US-12623798-B2 - Aircraft

US12623798B2US 12623798 B2US12623798 B2US 12623798B2US-12623798-B2

Abstract

Described is an aircraft, in particular a drone, with a supporting body ( 2 ) and at least two propulsion arrangements ( 4, 8 ) arranged at a distance from one another on the supporting body ( 2 ), which are designed to generate a propulsive thrust in a direction of propulsion ( 8 b ). According to a first aspect of the invention, the propulsion arrangements ( 4, 8 ) on the supporting body ( 2 ) are each mounted so as to be pivotable independently of one another about a first axis of pivoting ( 6 ) extending at an angle to the direction of propulsion ( 8 b ) and a first actuating drive ( 10 ) is provided and designed to pivot the propulsion arrangements ( 4, 8 ) independently of one another about the first axis of pivoting ( 6 ). According to a second aspect of the invention, in which a trunk body ( 20 ) is provided, this trunk body ( 20 ) is mounted on the supporting body ( 2 ) so as to be pivotable about a second axis of pivoting ( 22 ) and a second actuating drive ( 24 ) is provided and designed to pivot the supporting body ( 2 ) relative to the trunk body ( 20 ).

Inventors

Juri Niklas KLUSAK
Nils Lieckfeldt
Mirko Jesper DENECKE
Max-Christoph GURGEL
Sebastian SCHOCK
Christine Elizabeth AVERY
Julian Teege
Clara Andrea DRUMMER

Assignees

ORTHODRONE GMBH

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20220913
Priority Date: 20210913

Claims (20)

1 . An aircraft, comprising: a supporting body; at least two propulsion arrangements arranged at a distance from one another on the supporting body, which are designed to generate a propulsive thrust in a direction of propulsion, the propulsion arrangements being mounted on the supporting body so as to be pivotable about a first axis of pivoting running at an angle to the direction of propulsion; a first actuating drive which is designed to pivot the propulsion arrangements about the first axis of pivoting; a trunk body which is mounted on the supporting body so as to be pivotable about a second axis of pivoting; and a second actuating drive, which is designed to pivot the supporting body relative to the trunk body.
2 . The aircraft according to claim 1 , in which a relative orientation of the direction of propulsion of the propulsion arrangements with respect to a virtual plane of pivoting at right angles to the first axis of pivoting remains constant in each stage of pivoting of the propulsion arrangements.
3 . The aircraft according to claim 1 in which the propulsion arrangements are mounted on the supporting body so as to be pivotable about a first axis of pivoting extending essentially at right angles to the direction of propulsion.
4 . The aircraft according to claim 2 , in which the direction of propulsion of the propulsion arrangements lies in the virtual plane of pivoting at right angles to the first axis of pivoting or is oriented parallel to this virtual plane of pivoting in each pivoting position of the propulsion arrangements.
5 . The aircraft according to claim 1 , wherein the propulsion arrangements are mounted so as to be pivotable about a common first axis of pivoting.
6 . The aircraft according to claim 1 , wherein at least one propulsion arrangement comprises at least one propulsion drive which is designed to generate the propulsive thrust in the direction of propulsion.
7 . The aircraft according to claim 6 , in which at least one propulsion arrangement has a support element and two propulsion drives arranged at a distance from one another on the support element, the support element being mounted so as to be pivotable about the first axis of pivoting at a point between the two propulsion drives.
8 . The aircraft according to claim 7 , in which the support element is mounted so as to be pivotable about the first axis of pivoting at a point which is essentially at a same distance from both propulsion drives.
9 . The aircraft according to claim 7 , in which a relative orientation of the direction of propulsion of the propulsion drives with respect to the support element remains constant in any stage of pivoting of the propulsion arrangements.
10 . The aircraft according to claim 6 , wherein at least one propulsion arrangement comprises at least two propulsion drives whose directions of propulsion are oriented parallel to each other.
11 . The aircraft according to claim 6 , wherein at least one propulsion drive is a rotor driven about an axis of rotation, wherein the axis of rotation defines the direction of propulsion.
12 . The aircraft according to claim 8 , in which the propulsion drives each have a rotor which can rotate about an axis of rotation and the support element is mounted so as to be pivotable about the first axis of pivoting at a point essentially at the same distance from an axes of rotation of the rotors.
13 . The aircraft according to claim 1 , wherein at least one propulsion drive is a turbine.
14 . The aircraft according to claim 1 , comprising: a first sensor device which is designed to detect a pivoting position of the propulsion arrangements in space and/or relative to the supporting body; and a control device which is designed to control the first actuating drive using signals from the first sensor device in such a way that the propulsion arrangements assume a specific pivoting position in space and/or with respect to the supporting body.
15 . The aircraft according to claim 1 , in which the second axis of pivoting is oriented at an angle to the first axis of pivoting.
16 . The aircraft according to claim 15 , wherein the second axis of pivoting is oriented essentially at right angles to the first axis of pivoting.
17 . The aircraft according to claim 1 , wherein the trunk body is mounted so as to be pivotable at a position of the supporting body which is essentially at a same distance from the two propulsion arrangements.
18 . The aircraft according to claim 1 , wherein the second axis of pivoting is oriented angularly with respect to the direction of propulsion.
19 . The aircraft according to claim 18 , wherein the second axis of pivoting is oriented essentially at right angles to the direction of propulsion.
20 . The aircraft according to claim 1 , comprising: a second sensor device, which is designed to detect a pivoting position of the supporting body in space and/or relative to the trunk body and; a control device which is designed to control the second actuating drive using signals from the second sensor device in such a way that the supporting body assumes a specific pivoting position in space and/or relative to the trunk body.

Description

This application is the § 371 U.S. National Stage of International Application No. PCT/EP2022/075454, filed 13 Sep. 2022, which claims the priority to German No. 20 2021 104 932.4, filed 13 Sep. 2021, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. The invention relates to an aircraft, in particular a drone, with a supporting body and at least two propulsion arrangements arranged at a distance from one another on the supporting body, which are designed to generate a propulsive thrust in a direction of propulsion. Such an aircraft is known from the state of the art. For example, there are embodiments in which the supporting body forms the trunk body or at least part of the trunk body and thus receives a payload such as a camera and/or measuring sensors. On the other hand, there are also embodiments in which a separate trunk body is provided, which is arranged on the supporting body. It is a task of the present invention to improve the aircraft with regard to its flight stabilization. This task is solved according to a first aspect of the present invention with an aircraft, in particular a drone, having a supporting body, at least two propulsion arrangements which are arranged at a distance from one another on the supporting body and are designed to generate a propulsive thrust in a direction of propulsion, the propulsion arrangements being mounted on the supporting body so as to be pivotable independently of one another in each case about a first axis of pivoting running at an angle to the direction of propulsion, and a first actuating drive which is designed to pivot the propulsion arrangements independently of one another about the first axis of pivoting. The fact that, according to the invention, the propulsion arrangements on the supporting body are each mounted so as to be pivotable independently of one another about a first axis of pivoting extending at an angle to the direction of propulsion and can be pivoted independently of one another about the first axis of pivoting with the aid of the first actuating drive means that optimum balancing and thus safe flight stabilization can be achieved in a particularly advantageous manner. In particular, the first axis of pivoting assumes the function of a pitch axis. Even if we are only talking about a first actuating drive, the first actuating drive is designed in such a way that it applies a pivoting movement to the propulsion arrangements independently of each other. Preferably, a separate drive forming a component of the first actuating drive is provided for at least one of the at least two propulsion arrangements arranged at a distance on the supporting body, which drive has at least two motors with gearboxes to achieve redundancy and eliminate gear backlash as well as a brake that blocks the gearbox and is switched on in particular with electromagnets; however, other drive solutions for the propulsion arrangements are of course also conceivable. Preferred exemplary embodiments and further embodiments of the first aspect according to the invention are given in the dependent claims 2 through 12. Preferably, the relative orientation of the direction of propulsion of the propulsion arrangements in relation to a virtual plane of pivoting at right angles to the first axis of pivoting remains constant in every stage of pivoting of the propulsion arrangements. This means that additional pivoting of the propulsion arrangements about a further axis of pivoting running at an angle to the first axis of pivoting is excluded, so that the propulsion arrangements can only be pivoted about the first axis of pivoting and therefore in this case this pivoting movement forms the only pivoting movement of the propulsion arrangement. Preferably, the propulsion arrangements are mounted on the supporting body so as to be pivotable about a first axis of pivoting that runs essentially at right angles to the direction of propulsion. If the two preferred embodiments mentioned above are combined with each other, this results in the direction of propulsion of the propulsion arrangements lying in the virtual plane of pivoting at right angles to the first axis of pivoting or being oriented parallel to this virtual plane of pivoting in every pivoting position of the propulsion arrangements. Conveniently, the propulsion arrangements are mounted so as to be pivotable about a common first axis of pivoting. Accordingly, the first axis of pivoting of one propulsion arrangement coincides with the first axis of pivoting of the other propulsion arrangement, although the propulsion arrangements remain mounted independently of one another so as to be pivotable about the common first axis of pivoting. Preferably, at least one propulsion arrangement has at least one propulsion drive which is designed to generate the propulsive thrust in the direction of propulsion. In a further preferred exemplary embodiment, at least one propulsion arrangement has a support element