Charging apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10647217-B2
Application number	US-201816171425-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 26, 2018
Priority date	Nov 21, 2017
Publication date	May 12, 2020
Grant date	May 12, 2020

Abstract

A charging apparatus includes a charging section configured to perform charging on a drone (unmanned aerial vehicle) and a conveyor group arranged around the charging section. The conveyor group are arranged at positions adjacent to the charging section and include a first conveyor section placed at a position adjacent to the charging section and configured to move the drone in a first direction toward the charging section, and a second conveyor section placed at a position adjacent to the first conveyor section and configured to move the drone in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A charging apparatus comprising:
a charging section configured to perform charging on an unmanned aerial vehicle;
a first conveyor section disposed at a position adjacent to the charging section and configured to move the unmanned aerial vehicle in a first direction toward the charging section;
a second conveyor section disposed at a position adjacent to the first conveyor section and configured to move the unmanned aerial vehicle in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction;
a detection unit configured to detect landing of the unmanned aerial vehicle on the first and second conveyor sections; and
a control unit configured to control operations of the first and second conveyor sections based on detection of the unmanned aerial vehicle by the detection unit, wherein the control unit is further configured to make a moving speed of the first conveyor section differ from a moving speed of the second conveyor section.

2. The charging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the second conveyor section is disposed at the position adjacent to the charging section together with the first conveyor section, and is configured to be able to move the unmanned aerial vehicle directly to the charging section through a movement in the second direction.

3. The charging apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein:
the first conveyor section includes a pair of the first conveyor sections disposed with the charging section interposed therebetween; and
the second conveyor section includes a pair of the second conveyor sections with the charging section and the first conveyor sections interposed therebetween.

4. The charging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: the charging section is provided at a lower position than the first conveyor section.

5. The charging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the first conveyor section is provided at a lower position than the second conveyor section.

6. The charging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the charging section is provided at a lower position than the second conveyor section.

7. The charging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the control unit is further configured to stop the operation of one of the first and second conveyor sections while operating the other of the first and second conveyor sections.

8. The charging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: at least one of the first and second conveyor sections includes a notification section configured to notify the unmanned aerial vehicle of position information of the charging apparatus.

9. The charging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first conveyor section and the second conveyor section are formed by a plurality of rollers and a belt that is wound around a plurality of rollers.

10. The charging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is further configured to select the moving speed of the first conveyor section and the second conveyor section, and wherein control unit is configured to select a faster moving speed for the moving speed of the first conveyor section than the moving speed of the second conveyor section.

11. The charging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to select the moving speed of the first conveyor section and the second conveyor section based on a possibility that the unmanned aerial vehicle will fall from at least one of the first conveyor section or the second conveyor section.

12. The charging apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the control unit is configured to select the moving speed of the first conveyor section and the second conveyor section based on a reduction in the likelihood that the unmanned aerial vehicle will fall from at least one of the first conveyor section or the second conveyor section.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nishikawa Shosei

Classifications

• B60L53/36 Primary

  by positioning the vehicle · CPC title

• B60L53/38

  specially adapted for charging by inductive energy transfer · CPC title

• B65G37/00

  Combinations of mechanical conveyors of the same kind, or of different kinds, of interest apart from their application in particular machines or use in particular manufacturing processes (series of co-operating belt conveyor units B65G15/22; series of co-operating chain conveyor units B65G17/26; sequence control of combined conveyors B65G43/10) · CPC title

• B65G39/10

  Arrangements of rollers (on a single axle B65G39/04) · CPC title

• B60L2200/10

  Air crafts · CPC title