UAV IMU Isolation for Accurate Barometric Pressure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) experience negative pressure within their bodies due to exhaust fans or centrifugal fans, which adversely affect barometric measurement sensors like those in the inertial measurement unit (IMU), making external pressure measurements unreliable.
Innovation Solution
The IMU is isolated within a compartment that has a barometric pressure independent of the internal airflow pressure, either by being placed internally, externally, or in a compartment that surrounds the IMU, to minimize the influence of internal airflow and negative pressure on barometric sensors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the UAV body is sealed and isolated from external environment to protect from pollution, then protection from pesticides and corrosion is improved, but barometric pressure measurement accuracy deteriorates due to negative pressure from exhaust fans
Solution Approach 1:
The UAV body is divided into separate compartments: a first compartment containing electronic components and exhaust fans that operates under negative pressure, and a second compartment containing the barometric pressure sensor that maintains ambient pressure. This segmentation allows the system to simultaneously achieve pollution protection through sealing while maintaining accurate barometric measurements in the isolated sensor compartment.
2Temperature
If exhaust fans are used to cool electronic components within the UAV body, then cooling efficiency is improved, but negative pressure is generated that adversely affects barometric sensors
Solution Approach 1:
The barometric pressure sensor is extracted from the main UAV body compartment and placed in a separate second compartment that is isolated from the exhaust fan system. This allows the exhaust fans to continue operating in the first compartment for cooling electronic components while the sensor compartment maintains independent ambient pressure for accurate measurements.
3Strength
If the UAV operates as a closed system to maintain internal pressure, then structural integrity is improved, but barometric sensors cannot accurately measure external atmospheric pressure
Solution Approach 1:
A separate second compartment acts as an intermediary between the closed UAV body and the external atmospheric environment. This compartment is isolated from the negative pressure generated by exhaust fans but remains exposed to external atmospheric pressure, allowing barometric sensors to accurately measure external pressure while the main UAV body maintains its closed structural integrity.
Data Source
AI summary
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes a housing forming a central body of the UAV and including an internal compartment, one or more electrical components disposed within the internal compartment and configured to affect operation of the UAV, and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) disposed in an external compartment external to the central body. The IMU is isolated from the internal compartment such that a barometric pressure in the external compartment is independent of a barometric pressure in the internal compartment.