Method for deploying a parachute on a drone

• US 6,471,160 B2
• Filed: 05/24/2001
• Issued: 10/29/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Eurocopter Deutschland Gesellschaft Mit Beschrã¤Nkter Haftung (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS NV)
• Original Assignee: Eurocopter Deutschland Gesellschaft Mit Beschrã¤Nkter Haftung (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS NV)
• Inventors: Grieser, Wolfram
• Primary Examiner(s): Barefoot, Galen L.
• Application Number:
  US09/865,106
• Publication Number:
  US 20010048050A1
• Time in Patent Office: 523 Days
• Field of Search: 244/138.R, 244/139, 244/140, 244/141, 244/152, 244/147-150
• US Class Current: 244/139
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 17/80 in association with aircraft, e.g. for braking thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 70/83 using parachutes, balloons or the like

Abstract

A flying drone includes a flight control computer, a parachute system with a parachute, a power supply system, a propulsion system, and an actuating drive system, without any of these systems being redundantly duplicated. To prevent uncontrolled crashing of the drone due to a critical error of any subsystem, signals or data are supplied from the power supply system, the propulsion system, and the actuating drive system, to an error detection or recognition device, which detects defined errors or error combinations in the provided signals or data and then supplies a deployment signal to the parachute system, which responsively generates a control signal that triggers an ejection mechanism to eject the parachute.

Claims

1. A method of deploying a parachute from an unmanned drone air vehicle having a single power supply system without redundancy, a single propulsion system without redundancy, a single actuating drive system without redundancy, and a parachute deployment system with a parachute, comprising the following steps:

a) providing respective signals or data respectively from said power supply system, said propulsion system and said actuating drive system, to an error detection device;

b) evaluating said respective signals or data in said error detection device so as to detect if said respective signals or data correspond to at least one of defined error conditions or error condition combinations;

c) responsive to detecting that said respective signals or data correspond to at least one of said defined error conditions or error condition combinations, providing a deployment signal from said error detection device to said parachute deployment system;

d) causing said parachute deployment system to deploy said parachute in response to said deployment signal; and

e) landing said unmanned drone air vehicle by descending with said parachute deployed, in response to said deployment signal.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step d) comprises forming a control signal in said parachute deployment system responsive to said deployment signal, providing said control signal to an ejection mechanism of said parachute deployment system, and triggering said ejection mechanism to deploy said parachute responsive to said control signal.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said method does not include the possibility of further operating said drone air vehicle with a redundant system in the event of detecting that said respective signals or data from at least one of said systems correspond to at least one of said error conditions or error condition combinations.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said drone air vehicle further includes a flight control computer, said error detection device is incorporated in said flight control computer, and said steps b) and c) comprise executing an evaluation program to evaluate said respective signals or data with respect to said error conditions or error condition combinations, which are defined by said evaluation program.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising providing a system shut-down signal coincident with said providing of said deployment signal, and shutting-down at least one of said systems responsive to said system shut-down signal.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of deploying an air bag responsive to said deployment signal.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said entire method is carried out in an automated, self-contained and self-sufficient manner without receiving any control commands from outside of said drone air vehicle.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said defined error conditions or error condition combinations are indicative of a critical error in at least one of said power supply system, said propulsion system, and said actuating drive system that would prevent a further controlled flight of said unmanned drone air vehicle.

9. An unmanned drone air vehicle comprising:

a flight control computer including an error detection device incorporated therein,

a single power supply system without redundancy,

a single propulsion system without redundancy,

a single actuating drive system without redundancy,

a parachute deployment system including a parachute,

respective signal or data connections respectively connecting said power supply system, said propulsion system, and said actuating drive system respectively to said error detection device for providing respective signals or data respectively from said power supply system, said propulsion system and said actuating drive system to said error detection device, and

a deployment signal line connecting said flight control computer to said parachute deployment system,

wherein said error detection device includes means for evaluating said respective signals or data so as to detect if said respective signals or data correspond to at least one of defined error conditions or error condition combinations and for providing a deployment signal via said deployment signal line to said parachute deployment system so as to deploy said parachute responsive to detecting that said respective signals or data correspond to at least one of said defined error conditions or error condition combinations.