Unmanned aerial vehicle and fuselage thereof and method for manufacturing the fuselage

• US 9,567,076 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2014
• Issued: 02/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Shenzhen Aee Technology Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Shenzhen Aee Technology Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Zhang, Xianzhi
• Primary Examiner(s): Xavier, Valentina
• Application Number:
  US14/418,481
• Publication Number:
  US 20150336670A1
• Time in Patent Office: 999 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 43/003 characterised by the choice of material
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 43/18 incorporating preformed parts or layers, e.g. compression moulding around inserts or for coating articles B29C43/206 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B29K 2021/003 Thermoplastic elastomers
• 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 20/65 Composite materials
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 20/70 Constructional aspects of the UAV body
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 20/87 Mounting of imaging devices, e.g. mounting of gimbals
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/104 using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 30/20 Rotors; Rotor supports

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a fuselage of an unmanned aerial vehicle. The fuselage comprises an upper plate, a lower plate opposite to the upper plate, a connecting plate, and a middle spacing plate; the connecting plate is connected between the upper plate and the lower plate; the upper plate, the lower plate, and the connecting plate are enclosed to define a receiving space; the upper plate, the lower plate, the connecting plate, and the middle spacing plate are integrally formed; the upper cavity is located between the middle spacing plate and the upper plate, and the lower cavity is located between the middle spacing plate and the lower plate; and a first mounting opening is defined in the upper plate allowing a component to enter the upper cavity, and a second mounting opening is defined in the lower plate allowing a component to enter the lower cavity.

Claims

1. A fuselage of an unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein the fuselage comprises an upper plate, a lower plate opposite to the upper plate, a connecting plate, and a middle spacing plate;

the connecting plate is connected between the upper plate and the lower plate;

the upper plate, the lower plate, and the connecting plate are enclosed to define a receiving space;

the middle spacing plate is arranged in the receiving space and divides the receiving space into an upper cavity and a lower cavity;

the upper plate, the lower plate, the connecting plate, and the middle spacing plate are integrally formed;

the upper cavity is located between the middle spacing plate and the upper plate, and the lower cavity is located between the middle spacing plate and the lower plate; and

a first mounting opening is defined in the upper plate allowing a component to enter the upper cavity, and a second mounting opening is defined in the lower plate allowing a component to enter the lower cavity.

2. The fuselage of claim 1, wherein the upper plate, the lower plate, the connecting plate, and the middle spacing plate are integrally formed by conductive material.

3. An unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle comprises a housing and a remote sensing equipment arranged in the housing;

the housing comprises an upper cover, a lower cover, and a fuselage;

the housing comprises an upper cover, a lower cover, and a fuselage;

the fuselage comprises an upper plate, a lower plate opposite to the upper plate, a connecting plate, and a middle spacing plate;

the connecting plate is connected between the upper plate and the lower plate;

the upper plate, the lower plate, and the connecting plate are enclosed to define a receiving space;

the middle spacing plate is arranged in the receiving space and divides the receiving space into an upper cavity and a lower cavity;

the upper plate, the lower plate, the connecting plate, and the middle spacing plate are integrally formed;

the upper cavity is located between the middle spacing plate and the upper plate, and the lower cavity is located between the middle spacing plate and the lower plate; and

a first mounting opening is defined in the upper plate allowing a component to enter the upper cavity, and a second mounting opening is defined in the lower plate allowing a component to enter the lower cavity;

the upper cover is detachably mounted on the upper plate of the fuselage to cover the first mounting opening; and

the lower cover is detachably mounted on the lower plate of the fuselage to cover the second mounting opening.

4. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 3, wherein the lower plate of the fuselage is provided with a first restricting portion and a third restricting portion, the lower cover is provided with a second restricting portion and a fourth restricting portion;

motions in six directions between the lower cover and the lower plate are restricted by abutting the first restricting portion against the second restricting portion and by clamping the third restricting portion onto the fourth restricting portion.

5. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 4, wherein the lower cover comprises a bottom plate and a side wall extending towards the lower plate from an edge of the bottom plate, and the bottom plate and the side wall are enclosed to form a receiving cavity.

6. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 5 further comprising a battery mounted in the receiving cavity.

7. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 5, wherein the bottom plate is cross shaped;

the side wall comprises a couple of opposite first side plates, a couple of opposite second side plates, and a number of combination plates each of which is connected between each first side plate and the adjacent second side plate;

the second restricting portion is located on an end portion of each combination plate facing the lower plate;

the first restricting portion comprises a number of protruding edges protruding from a position of the lower plate corresponding to the combination plate towards the second mounting opening;

the end portion of the combination plate facing the lower plate abuts outer sides of the protruding edges;

the fourth restricting portion comprises a number of blocks extending away from the receiving cavity from one ends of the first side plate and the second side plate which are adjacent to the lower plate;

the third restricting portion is located on the lower plate and is adjacent to an edge of the second mounting opening;

the blocks are inserted into the lower cavity by pressing the first side plate and/or the second side plate; and

the blocks abut an inner side of the lower plate adjacent to the edge of the second mounting hole after the first side plate and/or the second side plate are restored to original positions.

8. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 3, wherein the remote sensing equipment comprises a photographing device which is detachably mounted on the middle spacing plate by extending into the lower cavity through the second mounting opening;

the photographing device comprises a lens set; and

the lower cover defines an opening allowing the lens set to extend out of the lower cover.

9. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 8, wherein the photographing device comprises a mounting bracket, a rotating bracket, a first PCB board with an image obtaining chip fixed thereon, a second PCB board with a main control chip and a storage module fixed thereon, and a driving device;

the photographing device is mounted on the middle spacing plate via the mounting bracket;

the rotating bracket is rotatably mounted on the mounting bracket via a rotating shaft;

the driving device is connected to the rotating shaft to drive the rotating shaft to rotate, thereby driving the rotating bracket to rotate relative to the mounting bracket;

the first PCB board and the second PCB board are mounted on the rotating bracket, and the lens set is mounted on the first PCB board; and

the opening is elongated such that the lens set can rotate along the opening to realize photographing in different directions.

10. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 9, wherein the photographing device further includes a protection housing;

the rotating bracket, the driving device, the first PCB board, and the second PCB board are arranged in the protection housing;

the protection housing defines a lens mounting hole allowing the lens set to extend out of the protection housing and a number of vents;

the rotating shaft is arranged in the protection housing, and two ends of the rotating shaft extend out of the protection housing and are rotatably mounted on the mounting bracket.

11. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 10, wherein the protection housing is a hollow cylinder which comprises a circumferential surface and two opposite bottom surfaces;

the lens mounting hole is defined in the circumferential surface, and two ends of the rotating shaft extends out of the protection housing through the bottom surfaces;

the first PCB board and the second PCB board are perpendicularly arranged on the rotating bracket;

the mounting bracket comprises a first fixing plate, a second fixing plate spaced from the first fixing plate, a number of buffering members connected between the first fixing plate and the second fixing plate, and two supporting arms; and

the supporting arms are secured on one side of the second fixing plate away from the first fixing plate for mounting the rotating bracket; and

the first fixing plate and the middle spacing plate are fixed together.

12. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 3 further comprising a main control panel, a radio station panel, a GPS module, a 2.4G image transmission panel, and a shielding plate;

the shielding plate is arranged in the upper cavity and is spaced from the middle spacing plate;

the main control panel, the radio station panel, the 2.4G image transmission panel are arranged in the upper cavity and are located between the middle spacing plate and the shielding plate; and

the GPS module is arranged in the upper cavity and is located between the shielding plate and the upper cover such that the shielding plate can shield impacts on the GPS module from the main control panel, the radio station panel, and the 2.4G image transmission panel.

13. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 12, wherein the shielding plate comprises a middle conductive layer and two insulting layers respectively covering on an upper surface and a lower surface of the middle conductive layer.

14. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 3, wherein the upper plate, the lower plate, the connecting plate, and the middle spacing plate are integrally formed by conductive material.

15. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 14, wherein the upper plate, the lower plate, the connecting plate, and the middle spacing plate are integrally formed by carbon fiber, the upper cover and the lower cover are made of glass fiber, and the middle spacing plate defines at least one through hole.

16. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 12 further comprising a video transmission antenna connected to the 2.4G image transmission panel and a radio station antenna connected to the radio station panel;

and the video transmission antenna and the radio station antenna extend out of the fuselage through the lower plate to be located at two opposite sides of the lower cover.