Stepped Lever Transmitter for Helicopter Height Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing remote control transmitters for toy flying objects, such as helicopters, face challenges in facilitating smooth hovering and landing, often resulting in crashes due to rapid elevation control, and incur increased weight and manufacturing costs from infrared-based altitude control systems.
Innovation Solution
A transmitter design featuring a lever with a stepped opening for precise control of flight height, where the rotational speeds of motors are adjusted through distinct step positions, allowing for gradual altitude changes and improved stability during hovering and landing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If the elevation control lever is operated quickly to change flight height rapidly, then the response speed is improved, but the helicopter crashes into ceiling or ground due to loss of control
Solution Approach 1:
The opening edge is segmented into multiple steps, dividing the continuous lever movement into discrete position levels. This segmentation allows the lever to move through predefined height increments rather than continuously, enabling rapid overall height change while maintaining control stability at each discrete level.
Solution Approach 2:
The lever movement dynamics are constrained by the stepped structure, which provides automatic mechanical feedback and positioning. As the lever moves from one step to another, the physical structure guides the movement pace, allowing fast transitions between steps while preventing uncontrolled continuous motion that would lead to crashes.
2Reliability
If infrared ray LEDs and receivers are added to maintain flight height, then the hovering control is improved, but the weight and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The infrared height maintenance function is extracted from the helicopter system and replaced with a mechanical stepped lever structure in the transmitter. This eliminates the need for infrared LEDs and receivers in the helicopter, removing the associated weight while preserving height control capability through the mechanical step positions.
Solution Approach 2:
The optical infrared system is replaced with a mechanical stepped lever system. Instead of using infrared rays to detect and maintain height, the patent uses a mechanical structure with predefined steps that physically constrain the lever to specific height-corresponding positions, achieving the same height maintenance function through mechanical means.
3Reliability
If infrared ray LEDs and receivers are added to maintain flight height, then the hovering control is improved, but the manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The expensive infrared height maintenance system is extracted and replaced with a simple mechanical stepped structure. The transmitter's opening edge with steps is a low-cost mechanical feature that can be molded or machined directly into the housing, eliminating the need for expensive infrared LEDs, receivers, and associated electronics.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces expensive, complex infrared electronic components with a simple, inexpensive mechanical stepped structure. The stepped opening edge can be manufactured as an integrated feature of the transmitter housing using standard molding or machining processes, significantly reducing manufacturing cost while maintaining the height control function.
Data Source
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AI summary
There is provided a transmitter for facilitating control of a flying object including an elevation control lever 22 for controlling a flight height of a helicopter 1, a cover 24 through which the elevation control lever 22 passes via an opening 26, a step 27 formed on an edge of the opening 26, and a rotation member 28, which rotates, disposed to a backside of the cover 24, where a part of the cover 24 is formed into a curved surface which overlaps a curved surface of the rotation member 28, and rotational speeds of motors 11, 12 internally mounted on the helicopter 1 are set corresponding to the step 27.