Drone landing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10974849-B2
Application number	US-201816207925-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2018
Priority date	Dec 7, 2017
Publication date	Apr 13, 2021
Grant date	Apr 13, 2021

Abstract

A drone landing apparatus may include: a trunk door configured to open or close a trunk of a vehicle; a drone housing contained in the trunk, and configured to provide a space in which a drone is housed; a rotator mounted on the trunk door, and configured to rotate the drone housing according to an opening angle of the trunk door; and a moving platform appearing from the drone housing or disappearing into the drone housing, and having the drone seated thereon.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A drone landing apparatus comprising:
a trunk door configured to open or close a trunk of a vehicle;
a drone housing contained in the trunk, and configured to provide a space in which a drone is housed;
a rotator mounted on the trunk door, and configured to rotate the drone housing according to an opening angle of the trunk door; and
a moving platform configured to carry the drone inside or outside the drone housing, and to have the drone seated thereon.

2. The drone landing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the moving platform comprises:
a drone support slidably mounted in the drone housing, and configured to have the drone placed thereon;
a door installed at an end of the drone support to close the drone housing; and
a driving mechanism mounted in the drone housing, and configured to slide the drone support.

3. The drone landing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the moving platform further comprises a charger mounted in the drone support and configured to charge the drone.

4. The drone landing apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the charger is configured to charge the drone through a magnetic induction method or resonant induction method.

5. The drone landing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the rotator comprises:
a motor fixed to the trunk door;
a power transmitter rotatably mounted on the motor; and
a housing support fixed to the drone housing, and configured to rotate the drone housing according to a rotation of the power transmitter.

6. The drone landing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the rotator is configured to rotate the drone housing such that the drone housing is horizontal to a ground surface.

7. The drone landing apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the drone housing has a horizontal sensor mounted thereon and configured to sense whether the drone housing is horizontal to the ground surface, and
the drone landing apparatus further comprises a controller configured to control operations of the rotator and the moving platform based on information measured by the horizontal sensor.

Assignees

• Hyundai Mobis Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Seon Yeob

Classifications

• B64U2201/10

  autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS] · CPC title

• B64U50/34

  In-flight charging (photovoltaics B64U50/31) · CPC title

• B64C39/024

  of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV · CPC title

• B60P3/11

  for carrying aircraft · CPC title

• B64U70/93

  for use on a land or nautical vehicle · CPC title