
Innovation Solution
A ropeway vehicle transportation network system using structural cables with electrical power sources and anti-derail technology to transport payloads, including drones, across varying terrains and locations, allowing for efficient delivery and navigation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If drones are used for delivery in heavily populated areas, then delivery speed and accessibility are improved, but safety hazards from malfunctions and flight restrictions increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a hybrid transportation system that uses ground-based vehicles as intermediaries to transport drones between locations. This mediator approach allows drones to operate in controlled environments (vehicle compartments) rather than directly in populated areas, reducing safety hazards while maintaining delivery speed advantages.
Solution Approach 2:
The delivery system is segmented into multiple stages: ground transportation of drones to delivery locations, then drone deployment for final delivery. This segmentation allows each component to operate in its optimal environment, improving overall reliability while maintaining productivity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If drones use battery power for flight, then mobility and flexibility are improved, but energy limitations reduce payload capacity, range, and flight time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines ground-based electric vehicle transportation with aerial drone delivery. The electric vehicle provides the energy-intensive long-distance transport with high payload capacity, while the drone provides the final leg with mobility and flexibility. This merging allows the system to achieve both high payload capacity and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains continuous delivery capability by using the ground vehicle to rapidly reposition drones between deliveries. The drone can be quickly deployed, deliver, and then repositioned for the next delivery, maintaining continuous useful action without the energy limitations of a single battery-powered flight.
3Productivity
If drones operate autonomously, then operational efficiency is improved, but navigation challenges in populated areas increase
Solution Approach 1:
The ground-based vehicle acts as an intermediary that handles complex navigation through populated areas, while the drone operates in the simpler environment of vehicle transport and final delivery. This division reduces navigation complexity for the drone while maintaining autonomous operational efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
A ropeway vehicle transportation network includes pairs of ropeway cables on which ropeway vehicles travel the network stations. A plurality of network stations are line changer stations connected to at least two ropeway lines. Each line changer station includes shifter rails that rotate around a vertical axis. When a first ropeway vehicle is on the shifter rails, the shifter rails can be rotated to select on which set of the at least two ropeway lines the first ropeway vehicle will traverse when the first ropeway vehicle exits the shifter rails.