Methods and Systems for Damping Oscillations of a Payload
First Claim
1. A system comprising:
- a winch system for an aerial vehicle, wherein the winch system comprises;
(a) a tether disposed on a spool, (b) a motor that is operable to apply torque to the tether, and (c) a payload coupling apparatus coupled to a leading end of the tether and structured to mechanically couple a payload to the tether; and
a control system operable to;
while the aerial vehicle is in a hover flight mode, switch to operation in a tether retraction mode; and
while operating in the tether retraction mode, perform a damping routine to dampen oscillations of the payload coupling apparatus.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Described herein are methods and systems to dampen oscillations of a payload coupled to a tether of a winch system arranged on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). For example, the UAV'"'"'s control system may dampen the oscillations by causing the UAV to switch to a forward flight mode in which movement of the UAV results in drag on the payload, thereby damping the oscillations. In another example, the control system may cause the UAV to reduce an extent flight stabilization along at least one dimension, thereby resulting in damping of the detected oscillations due to energy dissipation during movement of the UAV along the dimension. In this way, the control system could select and carry out one or more such techniques, and could do so during retraction and/or deployment of the tether.
62 Citations
48 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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a winch system for an aerial vehicle, wherein the winch system comprises;
(a) a tether disposed on a spool, (b) a motor that is operable to apply torque to the tether, and (c) a payload coupling apparatus coupled to a leading end of the tether and structured to mechanically couple a payload to the tether; anda control system operable to; while the aerial vehicle is in a hover flight mode, switch to operation in a tether retraction mode; and while operating in the tether retraction mode, perform a damping routine to dampen oscillations of the payload coupling apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A system comprising:
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a winch system for an aerial vehicle, wherein the winch system comprises;
(a) a tether disposed on a spool and (b) a motor that is operable to apply torque to the tether; anda control system operable to; while the aerial vehicle is in a hover flight mode, cause the aerial vehicle to switch from the hover flight mode to a forward flight mode in which movement of the aerial vehicle results in drag on a payload that is coupled to the tether, wherein the drag dampens oscillations of the payload when the tether is at least partially unwound. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A system comprising:
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a winch system for an aerial vehicle, wherein the winch system comprises;
(a) a tether disposed on a spool and (b) a motor that is operable to apply torque to the tether, and wherein the aerial vehicle is operable in a position-hold mode in which the aerial vehicle substantially maintains a physical position during hover flight by engaging in flight stabilization along three dimensions in physical space; anda control system operable to; while the aerial vehicle is in the position-hold mode, cause the aerial vehicle to reduce an extent of flight stabilization along at least one of the three dimensions, thereby resulting in damping of oscillations of a payload due to energy dissipation during movement of the aerial vehicle along the at least one dimension, wherein the payload is coupled to the tether, and wherein the oscillations occur when the tether is at least partially unwound. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A system comprising:
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a winch system for an aerial vehicle, wherein the winch system comprises;
(a) a tether disposed on a spool and (b) a motor that is operable to apply torque to the tether; anda control system operable to; while the tether is at least partially unwound, select one or more damping routines from a plurality of available damping routines to dampen oscillations of a payload that is coupled to the tether; and perform the one or more selected damping routines. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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Specification