Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) having vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability

• US 10,137,983 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2016
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SkyX Limited
• Original Assignee: SkyX Limited
• Inventors: Horn, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Weber, Tamara L
• Application Number:
  US15/168,842
• Publication Number:
  US 20170320570A1
• Time in Patent Office: 910 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 29/02 having its flight directional axis vertical when grounded
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 27/353 using solar cells
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 47/08 Arrangements of cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/20 Vertical take-off and landing [VTOL] aircraft flying platforms B64U10/13; helicopters B64U10/17
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/25 Fixed-wing aircraft VTOL aircraft B64U10/20
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 20/65 Composite materials
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 30/10 Wings
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 30/20 Rotors; Rotor supports
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/13 using external fans or propellers
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/19 using electrically powered motors
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/31 generated by photovoltaics
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/34 In-flight charging photovoltaics B64U50/31
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 80/25 for recharging batteries; for refuelling
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles

Abstract

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or drone, includes a fuselage, left and right airfoil-shaped wings connected to the fuselage to generate lift in forward flight, a left thrust-generating device supported by the left wing, and a right thrust-generating device supported by the right wing. The UAV further includes a vertical stabilizer, a top thrust-generating device mounted to a top portion of the vertical stabilizer, and a bottom thrust-generating device mounted to a bottom portion of the vertical stabilizer. An onboard power source is provided for powering the thrust-generating devices. The left, right, top and bottom thrust-generating devices provide forward thrust during forward flight and also provide vertical thrust to enable the unmanned aerial vehicle to take-off and land vertically when the fuselage is substantially vertical and further enabling the unmanned aerial vehicle to transition between forward flight and vertical take-off and landing.

Claims

1. An unmanned aerial vehicle comprising:

a fuselage;

left and right wings connected to the fuselage to generate lift in forward flight;

a left thrust-generating device supported by the left wing;

a right thrust-generating device supported by the right wing;

a vertical stabilizer;

a top thrust-generating device mounted to a top portion of the vertical stabilizer;

a bottom thrust-generating device mounted to a bottom portion of the vertical stabilizer;

an onboard power source comprising a battery for powering the left, right, top and bottom thrust-generating devices;

an inductive charging coil for inductively recharging the battery from an inductive charging pad of a battery-recharging station, wherein the inductive charging coil is displaceable relative to the fuselage toward the inductive charging pad for increasing a charging efficiency;

a hatch disposed on one of the wings or on the fuselage and wherein the hatch is opened to enable the coil to be displaced toward the inductive charging pad while the vehicle is stationary;

wherein a symmetrical pair of the left, right, top and bottom thrust-generating devices provide forward thrust during forward flight and wherein the left, right, top and bottom thrust-generating devices provide vertical thrust to enable the unmanned aerial vehicle to take-off and land vertically when the fuselage is substantially vertical and further enabling the unmanned aerial vehicle to transition between forward flight and vertical take-off and landing.

2. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 wherein the left, right, top and bottom thrust-generating devices are electric motors coupled to respective propellers and wherein the battery supplies power to the electric motors.

3. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 2 comprising a processor that is configured to deactivate one or more sensors of a sensor suite in a predetermined order in response to detecting a low battery condition.

4. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 2 wherein the fuselage and wings comprise photovoltaic cells to convert solar energy into electric power to recharge the battery.

5. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 further comprising a ground-monitoring sensor suite powered by the onboard power source, the ground-monitoring sensor suite comprising one or more sensors selected from the group consisting of still cameras, video cameras, infrared sensors, thermal imaging sensors, and radar.

6. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 further comprising a processor configured to receive flight-performance data from a plurality of flight-performance sensors and to perform flight control operations in response to receiving the flight-performance data such that the processor provides fully autonomous flight control of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

7. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 further comprising a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver chip for receiving GNSS signals from orbiting GNSS satellites and for determining a current position of the unmanned aerial vehicle in response to receiving the GNSS signals.

8. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 further comprising a radio frequency transceiver coupled to a processor for transmitting sensor data from the ground-monitoring sensor suite and the flight-performance data to a main ground control station.

9. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 further comprising a radio frequency transceiver coupled to a processor for receiving commands from a main ground control station.

10. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 9 wherein the commands comprise one or more of:

a destination command to fly to a destination, a route command specifying GNSS waypoints, a return-to-base (RTB) command, a hover command, a loiter command, and a sensor-activation command.

11. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 comprising a processor configured to compute a distance to a nearest battery-recharging station, to estimate and compare the power required to fly to the nearest battery-recharging station with a remaining battery charge and then to decide whether to continue a mission or divert to the nearest battery-recharging station.

12. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 11 wherein the processor causes a radio frequency transceiver to transmit a query to the nearest battery-recharging station to ascertain whether the nearest battery-recharging station is available to receive and recharge the unmanned aerial vehicle.

13. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 12 wherein the processor cooperates with the radio frequency transceiver to receive and process a reply to the query, wherein the processor programs a flight path to the battery-recharging station in response to the query indicating that the battery-recharging station is available.

14. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 12 wherein the processor cooperates with the radio frequency transceiver to receive and process a reply to the query, wherein the processor transmits a second inquiry to a second-nearest battery-recharging station in response to the query indicating that the battery-recharging station is unavailable.

15. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 11 wherein the processor causes a radio frequency transceiver to transmit a query to a main ground control station to request location coordinates for a nearest available battery-recharging station that is available to receive and recharge the unmanned aerial vehicle.

16. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 15 wherein the processor cooperates with the radio frequency transceiver to receive and process a reply to the query, wherein the processor transmits a confirmation and estimated time of arrival to the main ground control station for relaying to the battery-recharging station.

17. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 wherein only the left and right thrust-generating devices generate thrust for forward flight and wherein the left, right, top and bottom thrust-generating devices generate thrust for take-off, landing and hovering.

18. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 wherein the top and bottom thrust-generating devices are foldable.

19. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 further comprising a Wi-Fi transceiver for exchanging data with a battery-recharging station.

20. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 19 wherein the Wi-Fi transceiver transmits sensor data to the battery-recharging station for relaying to a main ground control station.

21. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 19 wherein the Wi-Fi transceiver receives mission parameter data from the battery-recharging station relayed from a main ground control station.

22. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 19 wherein the Wi-Fi transceiver receives a software update from the battery-recharging station relayed from a main ground control station.

23. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 further comprising a short-range guidance subsystem for receiving one or more beacons from the battery-recharging station to enable the unmanned aerial vehicle to land precisely on the inductive charging pad of the battery-recharging station.

24. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 further comprising an air-to-air RF communication link to enable the transfer of data to and from another unmanned aerial vehicle.

25. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 comprising a processor configured to execute a machine-vision algorithm to automatically recognize predetermined objects in captured imagery and to trigger an action in response to recognizing one of the predetermined objects.