Unmanned flying object and control device therefor

• US 10,150,559 B2
• Filed: 04/18/2015
• Issued: 12/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ADTEX Inc.
• Original Assignee: ADTEX Inc.
• Inventors: Sato, Hiroo, Uruta, Yasumasa, Yokoyama, Tsutomu
• Primary Examiner(s): Xavier, Valentina
• Application Number:
  US15/127,008
• Publication Number:
  US 20180170535A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,333 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 27/08 with two or more rotors
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 27/57 automatic or condition responsive, e.g. responsive to rotor speed, torque or thrust
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/02 characterised by special use
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 2045/0085 Devices for aircraft health monitoring, e.g. monitoring flutter or vibration
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 5/60 Testing or inspecting aircraft components or systems
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/10 Rotorcrafts
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/14 with four distinct rotor axes, e.g. quadcopters
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/19 using electrically powered motors
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold

Abstract

The present invention aims at solving the problem of providing a control device for an unmanned flying object that can elucidate the cause of a fault in the unmanned flying object after the fact and that has a function of desirably preventing a crash before it even happens, and at solving the problem of providing an unmanned flying object that incorporates such a control device. The control device of the present invention is a device for controlling a single rotor blade motor, and includes a calculation device, a storage device, a data output device, and a voltage detection device: the calculation device acquires and outputs information of various types; the storage device accumulates information of various types received from the calculation device; the data output device outputs information from the calculation device to an external control device; and the voltage detection device acquires voltage information from a battery or the like and supplies it to the calculation device.

Claims

1. A control device for a rotor blade motor provided to an unmanned flying object that has a plurality of rotor blades, said control device being a device for controlling a single rotor blade motor, and comprising a calculation device, a storage device, a data output device and a voltage detection device, wherein:

the calculation device is adapted;

(A) to receive, from outside said control device, control details for the rotor blade motor that is to be controlled, to supply electrical power for implementing said control details to the rotor blade motor, and to accumulate in a storage device information relating to said electrical power that has been supplied;

(B) to receive voltage information from a voltage detection device and to accumulate said information in the storage device; and

(C) to operate an output device for outputting desired information accumulated in the storage device to the exterior of the control device;

the storage device is adapted to accumulate the above described electrical power information and voltage information received from the calculation device;

the data output device is adapted to output information from the calculation device to the exterior of said control device; and

the voltage detection device is capable of being connected to a power supply device external to said control device, and is adapted to acquire voltage information from said power supply device and to supply said voltage information to the calculation device.

2. The control device of claim 1, further comprising an anomaly display device, and wherein the calculation device is adapted, when the voltage information received from the voltage detection device described above satisfies an anomaly condition that is determined in advance, to generate a signal and to send that signal to an anomaly display device so as to cause the anomaly display device to provide an anomaly display.

3. The control device of claim 2, wherein in the above described case (A) the calculation device is adapted, when the voltage information received from the voltage detection device described above satisfies said anomaly condition that is determined in advance, to ignore the control details that are received and to supply an amount of electrical power that is determined in advance to the rotor blade motor.

4. The control device of claim 2, further comprising a current detection device, and wherein:

the current detection device is adapted to acquire the drive current of the rotor blade motor at predetermined time intervals, and to send data relating to said drive current to the calculation device; and

the calculation device is adapted to accumulate said drive current data that has been received from the current detection device described above in the storage device, and, when the drive current data received from the current detection device described above satisfies an anomaly condition that is determined in advance, to generate a signal and to send that signal to an anomaly display device so as to cause the anomaly display device to provide an anomaly display.

5. The control device of claim 4, wherein the calculation device is adapted, when the drive current data received from the current detection device described above satisfies said anomaly condition that is determined in advance, to ignore the control details that are received in the above case (A) and to supply to the rotor blade motor an amount of electrical power that is determined in advance.

6. The control device of claim 2, further comprising a temperature detection device, and wherein:

the temperature detection device is adapted to acquire the temperature of the external air and/or the temperature in the neighborhood of the calculation device at predetermined time intervals, and to send data relating to said temperature to the calculation device; and

the calculation device is adapted, when said temperature data received from the temperature detection device described above satisfies an anomaly condition that is determined in advance, to generate a signal and to send that signal to an anomaly display device so as to cause the anomaly display device to provide an anomaly display.

7. The control device of claim 6, wherein the calculation device is adapted, when said temperature data received from the temperature device described above satisfies said anomaly condition that is determined in advance, to ignore the control details that are received in the above case (A) and to supply to the rotor blade motor an amount of electrical power that is determined in advance.

8. The control device of claim 1, wherein the calculation device is further adapted (D) to accumulate the cumulative time of use of said control device, and, if said cumulative time of use exceeds a time period that is set in advance, not to supply electrical power to the aforementioned rotor blade motor when said rotor blade motor is stopped.

9. An unmanned flying object comprising a plurality of rotor blades, and control devices according to claim 1, one of which is connected to each of said rotor blades.